Yellowface by Rebecca Kuang
THIS IS ONE HELL OF A STORY.
IT’S JUST NOT HERS TO TELL.
When failed writer June Hayward witnesses her rival Athena Liu die in a freak accident, she sees her opportunity… and takes it.
So what if it means stealing Athena’s final manuscript?
So what if it means ‘borrowing’ her identity?
And so what if the first lie is only the beginning…
Finally, June has the fame she always deserved. But someone is about to expose her…
What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.
It’s a very good premise for a story and a real rollercoaster read. It was lent to me (thanks boss) not long after reading Erasure by Percival Everett which covers some similar territory. There are some big issues in here around race, cultural appropriation and identity which do make it a deeper and more powerful novel too. I did really enjoy it but there is a lot of narrative dependent on happenings in the current world of social media – given the pace of change in this domain though it is possible that this might feel slightly dated in a few years. But it is a good read and Kuang writes extremely well – definitely recommended.
Prole Art Threat 