June was there when her Asian friend, Athena, accidentally died. And yes, she kinda, sorta stole Athena’s just-finished book manuscript and published it under an assumed name. But she had to do something. I mean, nobody wants stories written by average white girls.
June Hayward isn’t a bad person. She’s sure of it.
The fact is, the events that took place on the way to her becoming a bestselling author were almost, well, happenstance.
It started when she and Athena Liu were out—admittedly drinking a little too heavily—in celebration of Athena’s just-settled deal with Netflix. OK, yeah, June was drinking a bit less out of celebration for her friend and a bit-more out of self-pity. But hey, wouldn’t you?
I mean, she and Athena had gone to college together. They were supposed to be blossoming young writers who rose to fame together. But the beautiful Asian wunderkind, Athena Liu, had found publishing glory while the average-looking white girl, June Hayward, got zip-a-dee-do-dah.
Anyway, back to the heavy drinking.
The girls were both pretty well greased by the time they went back to Athena’s apartment. That’s when June caught sight of the finished first draft of Athena’s next big book: a historical novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
Athena was famously secretive about her projects before she created the first rough draft. So, when she let June read the opening pages, June was the first person to know anything about it. And even with too many drinks under her belt, June could tell the book was brilliant.
Then Athena died.
It was a complete accident! Really. June went to great lengths to save her friend. But by the time the paramedics arrived, Athena was gone. June weepingly spoke with the police. And with tears still flowing, she stumbled home with Athena’s manuscript in her bag.
June dealt with grief.
June dealt with guilt.
Then she dealt with responsibility.
Shouldn’t a great piece of important writing be finished so it could uplift a needy public? she reasoned. And by the time June did all the necessary research and rewrites—weeks of it—she also had to deal with a growing sense of ownership. She asked herself, Wasn’t this much-improved piece of literature just as much hers as it was Athena’s?
June followed her publisher’s advice and used her actual first and middle names, “Juniper Song,” as her published moniker. In a way, that choice marked a new beginning for her. She could start her heretofore mediocre writing career over. She could even sound potentially more ethnic and avoid accusations of cultural misappropriation.
You see it now, right? Everything just sort of fell together, almost all on its own. It just shows that June’s trip to publishing glory was always meant to happen.
Too bad about Athena, though.
None.
There’s a general acceptance in the story’s narrative thread that our culture is completely and, at times, unconsciously racist. There’s also a ready acceptance that conservative thought is foul and hate-fueled (even though all the hateful online commentary in the tale seems to come from liberal-leaning sources).
Yellowface looks particularly closely at the caustic but all-consuming nature of the internet and social media. The book repeatedly illustrates how racist and racially fraught the Internet is. Author R.F. Kuang muses at length over the vanity of social media, our systems of cultural power and the lengths to which people will go for attention and fame.
Publishing figures (editors, agents, publicists, etc.) in the book are seemingly cut from a similar cloth. (The book seems fairly critical of the business as a whole.) They go to great lengths to hide any inconvenient truths on the way to sizable piles of income, and they put up legal and physical walls at any whiff of controversy or public discontent. People in and around the writing world are also painted as being uniformly hyper-sensitive to questions of privilege, appropriation and an individual’s “authentic” right to speak and write about certain subjects.
Even Athena—the one person who feels the most level-headed and unfairly used in the book—is someone who has stolen ideas from others in the past and written outside of her “cultural boundaries.”
June’s interactions with others are always tainted by her deception and lies (even though she tries to convince herself of the rightness of her choices). June’s family relationships are strained as well. Even though the world seemingly turns against her at one point, she finds no comfort or understanding from her mom; just a suggestion that she, in a sense, should get a real job.
Foul language use and abusively profane online rants will be some of the most problematic elements of this story for many. Sexual vulgarities are spewed. And the characters of Yellowface dump lots of profanity (including f- and s-words and other crudities) into their general dialogue as well.
June and Athena drink to the point of staggering drunkenness at the top of the tale. June and others imbibe adult beverages in a number of later scenes. Someone chokes to death in the midst of their agonizing efforts to grab a breath. Two women fight and batter one another, drawing blood. And a woman falls down a set of stone stairs, ending up in the hospital with contusions and broken bones.
Athena is said to have had an intimate relationship with someone, but the book doesn’t explore any of the characters’ sexual relationships other than a mention of June feeling the urge to kiss Athena when the two of them are drunk.
None.
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Yellowface is a highly praised novel filled with inviting and compelling commentary about the world of publishing; the caustic nature of social media cancel culture; and the public price people pay for selfish, deceitful and racist choices.
However, author R.F. Kuang’s race-focused tale is arguably hampered by its own prejudices and assumptions. That and the book’s copious use of harsh profanity will make this a difficult read for some.
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Review by Bob Hoose
