Interior Chinatown

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, head judge

"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.

About the Author

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