This conversation with Charles Yu took place in front of a live audience earlier this year

before the pandemic spread to Los Angeles.

It is re-airing to celebrate Interior Chinatown's National Book Award nomination.

Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation. Boots!

Where would we be without boos?

Where would we be without good?

No, Timberd.

It's a rhetorical question, sir.

But where would we be without books? I'm Michael question, sir, but where would we be without books?

I'm Michael Silverblatt, and this is Bookworm from the studios of KCRW and KCRW.

My guest today is Charles Yu.

His book is Interior Chinatown. It's published by Pantheon. This is his fourth book.

But I would say after how to live in a science fictional universe, it's his best book. It's a very timely book because it asks a question, what does a person growing up Chinese in an American city do with his life if he doesn't want to be what the book calls a generic Chinaman.

Now, Charles, what is a generic Chinaman?

Well, in the book, so Willis Wu is a Taiwanese kid who grows up hoping to be Kung Fu guy.

But his job is to play generic Asian man number three slash delivery guy because he's got to have two jobs.

And he exists in this world called black and white, which is basically a cop procedural show where it's called black and white because there's a black cop and a white cop and they are very sort of two dimensional stereotypes as is Willis.

So he's he's worked his way up.

There's a hierarchy of roles that someone like Willis can have, starting with, you know,

background oriental.

And then if you get promoted from that, you can become dead Asian man.

And then you enter like the levels of generic Asian man.

...