A review by eldaaurora97
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
challenging
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Racism and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent
"It all boils down to self-interest. Manipulating the story; gaining the upper hand. Doing whatever it takes. If publishing is rigged, you might as well make sure it's rigged in your favor. I get it. I've done it, too; it's just playing the game. It's how you survive in this industry" (308)
Such motives justifies June Hayward's action in "Yellowface", which R.F. Kuang uses to talk about "a horror story about loneliness in the publishing industry." At the start of the book, June envies Athena Liu, who becomes a famous author and has a Netflix deal ready to go. But when Athena dies in a freak accident, June takes Athena's recently-finished manuscript, edits it, and ends up publishing it as "The Last Front". While she gets the success she desperately craves, it also opens up another can of worms, about how June approached the subject (as well as her alter-ego, Juniper Song), who gets to tell what stories, and overall racism in the publishing industry.
I skimmed through an excerpt of this book one day, but it would only be several months later when I decided to read "Yellowface" in its entirety. And I sped through the entire book in three days; it was so fast-paced, and provocative, you wanted to know what would happen next. Sometimes, I would look over the pages to wonder what would happen next, as it was so intriguing to see how June's storyline unravels. We know June/Juniper does a bad thing in changing Athena's story; how would she meet her downfall.
It all initiates with a little spark of jealousy, in which June nurses after her debut fails. On the contrast, Athena debut, "about a Chinese American girl who can summon the ghosts of all the deceased women in her family", becomes a bestseller, and she goes from strength to strength. "But it needs work," June declares when going through "The Last Front", "It's far from a first draft--it's not even a proper 'draft', really, it's more like an amalgamation of startlingly beautiful sentences, bluntly stated themes...But she's laid out enough breadcrumbs that I can f0llow the trail." And that leads to a creative spark, in which she finishes the book her way. And it gets accepted for publication.
And then, we see the bits of racism involved, both in the writing process and how June views the publishing industry. When working with Daniella, June goes, "Honestly, I'm relieved. Finally someone's calling Athena out on her bullshit, on her deliberately confusing sentence structures and cultural allusions".(41) She also "softens some of the white characters...Athena's original text is almost embarrassingly biased; the French and British soldiers are cartoonish racist" (43) This is where Candice Lee's role becomes important--while I feel bad for June, she really did annoy Candice and suggest that her role is insignificant to the grand scheme of things. This really unfolds with the climax, which I didn't really expect.
The petty and snide remarks make June/Juniper an unreliable narrator, especially concerning her friendship with Athena. In life, they only saw each other because they operated in different circles, but in death, June sees them as close friends. She discusses about their little interactions with each other; when they go to a museum, she claims she saw "Athena steal before. She probably didn't even think of it as theft. The way she described it, this process wasn't exploitative, but something mythical and profound" (110). She connects their names together, whether in social media or in the stories, to make them closer than they really were. And it frequently justifies her decision to steal Athena's manuscript
That being said, reading through "Yellowface", I kept thinking, "What could've June done differently?" Hurting in her desire to become a famous author, it leads to a pretty darkened point of view and building a façade she shouldn't have. We see her family being quite indifferent about her writing ambitions, her getting anxiety attacks when confronting online comments, and just a downwards spiral. In one scene, she revisits her childhood notebooks, only to decide that she had nothing worth pursuing in a novel. Was taking Athena's work the only way she could do it? And how could've she used her relative privilege to make things better?
Interestingly, the ghost imagery imbues throughout the work, to represent those who had their voices stolen (ironically, Athena's Voice and Echo deals with that subject, the premise which I find intriguing). Starting when "The Last Front" is published, Athena haunts June's mind, if only to take her down. It ties back to Chinese ghost stories, where "The cultural constructions are clear: so many Chinese ghosts are hungry, angry, voiceless women. In taking Athena's legacy, I've added one to their ranks" (287) So I also saw "Yellowface" as a ghost story, of sorts.
"Yellowface" is a high-speed, intense look at trying to make it in the publishing industry, with a distinctive narrator to boot. It also deals with the racism in the industry, from tokenism to "staying in one's lane" to everything else in between, from which we could also think to make the publishing industry more diverse, in a sincere way.