To me, part of the interest of this novel is the way that most people would have to admit that what June does in passing off Athena's manuscript, with additions and revisions, as entirely her own, is objectively wrong, but because the story is told from June's point of view, it is tempting to want her to get away with it. The moral ambiguity is increased by the way that neither Athena herself, who in a sense is the posthumous victim, nor the people who want to denounce and expose June's plagiarism, are really any better morally, than June herself. The end of the novel, when June explains to the reader how she plans to bounce back from the scandal, I am not certain if we are meant to believe, in which case there may yet be a happy ending for the character, or if we are meant to conclude that June is deluding herself. I thought probably the latter. I liked some of the phrases Rebecca Kuang used in 'Yellowface' e.g. 'I'm not opposed to children in theory' 'Haven't read this book but giving it one star because...' 'We were small, fragile freshmen girls at a large university where such things are known to happen...Not every girl has a r@ pe story but almost every girl has a "I'm not sure, I didn't like it, but I can't quite call it r@ pe" story.'
Unfortunately a successful marketing is the key most of the time nowadays to 'make it' whether you are an author or an artist 😢. So many talented musicians are to be discovered but lack the connection and the funds 😢.
Yes, and further to this it makes you think just what fantastic creativity we are missing out on because of this. Many voices disappear under the noise.
I've read "Babel" from the same author, I really enjoyed it. There's some controversies as well but it's an interesting read nonetheless. I'd love to know what you think once you've read it!
Yes, now that I know her work, Babel would be intriguing. I’ll be borrowing it from the library to read. Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts here. 😊
Hi Helen..totally agree..I read this book recently and read it over two days..I think it was extremely well written and raises a lot of interesting questions about the publishing industry..I watched some interviews by the author and I remember thinking what a smart person she is..I wonder what her next book will be?.. great review looking forward to your next one..just read (or started) Day by Michael Cunningham, would love to know your thoughts on that one if you come by it...toodleooo
Thanks for this. Yeah I listened to an interview of hers on Radio National's Book show and it was interesting to learn of her inspiration for the book. I don't know Day so will check it out. I have created a "Shelf" on GoodReads with all the books that viewers recommend and I steadily add these to that so I can refer to them when I'm out and about on my travels to libraries and stores.
Glad you’re enjoying it. Have you read the other Pachinko book out of interest. It’s by Min Jin Lee and also had rave reviews. I’d like to read that too. It’s on my TBR…..like so many others. 🤣
@@LifeLessonsFromBooks on reserve at the library..I'll let you know on that one..yes reading list growing..just discovered Javier Marias..so many books so little time and writing in between...but great joy.
Thanks for this positive review of a book I also much enjoyed, even if you had to spend quite a lot of the review debunking the Cultural Appropriation nonsense rather than talking about the story, characters, style and inspiration of this novel, which to me are more interesting. However, some other reviews of RF Kuang's Yellowface, including on UA-cam, make a big thing of the Cultural Appropriation and 'race' and semi-political issues that you probably had to address them. Some politically correct reviewers seem not to realise that it is people like them that the book is partly satirising. However, 'Yellowface' also highlights how non-white writers in North America can be unhappy about the way they are treated by a predominantly white publishing industry ("Do you know what it's like to pitch a book and be told they already have an Asian writer?") Whether a white writer who has Western ancestry trying to make a career in an Asian country would be treated better or worse by publishers there I do not know, but I suspect often worse.
Thanks for the feedback here. Yeah lots to think about and at times, it doesn't sit well. I'm currently reading another novel called The Haters, which upon initial reading seems to be similar to YellowFace but in this case, it's about a writer where the public deems that she has used cases and situations from her own work (being a counsellor at a school) to create her work of fiction and receive success from it. The public turn on her saying that she used the stories from her students to create her best seller debut novel. So it makes me think how difficult it must be for writers to write themselves OUT of their story that they're writing. To be entirely creative, to not use anything of themselves, their observations, their experiences, reflections, situations to build and concoct a piece of fiction AND where they need not create social media profiles to push it out to 'followers'. In some way, writing anonymously or with a pseudonym or being a recluse is beginning to have its appeal in this day and age....just thoughts....
To me, part of the interest of this novel is the way that most people would have to admit that what June does in passing off Athena's manuscript, with additions and revisions, as entirely her own, is objectively wrong, but because the story is told from June's point of view, it is tempting to want her to get away with it.
The moral ambiguity is increased by the way that neither Athena herself, who in a sense is the posthumous victim, nor the people who want to denounce and expose June's plagiarism, are really any better morally, than June herself.
The end of the novel, when June explains to the reader how she plans to bounce back from the scandal, I am not certain if we are meant to believe, in which case there may yet be a happy ending for the character, or if we are meant to conclude that June is deluding herself. I thought probably the latter.
I liked some of the phrases Rebecca Kuang used in 'Yellowface' e.g.
'I'm not opposed to children in theory'
'Haven't read this book but giving it one star because...'
'We were small, fragile freshmen girls at a large university where such things are known to happen...Not every girl has a r@ pe story but almost every girl has a "I'm not sure, I didn't like it, but I can't quite call it r@ pe" story.'
Ur reviews are thoughtful and comes from heart and shows ur passion about it too. Gratitude 🙏
Thank you for that kind observation. Happy reading. 📚😊
Thanks for the review and insights. 👏
Thank you for watching 😊
Unfortunately a successful marketing is the key most of the time nowadays to 'make it' whether you are an author or an artist 😢. So many talented musicians are to be discovered but lack the connection and the funds 😢.
Yes, and further to this it makes you think just what fantastic creativity we are missing out on because of this. Many voices disappear under the noise.
I've read "Babel" from the same author, I really enjoyed it. There's some controversies as well but it's an interesting read nonetheless. I'd love to know what you think once you've read it!
Yes, now that I know her work, Babel would be intriguing. I’ll be borrowing it from the library to read. Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts here. 😊
Hi Helen..totally agree..I read this book recently and read it over two days..I think it was extremely well written and raises a lot of interesting questions about the publishing industry..I watched some interviews by the author and I remember thinking what a smart person she is..I wonder what her next book will be?.. great review looking forward to your next one..just read (or started) Day by Michael Cunningham, would love to know your thoughts on that one if you come by it...toodleooo
Thanks for this. Yeah I listened to an interview of hers on Radio National's Book show and it was interesting to learn of her inspiration for the book. I don't know Day so will check it out. I have created a "Shelf" on GoodReads with all the books that viewers recommend and I steadily add these to that so I can refer to them when I'm out and about on my travels to libraries and stores.
@@LifeLessonsFromBooks awesome..just half way through The Pachinko Parlour..loving it..great recommendation
Glad you’re enjoying it. Have you read the other Pachinko book out of interest. It’s by Min Jin Lee and also had rave reviews. I’d like to read that too. It’s on my TBR…..like so many others. 🤣
@@LifeLessonsFromBooks on reserve at the library..I'll let you know on that one..yes reading list growing..just discovered Javier Marias..so many books so little time and writing in between...but great joy.
@andyjones1899 ooh I have The Infatuations here on my book shelf by him but I haven’t read it yet.
Thanks for this positive review of a book I also much enjoyed, even if you had to spend quite a lot of the review debunking the Cultural Appropriation nonsense rather than talking about the story, characters, style and inspiration of this novel, which to me are more interesting.
However, some other reviews of RF Kuang's Yellowface, including on UA-cam, make a big thing of the Cultural Appropriation and 'race' and semi-political issues that you probably had to address them.
Some politically correct reviewers seem not to realise that it is people like them that the book is partly satirising. However, 'Yellowface' also highlights how non-white writers in North America can be unhappy about the way they are treated by a predominantly white publishing industry ("Do you know what it's like to pitch a book and be told they already have an Asian writer?") Whether a white writer who has Western ancestry trying to make a career in an Asian country would be treated better or worse by publishers there I do not know, but I suspect often worse.
Thanks for the feedback here. Yeah lots to think about and at times, it doesn't sit well. I'm currently reading another novel called The Haters, which upon initial reading seems to be similar to YellowFace but in this case, it's about a writer where the public deems that she has used cases and situations from her own work (being a counsellor at a school) to create her work of fiction and receive success from it. The public turn on her saying that she used the stories from her students to create her best seller debut novel.
So it makes me think how difficult it must be for writers to write themselves OUT of their story that they're writing. To be entirely creative, to not use anything of themselves, their observations, their experiences, reflections, situations to build and concoct a piece of fiction AND where they need not create social media profiles to push it out to 'followers'.
In some way, writing anonymously or with a pseudonym or being a recluse is beginning to have its appeal in this day and age....just thoughts....