Yellowface

Yellowface is a perfect novel for the current zeitgeist; a thriller but with a strong academic dimension too. The work combines a revenge-theft story with a satire on the publishing industry, as well as raising serious and thoughtful questions about both internet culture and (racial) identity politics. Kuang, as an academic with an MPhil in Chinese Studies and a five-times author before the age of 30, is perfectly placed to comment on all the above. Yellowface is fast-paced and page-turning, but contains a huge amount worthy of further analysis too. There is no doubting that some of the content is informed by autobiographical experience, but Kuang is almost certainly correct in observing how image is manufactured in the publishing industry, that certain stories sell better than others, and that fame is (or can be) little more than transient. There is also a racist element built in, whether consciously or not — ‘outsider’ stories sell; white privilege is a lot less interesting. Given the toxicity and incestuousness of the industry, which is amplified by the echo chamber of the internet, there is no surprise that authors take risks (per the action of Yellowface). More tragically, Kuang reveals just how lonely fame in publishing can be: success breeds resentment on the part of others. The genius of the novel is that readers almost want or hope the amoral narrator June Hayward/Juniper Song to succeed. The conclusion still leaves this possibility open, a likely candidate for top ten reads of the year, ten out of ten.

By Rebecca F. Kuang