Yellowface
I sped through R. F. Kuang’s catalog in the year 2022 (and a few days into 2023) and I have no regrets. I am ready for more of her clever and poignant torture. Her previously-published work has been fantasy, but this time it’s contemporary fiction.
At the center of this story is a low-level Ivy League friendship full of jealousy and resentment, similar to the ones in In My Dreams I Hold a Knife with an intellectual property twist. The friendship reminded me of the central relationship in These Violent Delights (by Micah Nemerever, not the book of the same title by Chloe Gong), and the publishing setting gave it a dark academia flavor, even though it is not technically dark academia. We know from Babel, that R. F. Kuang nails the dark academia vibes, and this book was no different.
June has always been jealous of her friend Athena and resents her seemingly easy success, but when Athena suddenly dies, June sees an opportunity to grasp that success for herself by stealing Athena’s freshly finished manuscript off her desk as Athena’s newly-deceased body cools in the other room. Suddenly, the publishing industry loves her and promotes the book, but Athena’s legacy casts a shadow over June’s (now rebranded Juniper Song) success. The manuscript is about the Chinese Labor Corps in Canada during WWI and the harsh discrimination the laborers underwent.
The most compelling aspect of June’s story is her need to cling to a narrative where she is still a good person, despite having committed very serious plagiarism. She didn’t steal Athena’s work, she brought it the attention it deserved and the editing it “needs.” June jumps through high hoops to justify her behavior, even to herself. She has convinced herself that she has put just as much effort and research into the manuscript as Athena had, though she deliberately erases real history in order to make white characters in positions of power over the Chinese Labor Corps more sympathetic. June would almost be a relatable character if not for these clearly deranged mental gymnastics; maybe she still is relatable, given the kind of people I see when I go outside and look around.
In my book reviews, I have written often about characters that are unlikeable and therefore lackluster to me. June is an unlikeable character done correctly because she is compelling. I was hungry to read more of her march into moral turpitude and her justifications for her increasingly cruel actions gave me food for thought. I especially appreciate characters like this as they are a guide for what not to do.
Step One: rethink all life choices
Step Two: resist stealing your friend’s hard work
I think I can work with this framework.
Yellowface is a testament to the talent and versatility of Kuang: high fantasy, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction. Kuang now ranks solidly among my favorite authors.
