Yellowface
by R. F. Kuang
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0063250837
- ISBN 13
- 9780063250833
- Seller
-
Carrollton, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: William Morrow, 2023. SIGNED. Purchased New. F/F. Stated First Edition. First printing with number line ending in 1. Signed by R.F. Kuang on the title page. The book is tight with solid hinges, good tips, and clean unmarred boards. The textblock is clean with no writing, bookplate, or markings and not BCE, ex-library, or remaindered. The dust jacket is unclipped ($30.00) and Fine. Protected in a new Brodart Mylar cover. 323 pages. 6¼ x 9½ " tall.
A young white author, Juniper "June" Hayward, steals the manuscript of her dead Asian friend, finishes it, and publishes it as her own. Throughout the novel, Juniper, publishing as Juniper Song, works to maintain the lie that her first big hit novel The Last Front, a story about Chinese workers in the British Army during WWI, is indeed her work and her work only.
Reviews
"People always describe jealousy as this sharp, green, venomous thing. Unfounded, vinegary, mean-spirited. But I've found that jealousy, to writers, feels more like fear. Jealousy is the spike in my heartrate when I glimpse news of Athena's success on Twitter"
Yellowface is the fifth novel by award-winning, best-selling Chinese author and translator, Rebecca F Kuang. Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu take many of the same classes at Yale, but after that, their paths diverge. Athena, as June sees it, is a beautiful, Yale-educated, international, ambiguously queer woman of colour who, by the age of twenty-seven, has three best-sellers under her belt and has just scored a Netflix contract. June is just a plain, straight white girl from Philly: her one novel tanked, and she's tutoring rich kids for the SAT to make rent.
While they basically have only skin-deep friendship, more a product of proximity than connection, Athena invites June to celebrate with her. That includes a lot of whiskey and, in the ensuing silliness, despite June's best efforts, Athena chokes to death. The only copy of her just-finished manuscript, sitting there on Athena's desk, is too much temptation for June, who puts it in her bag and takes it home.
June works quite hard on turning this first draft into a publishable work, and she quickly begins to believe her own justifications for doing so. Her agent is impressed and lines up an enthusiastic publisher. The advance is generous. Her editor suggests some changes to make the book less confronting, but that also soften Anthea's strong stance on this difficult topic. June readily agrees: she firmly believes that "Reading should be an enjoyable experience, not a chore"
Because the book is about the treatment of Chinese laborers fighting on the side of the British in World War One, and June is not Chinese, she decides on a pseudonym using her middle name: Juniper Song, hoping to bypass the touchy issue of cultural authenticity mentioned by her publisher. She also rejects outright having a sensitivity reader check the manuscript.
The Last Front hits the New York Times bestseller list and June is enjoying the sort of recognition that Athena had. And then, allegations of plagiarism hit the Twittersphere. Is this the end of June's career in writing?
There's a delicious irony in a Chinese author writing a white protagonist who has appropriated a Chinese woman's work to pass off as her own. Kuang explores the vexed question of cultural appropriation, touching on morally grey areas such as who has the right to write about what. Racism, misogyny, and xenophobia are all aired, and she does it all with such eloquent prose.
Her characters are complex and flawed, and neither June nor Athena is particularly likeable, but Kuang somehow gets the reader totally invested in June's fate: will she get away with it? Do we want her to?
Kuang gives the reader a compelling insight into the publishing industry, and demonstrates the huge influence that social media can have. She also throws in a dramatic climax. This is a twisty tale that's hard to put down: clever and thought-provoking, polarising and often darkly funny.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Armadillo Alley Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 4345
- Title
- Yellowface
- Author
- R. F. Kuang
- Format/Binding
- Cloth
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition / First Printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0063250837
- ISBN 13
- 9780063250833
- Publisher
- William Morrow
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2023
- Pages
- 323
- Size
- 6.25 x 9.5
- Keywords
- thriller, Asian, Chinese, signed, kuang, publishing
- Bookseller catalogs
- First Editions; Signed Books;
Terms of Sale
Armadillo Alley Books
About the Seller
Armadillo Alley Books
About Armadillo Alley Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Brodart
- Generally used to refer to a clear plastic cover that is sometimes added to the dustjacket or outside covering of a book. The...
- Jacket
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- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Number Line
- A series of numbers appearing on the copyright page of a book, where the lowest number generally indicates the printing of that...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...