This is exactly the type of book that you start reading after work and ten minutes later it’s dark out and you’ve forgotten to cook dinner. Yellowface by RF Kuang is a satirical thriller set in the book industry. It is a critique of the embedded racism and prejudice in the publishing industry and the perfect illustration of a white person who cannot fathom that they are the problem.
Please be aware that this review will contain spoilers. I’ll be discussing this book purely from the perspective of developmental editing. There are plenty of brilliant reviews on the content of this novel.
First is the chillingly cultivated plot. When we talk about character arcs, we are often referring to a positive arc as they are the most common. A positive arc, in this novel, would be entirely inappropriate. Kuang does not soften Juniper Hayward for the comfort of her readers. In fact, she does allow a glimmer of retribution for the whole book, despite the protagonist fighting hard to make her case. Part of what makes this a thriller, for me, is the intense fear that Juniper will get narrative redemption. What is devastatingly playful of Kuang is that what we, the reader, are experiencing as a negative arc, Juniper and the publishing industry (if an entire industry can count as a character) are experiencing as a positive arc. This is powerful for bringing home the final hit of its theme. The ending could not possibly have been for Juniper to see the error in her ways, not truly. It could not have been for the publishing industry to right its wrong and be better off for it. That would be romanticising the issue. It is uncomfortable for white readers. But anything else would be uncomfortable, and even harmful, for Asian readers. Juniper Song and the publishing industry are not allowed to be the heroes of this story by overcoming their inner demons and showing up better off for it. Kuang demonstrates how it is important to consider your themes when deciding what shape your arc takes.
Kuang also demonstrates using characters to explore the narrative question. The narrative question is “will Juniper Hayward create a convincing argument that her use of Athena Lui’s writing and Chinese culture is acceptable?” She uses Juniper as a morally bad character who is capable of introspect to explore this for the most part. This works well because Juniper is not one-dimensionally evil. Juniper has to be able to see exactly what she did wrong and why it was wrong in order for her to twist a narrative that exonerates her. The story wouldn’t work if Juniper was simply naively awful. If you want to write a story about your villainous main character deciding whether they are the villain, they must be able to approach the question with “Well no, but…”
Likewise, the villain’s victim and counterparts cannot be entirely pure. Athena Lui is morally grey and has a complex attitude towards ownership. Of course, Juniper Hayward’s middle act sob story about Athena stealing her pain could only be viewed as “basically the same thing as what Hayward did, right?!” if you happen to be a plank of wood without a brain cell. But the fact that Athena has caused real (even if very different) hurt means that June’s justifications have some grounding (even if they miss the point entirely). Your villain doesn’t have to be right in their critique of their victim, but they do have to be believable.
So how do Athena and June represent June’s struggle with the narrative question? Through Athena and Juniper, Kuang is separating the two actions: fictionalising the life experiences of other people, writing outside of your experience, taking inspiration from the world around you versus writing about other cultures in a way that is harmful, inaccurate and white-washing. June’s motivation is to be viewed as the former, when in actuality her situation is the latter. Between them, June and Athena represent each outcome when writing outside of your experience. Creating characters that engage with each potential answer to the main character’s narrative question is a great way to explore the themes of your manuscript.
The final thing to take from Yellowface is to be compassionate and thoughtful when writing outside of your experience. Doing research on that experience is part of it. But you should also think critically about how people with your experience have historically represented what you are writing. And you should use (and pay!) authenticity readers – and then take on board their feedback. (Note: writing beyond your experience is about more than just race. Disability, neurodivergency, class, culture, and many other experiences deserve to be represented accurately and without harm.)