Yellowface: A Novel ~ SIGNED, DATED & LOCATED
by Kuang, R. F
- New
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- New/New
- ISBN 10
- 0063250837
- ISBN 13
- 9780063250833
- Seller
-
Daphne, Alabama, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
FIRST EDITION, first printing. Full number line present. Book is brand new and unread. Personally signed, dated and located by R.F. Kuang directly to the full title page. NOT a tip in. NOT a bookplate. "5/28/23 Boston", during a visit to Harvard University very early after this book's release. Truly a one of a kind collectible from one of the world's most talented writers. Dust jacket hand covered in archival grade Mylar for many worry free years of reading/collecting! Photos available upon request.
White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn't write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena's a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
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
- Books On The Boulevard (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 714
- Title
- Yellowface: A Novel ~ SIGNED, DATED & LOCATED
- Author
- Kuang, R. F
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- New
- Jacket Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Hardcover Signed
- ISBN 10
- 0063250837
- ISBN 13
- 9780063250833
- Publisher
- William Morrow
- Date Published
- 2023
- Keywords
- signed; collectible; autographed, novel, asian voices, babel
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