Continuing with my aim of reading more books while on sabbatical, I’ve just finished Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang. The story, told in the first person, revolves around June Hayward, an unsuccessful young white author, who is present at the accidental death of Athena Liu, a Chinese-American author, a hit in literary circles, who chokes on a pancake. Athena has just finished a complete draft of a novel about Chinese laborers in World War I and while waiting for emergency services to arrive, June purloins the manuscript and passes it off as her own. She is immediately welcomed by publishers and offered a large advance, but that’s only the start as she has to then contend with accusations of plagiarism and racism as well as being haunted by what appears to be Athena’s ghost. I won’t spoil the read by telling you how it ends, but it did remind me a little bit of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
The author describes this as a “horror story about loneliness” in the highly competitive world of publishing, I found much of it resonates with academia too, but it’s really more of a satire about plagiarism and marketing hype than a horror story per se. I found it very readable, and interesting for someone who has recently quit Twitter to see how social media play such an important – and negative – role in the story. I was gripped by the story and read it in just two evenings, which is quick for me. Recommended.
In the Dark 