Yellowface

      

                                   *free review copy* 

Title: Yellowface 

Author: R.F. Kuang

Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: 5.25.23

Publisher’s Summary 

What's the harm in a pseudonym? New York Times bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn't write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American--in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R. F. Kuang.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena's a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn't even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song--complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

My Review

This magnificently meta, satirical novel about contemporary publishing is so *chef's kiss* perfect. 

After reviewing books for over a decade I have seen terrible books with huge budgets make it big and I've seen awesome books barely make a blip on the radar. I've seen the hoaxes, the dramas, and the phenomenons. I can usually predict which upcoming releases will be embraced and lauded--not because I think they are worthy, but because I can spot the marketing trends. When non-bookish people act as if a celebrity merely pulls a random book off their shelf and then it becomes popular, I die a little inside. Sometimes I've tried to briefly explain how publishing "darlings" are picked by referencing The Devil Wears Prada's "cerulean monologue" about fashion trends. The sheer amount of research, algorithms, and marketing studies that have taken place before a publisher even makes a deal with an author will likely determine its degree of success. 

In Yellowface, Kuang's protagonist June/Juniper states: "Because that’s how this industry works. Publishing picks a winner—someone attractive enough, someone cool and young and, oh, we’re all thinking it, let’s just say it, “diverse” enough—and lavishes all its money and resources on them. It’s so f*ck*ng arbitrary. Or perhaps not arbitrary, but it hinges on factors that have nothing to do with the strength of one’s prose." 

Finding success with a second novel after her debut flopped, June/Juniper can speak to the two types of author experiences. Her road is practically paved with gold and all awards are given freely for the second novel, whereas her first time around:"I worked my *ss off doing blog interviews and podcasts, hoping that the more sweat I put into publicity, the more my publisher would reward my efforts. But now, I see, author efforts have nothing to do with a book’s success. Bestsellers are chosen. Nothing you do matters." 

It is sometimes easy to forget that while books are pieces of art, they are also commodities and any time art is commodified there are a multitude of complex factors at play. I found Yellowface to be a darkly comic "cheat sheet" handbook full of all the not-so-secret rules and scandalous game plans to ensure a place on the bestseller list. A true treat for this book reviewer!