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A review by thesinginglights
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
4.0
This was a strange, hilarious, and breezy look into the dark side of publishing, at the lies we tell ourselves and the lengths we would go to preserve ourselves.
The story concerns June Hayward, a white author who is down on her luck in terms of career success, who steals a manuscript of her frenemy Athena Liu and passes it off as her own after Liu dies. The book concerns the ensuing chaos. And let me tell you, it's wild. Malicious, self-interested people lurk around every corner and the extent at which June convinces herself of her BS--that because she felt overlooked by the wildly successful Athena--she should have this chance, that by bevelling the "ethnic" aspects of the book she stole, she could make it palatable.
A lot of this book is uncomfortable to get through for myriad reasons, chiefly among them the jealousy June experiences towards her peers. I recognise myself, an aspiring writer, look at the publishing world--at Kuang herself: at 27, she is many more times "accomplished" than me at nearly 29, with her numerous degrees and 5 novels under her belt. Many of her career successes mirror Liu's own (though I should stress they're not the same person, but I can see there is some personal aspects to the character of Athena).
What is striking about this, is how utterly isolated June is. I think it's one of the best aspects of this book that Kuang had made June's voice and characterisation so strong. I felt like she was a real author and seeing some of the difficulties of publishing was interesting. Even with a push to diversity and inclusion, it's still shockingly white and yes, entry-level staff are underpaid while expected to work in the most expensive cities. The voice of June is distinctive, personal and pacy. I felt pathos, surprise, and outright disgust throughout. It's a knotty book and while people are quite vicious, there is complexity there.
Another aspect is of public opinion, of how Twitter wars are shaping discourse around books. As usual, stay off Twitter. It's a mess over there.
But this was a solid entry from a writer going from strength to strength. Kuang has an ability to tap into the cultural realities in a compelling way. If she does decide to dip her toe outside of fantasy, I think she'd make a solid thriller writer.
The story concerns June Hayward, a white author who is down on her luck in terms of career success, who steals a manuscript of her frenemy Athena Liu and passes it off as her own after Liu dies. The book concerns the ensuing chaos. And let me tell you, it's wild. Malicious, self-interested people lurk around every corner and the extent at which June convinces herself of her BS--that because she felt overlooked by the wildly successful Athena--she should have this chance, that by bevelling the "ethnic" aspects of the book she stole, she could make it palatable.
A lot of this book is uncomfortable to get through for myriad reasons, chiefly among them the jealousy June experiences towards her peers. I recognise myself, an aspiring writer, look at the publishing world--at Kuang herself: at 27, she is many more times "accomplished" than me at nearly 29, with her numerous degrees and 5 novels under her belt. Many of her career successes mirror Liu's own (though I should stress they're not the same person, but I can see there is some personal aspects to the character of Athena).
What is striking about this, is how utterly isolated June is. I think it's one of the best aspects of this book that Kuang had made June's voice and characterisation so strong. I felt like she was a real author and seeing some of the difficulties of publishing was interesting. Even with a push to diversity and inclusion, it's still shockingly white and yes, entry-level staff are underpaid while expected to work in the most expensive cities. The voice of June is distinctive, personal and pacy. I felt pathos, surprise, and outright disgust throughout. It's a knotty book and while people are quite vicious, there is complexity there.
Another aspect is of public opinion, of how Twitter wars are shaping discourse around books. As usual, stay off Twitter. It's a mess over there.
But this was a solid entry from a writer going from strength to strength. Kuang has an ability to tap into the cultural realities in a compelling way. If she does decide to dip her toe outside of fantasy, I think she'd make a solid thriller writer.