Hi folks and welcome to the Book of the Month. It's Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. OMG this book is amazing. Okay let me be a bit honest/upfront before going on: after reading this book, I read a bit more about the author's life that robbed me somehow and made me think maybe it should not be her telling this story. Bias is an extraordinary thing. I had read this book and was on such a high after reading, and it was a little deflated when I found out more about her. None of what I read is awful or cruel; just some bit about her choices that helps me understand how she chose to paint some characters (ahem the straight white men character(s)). It's a writer's job to create nuance to characters and give them depth but....alright, imma leave that for now. The most important thing is that this is an EXTRAORDINARY book. I cannot say that enough. Oops I'm way ahead of myself.
Yellowface tells the story of a failing author who steals an unpublished manuscript of her late friend. Here is how it really went down. A white author and an Asian author were frenemies; the Asian author, Athena Liu, was a literary darling, while the white one, Juniper Hayward (June, Junie, June Song etc) was mediocre at best, or at least that's how her debut novel was received. Athena was THE star and had everything going for her--heck she just inked a Netflix deal--so much that June started to get envious. So when June witnesses Athena's death in a weird accident, she does what anyone would do in the face of such tragedy (if you are a weirdo white basic babe) and steals Athena's unpublished manuscript. Athena was notoriously tight lipped about her projects and she was no different with this experimental novel on the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I. June steals it, polishes it (who really knows how much work she put into it except what she tells us), sends it to her agent, gets rebranded as Juniper Song (with an ambiguously ethnic author photo to boot), and makes it big. End of story, right? WRONG. June can't get away from Athena's shadow. Plus newly brought to light evidence threatens to expose her. This story uncovers that, June's desperation to get past this, and so much more.
You won't be able to put this book down. It is compelling, incisive, and daring in its themes of diversity, envy, racism, cultural appropriation, the publishing world, and the beast that is social media. It's told from a first person perspective so it captures you in an unimaginable way. The one thing that makes this book shine is how it tackles the publishing industry. It's visceral in the depiction of that world. At one point, June says, "bestsellers are chosen..." and that phrase was so captivating. Because we know that bestsellers are not necessarily about what's written or about style or about skills/competence. It's mostly who and/or what publishers have chosen to be bestsellers. I also thought the author perfectly captured failure. Whether it's when you've tried and tried and you know you have what it takes but for whatever reason the world does not consider what you offer or it's (and some might say this one is worse) when you've tasted success, you've seen what happens when the world consumes your effort, but then it spits you out almost as viciously as it welcomed you. How do you deal with the former when people close to you are speeding through the lattice of success?
Another upside of this book is Kuang's writing style: her ability to thrust you almost immediately into this book is certainly praiseworthy. The writing captures characters that are real and flawed and honestly, stupid so that you are so invested in them, you want to see how things shake out. The author's strength was capturing the interactions of a social media storm. It was so accurate, so pulsating that it seemed like I was watching real crap go down on the Timeline. And then it became almost too real, almost to direct, almost like they were lifted from Twitter (see more on this below) so even that almost became tedious because I'm not a frequent visitor on Twitter for a reason. Something else that makes this book brilliant is that it's not didactic, which makes sense since the protagonist/narrator is so morally bankrupt. Despite being so meticulously written, I found I found this book funny; like laugh out loud funny. I truly loved, appreciated, and enjoyed this book: the story, the art of the craft, and the way it holds a mirror to behold our broken, desperate society.
"She's dressed like a right-wing meme of a social justice warrior--dyed purple hair buzzed into an undercut; floppy beanie, knit arm warmers, and a dozen pins and badges on her vest proclaiming her loyalty to BLM, BDS, and AOC (look we're all liberals here. But come on.) She's got this breathless, wild-eyed look on her face, like she's been waiting her entire life for this chance to take me down."
I screamed at that passage. Such is the way Kuang describes things so vividly, so realistically. Because we all know someone like the person being described. How their entire morality is in their condescension, their ability to string complex words together, and demand we all match in lockstep ELSE.
Here is another:
"...undergraduates at elite universities always think they know more than they do and they consider it their greatest achievement to take down a public intellectual."
And here is where and how Kuang shines. She is able to cut through not just the nature of the literary community but of our society, and in essence, human nature. If you consider the fact that this is also a departure from Kuang's typical genre (fantasy), it makes you even more appreciative of her craft and ability to create this masterful piece. The book is easy to get through as long as you don't mind being so knee deep in June's mind—her obfuscation, whining, immaturity, ridiculousness, and self-conceitedness. If June vexes you, it is because Kuang molded her so well. She doesn't just focus on June though. Other characters are depicted in the same web of complexity. Take Athena for instance, the author attempts to explore the intersectionality of marginalization; that underrated role of class as the tool of white supremacy. I emphasize attempt because I think Kuang's attempt wasn't quite so successful. More so because the medium is a ridiculous, envious, racist but pseudo-liberal basic white babe, June. Yes, Athena was a "person of color", but she was also something of a sadistic, privileged person or at least that's what June tells us. So Kuang cheapens the criticism of class and privilege and the role it plays in success by making June the mouthpiece and something tells me it was deliberate on the part of Kuang.
"In any case, Twitter discourse never does anything--it's just an opportunity for firebrands to wave their flags, declare their sides, and try to brandish some IQ points before everyone gets bored and moves on."
As amazing as this book is, I think at about two-thirds of the book, it starts to lose steam just a little. Things become to seem just a little repetitive.
"Such is the nature of a Twitter dustup. Allegations get flung left and right, everyone's reputations are torn down, and when the dust clears, everything remains exactly as it was."
We get it Kuang, you hate the Twitter wokes. Because if you have to describe it so many times, it starts to feel like you're nagging. And here comes my biggest gripe with the book (with Kuang?). Here is also where I talk about reading about Kuang.
It wasn't until realizing she (the author) has been "cancelled" before that it occurred to me that there was a little bit of simplicity in her binary handling of "canceling". It's so easy to see criticisms as merely "woke culture" or "mob mentality" until it is you or your people that have been hurt. While the book was not didactic, my God was it heavy-handed and just plain obvious. It's like the reader needed to be spoon fed, needed to be reminded of how much mob-mentality exists on Twitter. But is it that simple? Some people are cruel. Some people are rapists. Some people are racists. Some are just plain mean. So yes, such people should face the consequences of their actions. However, yes, social media criticisms can also be too reductive, too drenched in piety without a desire for actual change and evolution. Yes, we need to have more grace; to temper justice with mercy. Both of those things can be true. Let's not then dispel the need for accountability altogether because how its being handled is wrong.
I read that she basically took all the criticisms she has gotten as an author and foisted it upon this book but through the lens of an extremely problematic white woman and that made me deeply uncomfortable. Again, to be clear: if I wrote this review the day before yesterday (this will not be posted in real time by the way), this paragraph would be absent because before then I knew nothing of this woman. It's heavy handed, almost deeply personal, the way subtexts are handled so that they seem so direct as if scolding us all for being participants of this rabid ecosystem we find ourselves. Kuang also seems to be the kind of person who denounces EVERY form of criticism even though she seeks them out.
Oh well. I can tell you this book IS entertaining. This book deserves the praise and hype and reception its gotten. And for that and more, it's the book of July.
Will you be reading? Have you read? If so, let me know what you think!
Love,
I
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