Reviews with content warning for Racism - Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown is about Willis Wu, a struggling actor who wants to break out of the Generic Asian Man roles he’s always playing on the never-ending cop show Black & White. Still, Willis worries that the only role he can aspire to is Kung Fu Guy, and maybe he doesn’t want that.

This book is very surreal, very clever satire. It has so much to say on how Asian-Americans fit into American culture, or how they are often either forgotten or made into stereotypes. Smart, funny, unconventional, easy to read, highly recommended.

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byhannakim's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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zoracious's review against another edition

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emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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tinathedrifter's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

5.0

What to say - this novel spoke like a Hollywood script right to my heart. The main character spends his life trying to make it out of a typecasted Generic Asian Man role that’s a trap for him, only to find

that his dream of being Kung Fu Guy was just one rung higher on the ladder that leads nowhere. The question I asked myself - closing the book, was - in what ways am I playing my own gendered version of the Young Asian Woman trap?

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namuunaa's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

initial review (3.0) very confused! definitely enjoyed the title of the book. it makes so much sense!!! my prof is interviewing Yu, so i’ll report next week and see if i change my review. definitely found this focus into archetypes and satire interesting.

Update! Charles Yu is very funny, but my review remains the same.

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samchase112's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A brilliant, distressing satire about Asian stereotypes and American culture. Both devastating and hopeful at once.

I highly recommend the audiobook, it was well-performed and, thanks to the narrator’s fantastic portrayals of multiple characters and voices and accents, I never felt lost even in this uniquely structured story.

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michaelion's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

🎬RE👏🏾PRE🎬SEN👏🏾TA🎬TION👏🏾 🎬MAT👏🏾TERS🎬 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 REPRESENTATION MATTERS !!!

One of the best details that gave it extra points is that it's about the same time reading as it would be for an actual script for a regular feature length film. 5 stars for the audiobook. Of the few audiobooks I've listened to, they're produced very dry, just a persom reading to you, but this one has sounds effects and little fun details that make the already vibrant story really come alive.

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