There’s almost nothing I enjoy more than a book about books. And novelist R.F. Kuang gives us that and a whole lot more with her newest work, “Yellowface.”
At its heart, “Yellowface,” is the story of June Hayward, a writer and basic white girl who had little success with her debut novel and is struggling to write her second. June’s college friend Athena Liu, meanwhile, is a rising star. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she decides to swipe Athena’s just-completed masterpiece and pawn it off as her own.
That’s when Kuang’s cutting critique of the publishing industry really takes off — so much so, in fact, that I often wondered how this novel sounded in pitch meetings and marketing sessions. To better sell June’s novel about Chinese laborers during World War I, June’s publisher rebrands her as Juniper Song, a hippie-era moniker that sounds just a bit Asian. A new author headshot features June looking downward and to the side, with lighting that gives her just the slightest bronze glow. So you see where this is going.
After Athena-turned-Juniper’s novel becomes a runaway best-seller, June faces attacks on social media and elsewhere that she is not the right person to tell this story. Eventually the whole sham begins to unravel, but not before June becomes an unwilling poster child for cancel culture, and Kuang pokes satirical fun at everything from literary awards to GoodReads reviews.
“Yellowface” is a provocative story from a talented writer, and it offers plenty to discuss with reader friends at your next book club.
