Book Review: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena's a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn't even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song--complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

My Thoughts

This book is very popular so of course I jumped in and picked this one for my Goodreads Book club pick (Between The Pages) for the month of July. Yellowface was very good indeed. Very interesting. In the story we have Athena Liu a very popular Asian American author who is looked at among the writing community as the next big thing to come to the literary world. Her friend (perhaps only friend) June Hayward who is also a writer but not as successful. 

When Athena suddenly dies June steals Athena's manuscript for her latest work "The Last Front". June edits the manuscript and publishes it with resounding success. But soon she begins getting negative social media posts, describing her as a thief. 

I found that this was a really good look into the life of a writer and the publishing industry. This author was really descriptive of June and Athena's lives as writers and it was skillful how she went into detail of the pros and cons surrounding this industry. I have always been curious myself as an avid reader about what goes into writing a book and publishing it. 

What was also interesting was how Juniper was viewed by the book community as a Caucasian person who was writing about the Asian community. I found that very exciting about the book no wonder this is a best seller. After reading this book maybe I could become a writer myself hahaha. Who knows. 

I highly recommend this. It was very good.

 

Book Review: River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

ABOUT

The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.

Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children--the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children...and her freedom.

MY THOUGHTS

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. At some points it was sad at other times it made me angry but all in all it was hopeful. I love historical fiction especially those that highlight key aspects of Caribbean history. Ms. Shearer did her homework with this one, making it a good book to read for someone who knows little about the period of apprenticeship in the Caribbean.

Rachel was a former slave, who after escaping her plantation was determined to find her children who were taken away from her. Her journey starts in Barbados to Demerara and ends in Trinidad where she finds answers to her questions as to what happened to each of her children. I loved how the author gave the story of each child to illustrate the hardships that each one had to face.

As a lover of Caribbean History, this book was very enjoyable to me. Keeping in mind that any account of slavery can be a heavy read, in my opinion books such as this one could be used as a teaching tool and not only entertainment. Rachel's story and those of her children Mary Grace, Thomas Augustus, Mercy, Micah and Cherry Jane remind us of the trials and hurt that came along with slavery.

All in all i would recommend this one.

 

Book Review: The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

 

ABOUT

From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.

Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his par­ents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.

With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.

MY THOUGHTS

I have had Yellow Wife on my TBR list since it came out and still I did not get around to reading it. This book had a long waiting list on Libby so when it became available I decided I had to see what had people so excited. Let's just say, I read it and hands down this is a five star read. WOW. This book had me up in the middle of the night reading so you know it had to be something special.

Eleanor's and Ruby's stories were both heartbreaking in different ways. Eleanor, a first generation college student, intent on fulfilling her dreams at Howard University meets the charming soon to be doctor William Pride. He comes from an affluent family and is everything she could dream of in a boyfriend. Upon getting pregnant William does the "right" thing in spite of his mother's protests and marries Eleanor. Unfortunately a chain of events happen that will test the couple in more ways than one. I don't want to spoil the story but when you read what happens you will have mixed emotions.

Ruby however, is a teen, from a poverty stricken family who desires to be a doctor. She is part of a program that can promise girls like her poor and of colour, an opportunity for a scholarship. When her stepfather attempts to molest her she was sent to live with her aunt by her mother Inez. It is while there she meets Shimmy (a white Jewish boy) who soon becomes head over heels. Their romance is forbidden, so when Ruby becomes pregnant, she had no alternative but to choose being sent to a home for unwed mothers. It is here where the story between Eleanor and Ruby comes connected. 

I gave this book five stars because it really had me gripped from beginning to end. The story was just good in every way.

Book Review: If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

ABOUT

A major debut, blazing with style and heart, that follows a Jamaican family striving for more in Miami, and introduces a generational storyteller.

In the 1970s, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami as political violence consumes their native Kingston. But America, as the couple and their two children learn, is far from the promised land. Excluded from society as Black immigrants, the family pushes on through Hurricane Andrew and later the 2008 recession, living in a house so cursed that the pet fish launches itself out of its own tank rather than stay. But even as things fall apart, the family remains motivated, often to its own detriment, by what the younger son, Trelawny, calls “the exquisite, racking compulsion to survive.”

Masterfully constructed with heart and humor, the linked stories in Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You center on Trelawny as he struggles to carve out a place for himself amid financial disaster, racism, and flat-out bad luck. After a fight with Topper, Trelawny claws his way out of homelessness through a series of odd, often hilarious jobs. Meanwhile, his brother, Delano, attempts a disastrous cash grab to get his kids back, and his cousin Cukie looks for a father who doesn’t want to be found. As each character searches for a foothold, they never forget the profound danger of climbing without a safety net.

Pulsing with vibrant lyricism and inimitable style, sly commentary and contagious laughter, Escoffery’s debut unravels what it means to be in between homes and cultures in a world at the mercy of capitalism and whiteness. With If I Survive You , Escoffery announces himself as a prodigious storyteller in a class of his own, a chronicler of American life at its most gruesome and hopeful.

MY THOUGHTS

Loved It!!
I went into this book completely blind just from seeing it everywhere and all I can say is WOW. I love stories about the Caribbean diaspora. If you do too you need to read this one.

In the story which reads like a short story collection, we meet several characters Jamaicans trying to survive life in the USA. The most notable character is Trelawney, a young man trying to deal with identity and what I would say a series of bad decisions. We also meet his parents, brother Delano and cousin Cukie whose stories were equally interesting.

I dont want to put too many spoilers into this review because I want people to read it.