For many years, I taught a Senior English elective on writers who write about writers. In the class, among other novels, we studied John Irving's The World According to Garp, Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. I (and I think the students, too) found the stories authors create about authors fascinating. For the past few years, my Spring elective is about recent Asian-American literature. When my step/bonus father recommended R.F. Kuang's Yellowface, I didn't immediately recognize how perfect this novel would be for both classes. (Thanks for the recommendation, NB!)
I'll provide my regular book review categories below, but to give you the elevator pitch here, on the first night of this story, failing author June witnesses her frustratingly successful friend Athena's death and grabs the only copy of Athena's work-in-progress. After revising and editing it, June publishes the story as her own.
I love the way Kuang gets into the head of a woman who plagiarizes and makes the reader stay with a psyche who's working to convince herself and the world that she hasn't done anything wrong. The author reveals so much about the publishing industry and about anti-Asian racism that I might not otherwise have gotten to see, but she lifts the curtain in subtle ways through the voice of a protagonist who is certainly no hero. The book feels like watching a slow-motion disaster: can't talk June out of bad decisions, can't turn away, and can't wait to see the results.
I highly recommend this novel if you have any interest in publishing, race in American, or in the role of social media in publishing/mental health. Equally, if you like watching strange brains at work from the inside, you'll probably also enjoy reading this novel. As always, please share your thoughts in the comments.
My regular/NetGalley review format is below:
title: Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
publisher: William Morrow
publication date: May 16, 2023
pages: 319
peppers: 1 (on this scale-- this is NOT a romance novel)
warnings:
- vomit, depression, violence, plagiarism, racism, on-page death by choking
summary: Immediately after watching her frenemy/rival Athena die, June steals the only copy of Athena's newest manuscript. After major revisions and edits, the resulting novel becomes a tremendous success and June guiltily lives in that spotlight.
tropes:
- racist "Karen"
- rivals
- ghosts
- unlikable narrator
what I liked:
- Kuang did a tremendous job creating an unlikable but believable narrative voice.
- In particular, she says some racist things in defense of her own non-racist attitudes, and I wanted to scream at her because she was so spot on.
- The story took some twists I didn't see coming.
- The tale demonstrates so much about the publishing industry, truly insider information.
- Kuang did a great job of showing mental collapse.
what I didn’t like:
- Nothing to report here. It's a good read.
overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)