Interior Chinatown

Book-club read [UoG]:
I liked this but didn't love it. Perhaps it's just a little bit too clever for its own good (or maybe I'm just slightly stupid). At its core it's a man trying to see who he is and where he fits in the world. Wu, the protagonist, is attempting to progress through the hierarchy of Chinese-American stereotypes.
I found the teleplay format interesting but it prevented me from fully immersing myself in the book. Perhaps the characters themselves were too insubstantial to encourage empathy. Excepting the background stories of Wu's parents, when Yu wants he can paint perfect images with his words.
I recognise that being White I am naive and privileged, the American laws which suppressed Asians and particularly Chinese citizens until quite recently horrified me (I'm also not American, much of their law would probably horrify me if I knew about it). Having read this book I think I will look differently at the ways characters are portrayed on screen, how often (or perhaps seldom) they just get to ‘be'.