Yellowface - A Writer's Dystopia

Typically, I wait a few years for good books to shine their way to the top--and I don’t mean the bestsellers. I’d certainly heard about R.F. Kuang's Yellowface, long before I cracked the cover.  The premise alone —a white writer steals a dead Asian’s friend’s manuscript and rockets to bestselling author status—was intriguing. 

I was not disappointed. This is an absorbing novel.

The main character, June Hayward, who is white, rewrites a stolen manuscript and almost convinces herself it's her own creation. Authored under a racially ambiguous pen name, the work becomes an overnight sensation, however soon shows cracks in the authenticity. Literary critics are quick to recognize the hand of the dead Asian author, but also to find fault in the book's stereotypical descriptions of Asian history and Asian characters. The hate mail and criticism directed at June starts to outweigh her literary acclaim, and she goes down the rabbit-hole of fraud.

I found myself engrossed in the main character's account of how bestsellers are chosen, and the role social media plays in determining a book's success. The viciousness of the Twitterati certainly rings true, and hints at a parallel reality, a dark world of the Internet. And as if death threats and hate mail aimed at authors aren't disturbing enough (“racist bitch,” “fucking liar,” “this book is so racist only a white person could have written it”), the description of a rabid cancel culture is  more disturbing.
 
“Racism is bad, but it’s okay to send death threats to Karens," as the protagonist claims.

Today, it is more or less verboten  to write outside the experience of your own race or culture. Though I don't support racial plagiarism, as a white female writer I do identify with the protagonist’s cynicism over having little of relevance to offer today's publishing market. In Yellowface, the industry has clearly co-opted diversity as a business strategy.  The current publishing agenda is something many contemporary writers run up against. ​I could also sympathize with the main character's long-term pain and loneliness, and the duress of labouring under the commitment necessary to turn out a work of fiction. Here’s a memorable quote from the book:

​“Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic.  Writing is creating something out of nothing, is openings doors to other lands. Writing give you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much. To stop writing would kill me. I’d never be able to walk through a bookstore without fingering the spines with longing, wondering at the lengthy editorial process that got these titles on shelves and reminiscing about my own.”

I applaud the pluck of Kuang, an Asian woman writing as a white woman—the reverse of which no white writer in her right mind would attempt today. And even though the fictitious June Hayward, the protagonist, is morally corrupt, she becomes a sympathetic character in the book. Kuang gets it right.
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Yellowface is about the commodification of identity, the avarice of publishers, and the moral bankruptcy of a writer who feels pushed to desperation. The book is important beyond its social commentary and contrarian viewpoint. It has all the craft of a good book: a compelling hook, razor-sharp wit, satisfying plot, excellent pacing, denouement and resolution—all the tricks of the trade.

 Whether it stands the test of time remains to be seen but I can’t wait to read more from this writer.