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Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist 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 always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO 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. Or is it?
After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family.
I tried listening to this on audiobook, but it didn’t work (for me) as an audiobook. There are so many different unusual theater elements used in the story that it was difficult for me to follow–I think having the book in front of me would have made it easier to stay in the story.
I borrow this book from my library, where it’s classified as satire, but it didn’t quite hit the mark on that. I was looking for something in the way of Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour or New Nigeria County by Clare Brown. I found it to be more literary, and it reminded me more of The Swimmer by Julie Otsuka.
Overall, it had it’s moments, but I think this might be better read than listened to.
Rated PG-13.
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