Just a few pages into Yellowface, and I was like, wow, June needs therapy. She’s thinking about how Athena must like her company because June isn’t a literary threat to her, and June goes on to write, “Don’t we all want a friend who won’t ever challenge our superiority, because they already know it’s a lost cause? Don’t we all need someone we can treat as a punching bag?” Um, no, June, we don’t, and that’s not a healthy thing to think.
The novel is told by June in first-person perspective. Her friend (frenemy?) Athena is a literary star and June is a struggling writer. When Athena chokes to death – in a fairly disturbing scene – while she and June are in Athena’s apartment, June steals Athena’s most recent manuscript and decides to present it as her own work. Those first few pages of the book are a prelude to what we’re getting into with June and her messed up way of thinking. And it turns out that she has gotten therapy in the past, but she still has a lot of insecurities driving her behavior. For me, the psychology of it all is part of what kept this book so interesting. June goes from saying that publishing Athena’s book isn’t really plagiarism to “well, it might be plagiarism but that’s a good thing because otherwise the book might never have seen the light of day” and then to “screw Athena, this is my revenge.”
The mental gymnastics are fascinating, and while this book is considered a satire, it’s scary because it’s not unrealistic, just like June thinking she isn’t a racist even as she says and thinks racist things is very realistic. Yes, this book is about skewering the publishing industry, questioning our assumptions of who can and can’t write certain types of books, and commenting on racism and white fragility, but this novel is also very much a character study of June. She is clearly the book’s villain, or at least a villain, and while I don’t know that we’re ever fully rooting for her, it’s a testament to Kuang’s skill as a writer that I wasn’t exactly not rooting for her. Kuang does an excellent job of straddling the line so that sometimes readers feel sympathy for June (e.g., because her family couldn’t care less about her publishing accomplishments) but also feel deep revulsion towards her.
As others have pointed out, this isn’t a “fun” book, but it is engaging and thought-provoking. It’s the first book I’ve read by Kuang, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Babel compares. I realize that one is a fantasy, but I’m hoping that Kuang’s skillful character work and social commentary continue to shine through.