2020美國國家書卷獎得主

 

　　亞裔演員的悲歌，尋求認同的異鄉人，甩不掉的標籤，如影隨形。《如何在科幻世界中安全生活》的亞裔作家游朝凱（Charles Yu），新作依舊犀利。一如傑西鮑爾(Jesse Ball)，明顯的書寫風格，趣味與片段的敘事手法。

 

　　亞裔演員吳威斯(Willis Wu)，探索世界如何用既定印象綁架所有人。故事透過七場行動，來描繪吳威斯的輪廓。除了基因外，人生跟亞洲扯不上半點關係。穿梭在吳威斯的喃喃自語與他的工作內容，大膽傳神地演出二代移民的困境，近乎無鄉的獨白。

 

　　當他離開唐人街中的套房，來到黃金宮殿(Golden Palace)餐廳，這裡是長青警匪劇【黑與白】的拍攝地點，主角是嫻熟幹練的偵探與他的非裔夥伴邁爾斯(Miles Turner)。威斯在劇中演著小角色，被期待有朝一日成為知名的武打巨星，像李小龍一樣。這似乎是屬於亞裔共同的夢，永遠的功夫小子。

 

　　他的生活與夢想，還有他的父母的故事，時代的改變，不變的境遇。演員的多彩與背後鬱悶的日常。高速轉動下的世界，只剩下渺小人物的殘影與片段的印象。

 

　　(文／博客來編譯)

 

　　“One of the funniest books of the year. . . .A delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire.” —The Washington Post

 

　　Soon to be a Hulu series: from the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

 

　　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. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.

　

　　“Fresh and beautiful. . . Interior Chinatown represents yet another stellar destination in the journey of a sui generis author of seemingly limitless skill and ambition.” —The New York Times Book Review


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.