Yellowface: The instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from author R.F. Kuang

This was a recommendation from Reece Witherspoon's Book Club, so when I received an Amazon voucher for my birthday I decided to treat myself.Good story, well written.Book arrived in excellent condition.

The book came without the cut!!!

Received a used book the first time and after returning it, got a damaged book with torn pages the second time!

The pages of the book were not in good condition

Loved it so funny and witty

This was a book I kept thinking about after I read it. It addresses issues associated with publishing and moral issues associated with social media in today's society. It was very well written and provides food for thought about right and wrong.

El libro llegó en buenas condiciones, la edición es de mis favoritas, cuando lo compré no sabía que esperar pero me gustó mucho

Rebecca F. Kuang, a autora de Yellowface, nasceu em Guangzhou, na China, e mora nos EUA desde os quatro anos. E isso dá uma perspectiva única a essa história de uma escritora branca que se faz passar por autora do livro de uma escritora chinesa.Nas suas mãos, Yellowface se torna uma sátira ao mundo altamente competitivo da literatura com todos os seus personagens: escritores, editores, leitores, críticos e as onipresentes redes sociais. Mas não só. Rebecca usa a história para falar de racismo e misoginia, de apropriação cultural e ressentimento, sem poupar ninguém nesse universo em que ela circula com a desenvoltura de alguém que domina o seu ofício.Yellowface traz a história de uma amizade/rivalidade entre duas escritoras: Athena, americana de origem chinesa, jovem, carismática, bem-sucedida, autora de vários best-sellers; e June, americana branca, jovem, sem sal, um fracasso como escritora. Logo na primeira linha, ficamos sabendo que Athena morreu quando estava prestes a celebrar mais uma vitória em sua carreira. Quem conta o que se passou é June.A narradora revela que não apenas testemunhou a morte horrível de Athena, mas que aproveitou aquele momento para roubar o manuscrito no qual sua amiga/rival trabalhava e que ainda não tinha sido mostrado a ninguém.Quem iria desconfiar que aquele manuscrito não tinha sido produzido por June?Pois é, quem? Quem desconfiaria que uma americana branca que nunca tinha ido à China, que não tinha qualquer laço com aquele país asiático, não seria a autora de um livro que fala em profundidade sobre um episódio obscuro do passado chinês?Na verdade, várias pessoas desconfiaram. Yellowface relata essa jornada de June para se afirmar como autora de uma história que não é sua, apesar de ter trabalhado no manuscrito, confuso e cheio de furos (é o que ela diz), para que ele ficasse mais apresentável. Por sugestão da equipe de marketing que promove o livro, June chega a trocar de nome, adotando um que parecesse mais asiático. O livro, chamado “The Last Front”, se torna um enorme sucesso.Ninguém é inocente nessa história. Nem mesmo Athena, que aos poucos tem seus métodos de trabalho revelados por pessoas que conviveram com ela.June faz tanto esforço para se apresentar como a autora de “The Last Front”, e Rebecca F. Kuang é tão hábil na narrativa, que eu cheguei a me pegar torcendo durante alguns capítulos por essa vilãzinha invejosa e mentirosa.Até que eu voltei ao meu bom senso e me lembrei do quanto escritores racializados têm dificuldades nessa indústria (a própria Athena, apesar de todo sucesso, passou por poucas e boas) e o quanto tudo o que June fez é simplesmente revoltante.E o quanto o fato de June se fazer de vítima é mais revoltante ainda. Num certo momento ela se queixa de racismo reverso (como se racismo reverso existisse) e num outro ela choraminga: “Essa indústria só quer saber de pessoas diversas!” (eu até ri).Rebecca F. Kuang é brilhante ao expor o cinismo e o racismo da indústria editorial. Em outro capítulo, uma editora afirma numa reunião cheia de pessoas brancas, cristãs: “Nós já temos um escritor muçulmano. Mais outro, e nós seremos minoria.”Yellowface é um thriller engraçado e assustador.Assustador tanto quando passeia pelo gênero terror, como quando você percebe que June acredita nas mentiras que conta para si mesma.Assombrada pela possibilidade de ser vista como impostora, assombrada pelo fantasma de Athena, June vai chegar a extremos para manter a farsa.Será que ela consegue?

“People come to a text with so many prejudices formed by what they think they know about the author,” she’s said before. "I sometimes wonder how my work would be received if I pretended to be a man or a white woman. The text could be exactly the same, but one might be a critical bomb and the other a resounding success. Why is that?”I initially thought this book would be difficult to review because I couldn’t get over the wretchedness of the narrator. It’s been a few days since I’ve finished, and while the narrator remains abhorrent, I can finally gather my thoughts.What initially drew me to the text was the promise of tackling discussions about race, cultural appropriation, and the horrors of the publishing industry. On that note, Kuang delivers. Though I wouldn’t say she offers anything new when it comes to the conversation revolving around social media critics (we’re all painfully aware of the almost perverse pleasure people online get out of attacking others), the story was interesting to read nonetheless. The narrative focuses on call-out culture as it relates to the literary world, but as you read along, you realize that it can apply to nearly every corner of online spaces, and it even makes you wonder if, or how, you may have contributed to it yourself.What I found more interesting, however, were some of the other questions raised by the text.Who is allowed to tell which stories?When is the line between “taking inspiration from” and ”outright stealing” drawn?Should every marginalized writer be saddled with the burden of representation?The book doesn’t try to answer these questions (and it doesn’t need to), but rather offers arguments for a wide range of opinions on the matter.Still… it’s a little on the nose. I know what satire is, but perhaps it doesn’t exactly translate to a 300+ page novel. And while the community backlash on social media is timely, it will ultimately date the book in the future. Perhaps it can serve as something of a time capsule, but it does call into question the lasting power of the book.Overall, I recommend this book as a light read for someone even remotely interested in publishing, race, or unlikeable narrators (or any combination of those). I think *Yellowface* is entertaining enough to give Kuang’s other books a read, so I’ll be picking up at least one of her other titles soon.[It should be noted that some reviewers, particularly Asian and Asian American reviewers, have noticed that Athena (the “antagonist”) and Kuang are eerily similar, and a lot of the attacks on Athena mirror that of the actual author, and, considering that most of the (arguably valid) criticism of Athena is spewed from a racist white woman, Kuang is in some ways trying to discredit her critics. I had not heard of or read anything by Kuang before this, but I really encourage you to look at some other reviews to get a bit more context. My review above was written before I knew any of that.]

When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.This book is brilliant, it’s witty, humorous, and addictive! The writing is bold and straight to the point. I was laughing at things I should have not have been laughing at, and cringing at awkward moments and this is the beauty of satire. It is also written in first person so I was able to feel close to June’s thoughts. This author is a talented writer!The book takes us through the publishing process from initial idea to publication. I love how the author highlighted the importance of diverse and own voices and the need for sensitivity readers in fiction. Anyone can read this book but I do think it is niche and will truely satisfy writers, book bloggers/avid readers and those working in publishing.Let me tell you about June, I LOVE an unreliable narrator but in short, she is a jealous, calculating racist thief who manages to publish a book she did not write. The book focuses on stories from a Chinese war. It ANGERED me that June did not see the importance of race/culture whilst writing, it was not until she had to promote the book that she realised she was stepping on toes. This is a clear portrayal of racism and privilege in the publishing industry.The book is heavy on social media presence and the realities of online bullying and cancel culture. The constant narratives on how June was feeling and her anxiety at being caught became repetitive after a while, but apart from that this is a concerning story, yet a thrilling and witty read.