Inventively written in the form of a screenplay and narrated in the second person, the immersive novel examines identity, Asian stereotypes and the roles we’re allowed to play on and off screen. Wu, who dreams of one day becoming “Kung Fu Guy,” struggles to figure out where he belongs on screen, in life and in America’s Black-white binary paradigm of race. Set in a fictional Chinatown, the humorous and sometimes heartbreaking Hollywood satire follows Willis Wu, a Taiwanese American actor relegated to background roles such as “Generic Asian Man,” “Silent Henchman,” and “Delivery Guy,” on a police procedural called “Black and White” that films at Golden Palace, a Chinese restaurant where the television show is perpetually in production. “I think I’ll always do best and feel best when I’m standing in the corner observing and reading other people's books.” “I still look at literature with this sense of reverence, and maybe it’s also part of the psychology of growing up feeling like I’m not supposed to be on the stage, so I’m very uncomfortable with it,” he said.
Yu, 44, a former corporate lawyer, said he was “in shock” that he is the recipient of one of the country's most prestigious literary prizes, in company with authors such as William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. Thirteen years ago, the National Book Foundation first recognized Yu as a "Five Under 35" honoree for his debut short story collection “Third Class Superhero.”
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