Review: Yellowface

 Yellowface is R. F. Kuang's novel about white misappropriation of an Asian cultural work. It has no right to be so easy to read and fun, being about serious topics, but it is. The plot is about Juniper Song Hayward and her friend Athena Liu. Liu is a majorly successful writer (much like R. F. Kuang is), having sold novels not only to major publishing houses but also had a Netflix series deal in hand.

Liu dies a horrible death choking in front of Juniper eating pancakes, but not before she shows Juniper her latest, completed manuscript, a novel about Chinese laborers in Europe during World War 1. After the death, Juniper reads the manuscript, rewrites it and sells it, using her friend's idea and reigniting her otherwise lackluster literary career.

Juniper's a horrible person, of course, full of herself, and belittling her friends. She willingly publishes the novel using her middle name so the appropriate audiences would think that she was Asian, and manipulatively cuts off any possibility that she would be discovered as having stolen the work. Like most fiction authors she's neurotic and horribly addicted to twitter, and so turns every minor event into a major epic frenzy centered around herself (you must know people like that --- I do too!).

The book doesn't give you any insights about twitter culture, cancel culture, cultural misappropriation, or even about human nature that you don't already know. That's not its goal. Its goal is to entertain and perhaps poke fun at people like Juniper Hayward. That it succeeds at, in spades. If you've never read any other books surrounding New York's publishing culture, it'll also give you some insight about how cliquish it is. But there probably better ways of getting that info than this novel.

I read the book in a couple of days, and it was a nice change of pace from the usual heavy non-fiction I read. I'll look for other books by Kuang as they would make great airplane novels.

I learn it’s important to be anti-PRC (that’s the People’s Republic of China) but pro-China (I’m not terribly sure how that’s different). I learn what “little pinks” and “tankies” are and make sure I don’t inadvertently retweet support for either. I decry what’s happening in Xinjiang. I Stand with Hong Kong. I start gaining dozens more followers a day once I’ve started vocalizing on these matters, and when I notice that many of my followers are people of color or have things like #BLM and #FreePalestine in their bios, I know I’m on the right track. (kindle loc 949)

 Every so often someone in this industry develops a conscience and gives a nonwhite creator a chance, and then the whole carnival rallies around their book like it’s the only diverse work ever to exist. I’ve been on the other side. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve been in the room when we pick our one spicy book of the season, when we decide who’s educated and articulate and attractive but marginalized enough to make good on our marketing budget. It’s sick, you know. But I suppose it’s nice to be the token. If the rules are broken, you might as well ride the diversity elevator all the way to the top. Wasn’t that your logic?” (kindle loc 4099)