Review: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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**Contains some minor spoilers**

The internet has been going crazy over the whole Man vs. Bear debate. However, there was another debate that came out of the other debate. A TikToker asked Black Women “who would you rather be left alone in a conference room? A white man or a white woman. ” I didn’t even have to read the comments to know what they answer would be. Let’s face it, white women have a history of not being very good allies to our sisters of color. Just look at the last two presidential elections. If you are still shocked by black women’s answer to above question then, read Yellowface because it is a description as to why. June went to Yale with Athena Liu. Athena comes from money and is beautiful and gets her first writing deal before they graduate. She is also Chinese American. June on the other hand struggles to find her voice and has to tutor privilege high schoolers to pay the bills. Meanwhile, Athena has had nothing but success since they graduated. She has released multiple best sellers and now a netflix deal. June’s one book barely sold and her editor and agent ignore her calls. Athena and June go out to celebrate Athena’s Netflix deal then end up going to Athena’s apartment. They get more drunk and make pancakes, which Athena chokes on and dies. Before she dies, Athena shows June her finished manuscript. No one else has seen it or even knows what it’s about. Athena was very secretive about her process or what she was writing about. June takes the manuscript and is instantly drawn to it. As good as it is, it is a first draft so June decides to make some changes to it and then sends it off to submission as her own work. She convinces herself that Athena wouldn’t want it published as it was and she did so much work on it that it’s her book too.

She publishes book under her a new name Juniper Song. Her first and real name. She is finally gets all the acclaim and fame that she always craved and felt she deserved. She is convinced that her lack of success wasn’t because she wasn’t talented but because she was a minority. These days, everyone is looking for diversity after all. She is one of those people that would say with a straight face that she can’t be racist because she had a black friend or in this case an Asian face. Since the story is told in the first person, we get her thoughts in their uncensored glory. How she dislikes Chinese food and afraid to go to Chinatown without her mace. How she was also jealous of Athena and never really liked her. Of course, she is found out but instead of coming clean she just digs in deeper. And for a while she gets away with it because people want to believe white women and since she was making a lot of people a lot of money they kept protecting her. That was until she uses a old prompt of Athena’s and scandal all over again. At this point she is much in her victim era that she has convinced herself that she has done nothing wrong and she’s being bullied. Very much like a certain Author of kids wizard’s and her transphobic comments but I digress.

I got to tell you, as a white woman myself, I had moments reading this where I thought “not all White woman are like this” or “I’m not like this” because I really don’t want think of myself like this but honestly that’s exactly what June would say about herself. She identified as liberal and a democrat. She liked to point out how she started a scholarship in Athena’s name in the same sentence as she denigrated the Black Lives Movement. Any criticism of her was nothing but jealous, SJW looking to score points on the internet despite that fact that they were right. She did steal Athena’s work and passed it off as her own, It really made me think more retrospectively about my own relationships and yeah it’s uncomfortable but need to be down. I don’t truly think I am anyway as bad as June but I do recognize I have my own work to do to be a better ally. I do hope that other white readers do the same too. I did enjoyed the ending because even though June got caught, it was left open to how she could and most likely make a comeback because who doesn’t love a redemption story. Especially for a young white woman.

The Pros and Cons of Audio Books

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I have mentioned before that I do most of my reading on my commute to work. I haven’t been commuting as often since I have moved to a hybrid schedule. I have also recently cancelled my Audible premiere subscription. I only got it because Comic Con a couple of years ago I got a free month to download Part 1 of The Sandman comic. Totally worth it but I haven’t really used it much since then. I did listen to Britney Spears memoirs, which honestly I think it’s the best way to read because Michelle Williams did such a great job of brining Britney’s voice to life. I’ve been holding out cancelling because I’ve been waiting for Part 4 The Sandman but since there is still not a release date. I don’t want to keep paying for something that I don’t use. Well I had a bunch of credits to use before cancelling. I have already listened to Love, Theoretically and I’m going to listen to Yellowface next. There are a lot of benefits I’ve noticed to listening but also some drawbacks. Let’s go through them.

PROS

  • I can listen faster then I can read.
  • I can start listening from the moment I leave my apartment. I haven’t figured out how to read and walk at the same time.
  • I can also listen while I’m at work. No one knows what I’m listening too when I have my earbuds at my desk.
  • The narrator can sometimes bring the book to life in ways that I cannot.

Cons

  • On the train, without a book or my e-reader to hold, I have keep my eyes down to avoid eye contact
  • Reading a book and having earbuds in invites less people (mostly men) from talking to me. Only have earbuds, men still think I have a chance.
  • It’s much easier for me to tune out while listening to an audiobook then I do with a physical books. And not as easy to back up to figure out where I stop paying attention.
  • Bad narration can really take you out of the book and effect how I feel about it.

What’s the conclusion? I think I do prefer to read physical books then I do listening to it. I like feel of a book in my hand. The smell of the paper. I like having a book not only gives me something to do and look out at the train because while most days go by without incident there are a lot weirdos out there and they always seem to find me on days I’m already in bad mood so anything I can do make myself less interesting to them is a benefit.

That being said, I do like the freedom that audio books give me. It is one less thing I have to carry in my bag. I don’t have to worry about having space to hold up my book in a crowded train. I really do believe there are some books that really benefit from being listened to. A good example is Britney memoir I mentioned earlier. So while I think I’ll keep reading physical copies I think I’ll be adding more audio books in the mix too.

What I worked on in April while I was listening to audio books

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One of the things that I like about audiobooks is that they keep me company while I’m working on things. Sometimes I listen to them while I’m trying to complete a boring task, like cleaning. But other times I listen when I’d like a little something and I’ve already had way too much screen time. One of those things is doing fiber arts.

I’ve been a knitter for about twenty years and a serious crocheter for only about three. In April, I did a little of both!

I started a new crochet cardigan. Before last year, I’d only knit two sweaters in my entire knitting career. In the past year and a half, I’ve doubled that number. I’ve also crocheted a sweater now, too. I finished my first cardigan earlier this year and I don’t know why it took me so long to get over my fear of sweaters. The Revival cardigan starts with granny squares before moving building the rest of the hoodie around them. I like doing granny squares because they are portable. And, because if I want to stay up for only a chapter or two, I can do a square and that’ll be it. I have a habit of buying single skeins that catch my eye when I’m at different yarn stores or some kind of event, which means I have a stash of single skeins that don’t necessarily have a project attached. Thankfully, I tend to buy the same few colors over and over again, so something I’ve been trying to do this year is build projects around yarn I already own. The yarn for this is all DK weight and I love them. they’re so fun together.

I also started working on a sample shawl for my local yarn shop. This pattern has a nice little repeat that lends itself to a rhythm that’s made it pretty easy knitting. It’s also made in Dream In Color Smooshy Cashmere, which is, in fact, smooshy and so, so, soft. I’m definitely going to have to make something for myself with it. Cashmere is expensive, but oh, does this. yarn feel nice. I would say it’s definitely worth it.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (read by James Cameron Stewart)

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This was suggested by a friend in my knitting group and dove right in without doing any other investigating. I had the idea that it was like if Groundhog Day was a murder mystery. I should have done a little more looking into the story because it took me longer to get into it than it might otherwise have.

Yes, it is like Groundhog Day and a murder mystery. The main character has 8 opportunities to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, but the catch is he has to start every day in a new body. Of course, that’s not the only hiccup. There are others trying to solve the mystery, too. And whoever solves it, gets to escape.

I thought the mystery was fun and the setting of it was neat. I like the Jeeves and Wooster useless aristocracy vibe. I would definitely recommend it, but just know you might need to make it past the first day before you get really into the story.

Review: Love, Theoretically and Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

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I read these two books back to back and since even though they are not technically related to each other I am assuming they take place in the same universe. I know that Love, Theortically and the first book in Ali Hazelwood’s first STEM Romance The Love Hypothesis because Olive and Adam do make a quick cameo. Love, Theoretically follows Elise, a adjunct professor barely getting by. She is interviewing for a tenure track position at MIT but 1 problem. Jack is a physicist professor on the hiring committee and he hates her. It doesn’t help that he thinks she is dating his younger brother. Adjuct professors do not make a lot of money and to help pay the bills she is paid to fake date men. One being Jack’s brother. Not that Jack knows that. I liked this book. Elsie is a great main character that really grows throughout the book. With the help of Jack, Elise finally starts to decide who she wants to be instead of what everyone else wants her to be. I know a little bit about the academia world thanks to Kate and well it sucks. I really sucks. The haves and have nots is such a stark contrast when it comes to professors and the power that mentors have over their mentees. I definitely had a lot of rage moments.

Love on the Brain is the only book in the STEM romance books that doesn’t take place in a University. Bee is a neuroscientist who works for the NIH but gets a chance to lead a project at NASA. The problem is as it always is, her co-lead Levi hates her from their grad school days. When she gets to NASA, her equipment isn’t there. She doesn’t have access to email or even her office. Politics of course is the blame. NASA doesn’t want to share credit. This puts Bee in a bad position because NIH wants results and ready to pull her at any moment. She has to trust Levi will get NASA on board. Despite their shaky start they work well together. And fall in love and all that jazz. Of the three books so far, this is probably my least favorite. Not that I didn’t enjoy it. I did but I didn’t really connect with Levi and Bee as I have with the other couples. That being said I would probably would reread all three books again because they are the perfect escapism.

Review: Pageboy by Elliot Page (read by the author)

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Elliot Page gave us a gift by sharing this memoir about his life and his struggle to come to terms with who he is. The story chronicles aspects of his career but mostly focuses on his struggles with his own body and his understanding of himself. I’ve seen many of Page’s films and I’ve watched some of Umbrella Academy; I would say I’m a fan, but I don’t really know very much about him apart from knowing that he is trans.

The prose of this memoir was conversational and personal. The story is sometimes painful; make sure you have tissues around if you’re someone who is prone to tears. But it is also uplifting and funny in places. I’m not really a memoir reader, but I’m glad I read this. Seeing someone else be apologetically themselves and hearing about how hard it was to do something that seems so basic is a real balm in the world where we often only see outcomes and never see struggles. When you’re going through something hard or you’re working through something, it can sometimes feel that the work of digging through the muck isn’t worth it. The stories in this memoir are a reminder that it is worth it to understand and make peace with things. I am immensely glad that I read it.

This is another book that I got from my local library.