Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Let's Read Between the Line, Yellowface, the highly immersive satirical novel where we get insight on the cut-throat world of publishing. In a climate where the publishing industry is being highly scrutinized for its gatekeeping, unfair treatment of marginalized writers and editors, its role in appropriation — we all remember the "Bad Art Friend" saga — and more, Kuang's novel is a strong commentary on the exploitation and rigors writers face under the pressure to be successful.

Throughout the novel, Juniper "June" Hayward, publishing as Juniper Song, works to maintain the lie that her first big hit novel The Last Front, a story about Chinese workers in the British Army during WWI, is indeed her work and her work only.

The story is a multi-layer, complex conversation that tackles a few things about the publishing industry at once. The topic of cultural appropriation galvanizes the entire story and at various angles challenges the idea of what kind of stories writers are allowed to write given their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. In one scene, June is challenged by a Chinese American reader on why she thinks it's okay to write and profit from painful Chinese history. She responds, "I think it's dangerous to start censoring what authors should and shouldn't write...

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