Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown is a domestic fiction novel that exhibits Willis Wu’s quest to break free from the entertainment industry’s expectation for him to play stereotypical roles such as “Generic Asian Man.” His hope is to acquire the role of “Kung Fu Guy,” a highly regarded character on the TV show “Black and White.” On his journey, Wu faces the deeply rooted stereotypes and prejudices held by the entertainment industry and the deficient representation of Asian actors in the media.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a historical fiction novel set in San Francisco in the 1950’s, where high-schooler Lily Hu goes through her queer awakening. Lily Hu is the “model” Chinese-American daughter, who gradually comes to realize her sense of identity as she befriends her math classmate and heads off towards a lesbian bar. Caught in the overwhelming feelings of confusion and exhilaration, the threat of risking old friendships and even her father’s deportation looms over her.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a story about Lily Hu in 1954 Chinatown. She’s stuck between complications with Red-Scare paranoia affecting her family, and her friend Shirley trying to set her up with Will, a boy from school that she has zero interest in. But everything gets turned upside down when Lily meets Kathleen Miller and realizes that there’s an obvious reason why she isn’t interested in Will.
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong is a teen fiction book but is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The book follows Roma Montagov and Juliet Cai, the two heirs of the most fearsome gangs in 1926 Shanghai. It follows them in both the present and the past as the two struggle with their romantic relationship, as well as the threat of a monster lurking the streets. I personally loved this book; its plot, characters, and the world itself. It takes Romeo and Juliet’s main plot
Katie Zhao’s How We Fall Apart is a murder-mystery with amazing Asian representation. Nancy Luo is a scholarship student and the best friend of the top girl, Jamie Ruan, at Sinclair Prep, an elite high school. Jamie is everything Nancy isn’t, rich, the valedictorian, and powerful. After Jamie is found dead, the people that once were closest to her, Nancy, Krystal, Akil, and Alexander, are the suspects.
