In just a few weeks, Yellowface created a storm in the publishing industry. There are several reasons for this stir: the plot, the protagonist, and its sharp commentary on our current society. (A fantastic recipe for any book.)
Let’s begin with the plot.
Yellowface follows June Hayward, a Yale graduate who has never reached the potential she believes is within her. Her entire literary career (or lack thereof) pales in comparison to fellow student Athena Lui, who is adored by the publishing industry and has hit a level of success June envies. So, when June is the only witness of Athena’s death, she acts impulsively and steals her manuscript about the efforts of Chinese labourers during World War I. She adopts the manuscript as her own, reasoning that this story deserves to be told, and it doesn’t matter by whom. Except, June realises that maybe it does, leading her to rebrand herself as ‘Juniper Song’ alongside a strategically taken racially ambiguous photo. June embarks on a hungry, power-driven journey to fame – one in which she will do anything to survive.
Next, the character.
June is one of the most fascinating characters I have ever read. She is completely insufferable in many ways; ‘victim complex’ would be the understatement of the year. Yet, she is very compelling to read about, like a car crash you can’t look away from. The reader hears her thoughts and sees her perspective on the world: how she views people and stories as commodities, how she genuinely never believes that she is in the wrong, how she lacks the compassion and desire to understand the complexities and importance of race and who deserves to tell certain histories. All these qualities make for a captivating character you continually root against, despite continuing to turn the pages to discover her fate.
Finally, the commentary on our current society.
Kuang has a firm, decisive and witty tone throughout the novel. Never doing too much, never taking away from the character, never straying too far from the point. This translates nicely into June’s character and her experiences in the industry. Kuang rips open the curtains on the publishing industry, spotlighting real and tangible issues in a razor-sharp way. Anyone who calls June out or questions the legitimacy of her work is fired by her publishers, who only publicly discredit her themselves later down the line.
The reader also gets a first-hand show of the lion’s den that is social media and how users go about ‘cancelling’ someone. This not only shows the unsettling effects that online shaming and witch-hunting can have on someone, but also highlights the incessant nature of some social media users and the lengths that they will go to take down someone they deem unworthy in whichever way. In a world that is so filled with online presence, I loved how critical Kuang seems to be of social media. Yellowface provides a truly sparkling commentary on the world that we live in.
Image courtesy of Rhona Bowie