June and Athena are grad school classmates who develop a friendship that is marred by envy. Specifically, June envies Athena’s success in not only getting her manuscripts published, but earning both a large sum of money and critical success at a young age. June is struggling to publish and to find her way.

Fate intervenes when Athena chokes on a pancake in front of June. While waiting for emergency services, June makes a quick decision to steal the only copy of Athena’s latest manuscript. A manuscript that no one else has seen. Athena is dead, so she isn’t talking.

June manages to change a bit of the manuscript to justify in her mind that she contributed to its creation and she passes it off as her own. It sells and just like Athena’s previous works, it does well. However, certain people become suspicious of June. They wonder why she, as a white woman, would decide to write about Chinese History? She is known to be Athena’s friend and the one who was with Athena when she died, and this work seems to be Athena’s style. Matters are not helped, when the publishing company decides to change June’s name obscure her identity and they post a picture of June that looks somewhat ethnically ambiguous. Is June trying to be someone she isn’t?

June’s paranoia at being discovered and having her success come crashing down is increased when she receives threatening emails from someone claiming to know the truth. In her paranoia, June even believes that Athena might still be alive and stalking her.

I’m not really a fantasy reader and although all of my coworkers have gushed over R.F. Kuang, I have not read her other books because of their genre. However, Yellowface is straight up literary fiction and when multiple coworkers described the plot, I knew that it was my kind of book.

I was loaned a copy of the arc by my manager and I absolutely could not put it down. Both June and Athena are difficult characters, but June’s behavior is so repugnant that even when there are moments that you might empathize with her, it’s hard. She deserves what comes to her.

Yellowface brings up uncomfortable scenarios such June’s publishers being accomplices in obscuring her identity. Song is June’s actual middle-name, given to her by hippie parents, however, anyone can easily see that it is also a common Korean and Chinese last name. The intent is to lead readers to believe she isn’t white. However, on the flip side, it also points to another situation where the publishing industry saying if June is her authentic self, that they cannot sell the idea of June paired with this work. This is damaging in more than one way.

First, it is implying that the author’s identity matters more than the merits of the work, and second, it is saying that neither June, nor Athena, matter much beyond their physical attributes. It made me wonder if this book could even be the same if the authors were male? This type of race promotion or hiding is somewhat similar to how female writers use male pseudonyms or initials to obscure their gender from swaying readers.

Of course all of these deep questions are tempered in the story because June did steal Athena’s manuscript and she does play along with all of the changes and lies. She feels that she deserves the success, and most insidious of all, that Athena’s success was not purely talent based, but also due to her ethnicity. June feels that life has been unfair and as Athena has been given an advantage, it is okay for June to cheat to win. We can look at all of the perceived or real injustices, but in the end, June is a thief.

Yellowface brings up unflattering aspects of art and the publishing industry. It also reveals an ugly side of human nature. It’s not an easy read, but it is a page turner and great pick for book club discussions. Also, I enjoyed Kuang’s storytelling and writing style so much, that I will definitely pick up her fantasy titles. I think Babel next!

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of Jennifer Weiner’s latest novel, Mrs. Every-Thing, in exchange for an honest review.

In Mrs. Everything, bestselling author Jennifer Weiner explores the lives of the Kaufman sisters, Jo and Bethie. Although they are very different women, the Kaufman sisters are close, until Bethie is raped. The guilt, miscommunication, and things that go unspoken drives a wedge between the sisters and they spend most of their lives struggling to repair their relationship.

Mrs. Every-Thing is an epic story that begins in the 1950’s and spans decades, following Bethie and Jo through their childhood to their golden years. Weiner tackles many of the heavy themes of those decades, including feminism, civil rights, and gays rights. Her characters are in the thick of it.

Jo seems to follow a more traditional path, marrying young and becoming a mother. She lives in the suburbs of Connecticut and outwardly reflects the attitudes of a conservative housewife. However, she is hiding a relationship that she had with a female classmate in college, a love that has never died. She carries the burden of not feeling that she can live her authentic-self, as she tries to maintain a happy home for her children, while her marriage is crumbling.

Bethie takes a different path. After being sexually assaulted, she turns to an alternative, hippie lifestyle of the 60’s and lives on a commune. She is wary of marrying or having kids, but is vocal in her passion to promote feminism. She eventually realizes that she has a desire to be an entrepreneur, which is in conflict with the ideals of the commune, so she leaves and becomes a successful businesswoman. She also finds love with an black man in an time not long after the civil rights era.

Admittedly, in the hands of a different writer, the topics covered in Mrs. Every-Thing, may have come across as cliche. However, Weiner is a masterful storyteller and she has created two compelling protagonists. The tale of the Kaufman sisters is a page turner and I was engaged for the entire ride. It made me consider my own life path as a child of the late 70’s and how different my options have been from those of my mom and aunt, who were both born just a decade prior to Jo and Bethie. We often judge the world and the people living in it from the standards of now, however people are very much a product of the era in which they were raised. Our world is constantly changing and every generation has unique challenges. Through hindsight, I can now see just in my lifetime how far we have come with regard to inclusion and rights, yet how far we need to go. The story of the Kaufman sisters is look at a few pivotal decades in American history and moreover, what it meant to be female during that time.

I highly recommend Mrs. Every-Thing and Weiner’s other novels. She’s a talented writer!