I just finished listening to Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu, and I want to preserve my thoughts while they’re still fresh.

First of all, this book is written in such a unique and interesting way. I loved the structure and the way it explored the internal experience of being Asian in America.

I also loved the cynical humor. The almost dry, matter-of-fact humor that older Asian men seem to naturally have about everything. There was something about that tone that made the book’s observations feel even sharper.

I especially appreciated the way the book explored the discrimination Asian people experience in America, while also examining the complicated attitude of simply “letting it roll off your back” because, in the grand hierarchy of American racism, whatever Asian Americans experience is seemingly considered “nothing” compared to the Black American experience. (According to the author.)

That doesn’t mean the discrimination isn’t real. Asian people have been targeted in their own ways throughout American history and continue to experience discrimination in their own ways. But there seems to be this expectation that Asian Americans should simply keep to themselves, assimilate, and quietly find their place while still never quite being seen as fully American, no matter how many generations their families have been here.

I found the book’s exploration of identity, stereotypes, and the roles Asian people are expected to play particularly revealing.

There’s a character whose entire identity is essentially built around being the “Kung Fu Guy,” and I actually know someone personally who made me think of him. This man has his own cult following because he was a martial arts star in his time. He’s very old now, but even today, so much of his identity is still tied to being the” Kung Fu Guy.”

I found that connection really interesting because it made the book feel less like an abstract exploration of stereotypes and more like something I could recognize in the real world. I’ve long pondered this particular dynamic of the Asian man’s identity being tied to cult classic martial arts films.

Who is he if he isn’t “Kung Fu Guy”?

That was one of the things I found so revealing about Interior Chinatown. It explores what happens when people are constantly reduced to a role or stereotype and what it might take to realize that you are more than what society was comfortable allowing you to be.