Any young guy in Chinatown can be Generic Asian Guy or even work up to Second Asian Guy, but to be Kung Fu Guy? Now that's the ticket. At least it is for Willis Wu, aspiring actor and fervent dreamer in Charles Yu's National Book Award-winning Interior Chinatown.
His parents have had side careers for decades as extras in film and TV work, most being shot in the Chinese restaurant where their night jobs are. The legendary Sifu and his abilities as the ultimate Kung Fu Guy, and what made him different from Bruce Lee, are related. The promise of the first-born son has all the pizzazz of an action caper.
And then Yu lets the reader see both the reality in Willis's life and family, as well as the dreams and stories. The author's light touch when he injects real life into the novel serves as a bridge between the meta episodes, as when Willis gets a bit part in a TV cop show. It's called Black and White. Literally. With a Black male lead and a white female lead.
Yu then merges the real lives of the Chinatown residents with the goings-on during filming and the actual story within the TV show's episode that is being filmed. It's a tour de force that brings together meta commentary and action-packed stereotypical episodic programming that has been featured on the airwaves for decades. That there is an impact on Willis's life is a bonus, especially when the future arrives.
Interior Chinatown tells the story of Asian-Americans, their immigrant parents and their realization at how they fit into an American society that only seems able to see things through the lens of black and white. It is an exuberant, brash and love-filled book.