Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Interior Chinatown

I ate this up.
It took me a wee bit to get into because of the writing style.
There were some absolutely incredible lines, it was funny, honest, hilariously observational, all while illuminating the Asian- American experience

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legs_n_chins's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fantastic read. I loved the formatting and style the most, probably. It was engaging and really heightened the surrealism feel of the whole story. I think presenting it as a screenplay is really commentary all its own and it made the story itself more effective. It took me a minute, but teasing out the story that was layered into the “script” was very fun.

I really appreciated the stark lens on Chinese history in America that was presented in the book. It’s something I’ve always been aware of, as someone of Chinese descent, but I never really learned in a lot of detail the facts and timelines that Yu brought up in the final part of the book. It was interesting to read the experience of the main character because some of it was familiar from my own life, but at the same time it was new to me as I’m not first generation myself. I also particularly liked the commentary around Karen as a mixed-race Asian American, and the commentary around the sort of dichotomy between Black and Asian communities. I thought it was all very well presented and fit well in the story.

I really still can’t get over the style, it was just so, so cool. And so much fun to read. I would say at least half of why I liked this so much was because of that writing style. I think it’s very original and so creative and works perfectly for the story.

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pipn_t's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mayadelaine's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Yu is hilarious and masterful at building a vibrant world in which the meta rules all.

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siebensommer's review against another edition

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funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Watching her is like finding old letters, of things you knew thirty years ago and haven't thought of since.. How to feel, how to be yourself. Not how to
perform or act. How to be.

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horizonous's review

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challenging reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This is a difficult one to rate and review. It's unlike anything I ever read and very unique in its screenplay formatting. I liked how the theme of assimilation is explored through generic Hollywood stereotypes but I can't help but think in the end it lacked a bit of depth because it was more style then substance?

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mxreader1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoy when books bend reality within the context of the story, make you guess at what's really happening and maybe you never get answers but that's the fun of it.

It also balanced being informative, funny, and sad really well.

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