Books & Audiobooks
Yellowface by R.F Kuang took the literary world by storm last year and was tinged with controversy shortly after it came out. June and Athena are friends – kind of. June was always on the periphery of Athena’s success. Athena publishes her first novel shortly after college, and then rises to writer’s fame with her subsequent novels: huge advances, book talks, conferences, and books on the New York Times bestseller list. June’s writing never amounts to any of that. That’s why, when Athena dies in front of her, June takes her unpublished manuscript and decides to publish it as Juniper Song, a misleading Asian name. And all of Athena’s fame now falls in June’s lap, but there are those who are suspicious of June’s sudden success and what she did to attain it.
Writing a review for this novel is difficult. The book was unputdownable for the duration of the time I read it, but when I look back at it, I’m not sure I liked it.
June is the epitome of an unlikeable and unreliable narrator. Stealing Athena’s manuscript is the least of her wrongs. She continuously lies and pretends to be someone she’s not, knowing well enough what she’s doing. And then she lies to herself about her intentions. One of the most grotesque scenes is when June uses Athena’s mother’s grief against her, in a ploy to prevent a grieving mother from reading her dead daughter’s writing notebooks. June’s desire to keep her success and her secret spares no one.
Athena dies well in the beginning of the novel, but her ghost haunts the story, both literally and figuratively. June tries very hard to convince the reader that Athena was a thief too, and all the ways that she stole from her back when they were students, in order to justify her own wrong actions. But she convinces no one, as she not only commits the sin once, but twice.
There is very real dialogue on cultural appropriation and racism, and what it means to be white vs Asian in the publishing industry as June’s attempt at Asian passing is met with hurt and contempt by the Asian community. As a writer myself, I found June’s trajectory as a single book author to NYT fame to a has-been author who is ridiculed and mocked, quite sad but also illuminating. Many writers who dream of publication think of it as a be-all end-all goal and don’t think about what comes next after your book comes out. Kuang shows the ascension to fame and the fall from it quite tragically. One minute an author is the darling of the publishing world, the next they’re the villain.
Yellowface asks many important questions about plagiarism, inspiration, and racism, but doesn’t always answer them; the ending is lackluster as you wait for June to get her comeuppance when she finally confronts one of her online haters. There are many issues with the book, but it is thought-provoking in a way that makes it linger well after the last page has been turned. It forces you to reevaluate what a good book is; is it one that you enjoy and display proudly on your bookshelf or one that makes you think and wonder?