Yellowface: The story of cultural appropriation at the hands of an author seeking success

? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Yellowface, RF Kuang’s latest novel, is a social satire complete with humor and outrage. The author takes us through questions of race, entitlement, appropriation, and morality through the story of Athena Liu and June Hayward — two authors at very different points in their writing careers. When a horrific accident claims Athena’s life, her less accomplished fellow Yale graduate steals her manuscript and claims it as her own: A story about — quite ironically — the erasure of Chinese laborers during World War I by French and British troops. The only hiccup? June is not Asian, but that’s a small detail editors are willing to adjust through a few “cosmetic” changes, including rebranding June as Juniper Song to ultimately propel her to the New York Times bestseller list.