Interior Chinatown NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

Willis Wu doesn't perceive himself as a protagonist even in his own life: He's merely Generic Asian man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but he is always relegated to a prop. Yet every day he leaves his tiny room and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He's a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy-the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. At least that's what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more.

Playful but heartfelt, a send-up of Hollywood tropes and Asian stereotypes, Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu's most moving, daring, and masterly novel yet.

“A funny, biting take down of the racism in the entertainment industry […] both humorous and heartrending.” The Independent
“A novel that manages the rare feat of being both extravagantly experimental and a lot of fun to read.” The Times
“From Paul Beatty’s The Sellout to Brandon Taylor’s Real Life, some of the most talked-about novels from the U.S. in recent years have been male coming-of-age narratives shaped by experiences of racism. Styled as a typewritten television script, [Interior Chinatown is a] zany spin on the genre.” Daily Mail
“Wrenching, hilarious, sharp, surreal, and above all, original.” Emily St John Mandel
“The novel is grounded by its arch comedy.” The Telegraph
“This is a hilarious book. You'll laugh at the universe Charles Yu creates, kitty-corner to our own and just so off-kilter—and then, without warning, you'll be pulled under by the riptide and everything will suddenly make beautiful, perfect, heartbreaking, unexplainable sense.” Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator of BoJack Horseman
"One of the funniest books of the year has arrived, a delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire." The Washington Post
"Fresh and beautiful.... Interior Chinatown represents yet another stellar destination in the journey of a sui generis author of seemingly limitless skill and ambition." The New York Times Book Review
"Highly inventive and hilarious." (How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe) The Times
"Brimming with alternative universes, futuristic landscapes and gleeful metaphysics..... Yu's spirit of invention is infectious." (How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe) The Sunday Times
“An acid indictment of Asian stereotypes and a parable for outcasts feeling invisible in this fast-moving world.” Kirkus Reviews
"An immersive but surreal reading experience." Los Angeles Times
"Complexity and internality burst the seams of the stock stereotypes the characters are assigned." TLS
"Moving and haunting." The Lonesome Reader
"Haunting, gorgeous." The Rumpus

CHARLES YU is the author of three books, including the novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (a New York Times Notable Book and a Time magazine best book of the year). He received the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Award and was nominated for two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the HBO series, Westworld. He has also written for shows on FX, AMC, and HBO. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired, among other publications

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2020 'By turns hilarious and flat-out heart-breaking, Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown is a bright, bold, gut punch of a novel.' - Roxanne Gay 'A novel that manages the rare feat of being both extravagantly experimental and a lot of fun to read.' - The Times , Best fiction books of 2020 'A funny, biting take down of the racism in the entertainment industry...both humorous and heartrending.' - The Independent 'Devastating (and darkly hilarious).' - The New York Times Willis Wu doesn't perceive himself as a protagonist even in his own life: He's merely Generic Asian man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but he is always relegated to a prop. Yet every day he leaves his tiny room and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He's a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy-the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. At least that's what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more. Playful but heartfelt, a send-up of Hollywood tropes and Asian stereotypes, Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu's most moving, daring, and masterly novel yet.

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