Yellowface

Nažluto jsem objevila po dočtení Babylonu, taktéž od Rebeccy Kuang, ze kterého jsem byla nadšená. Tato kniha není oproti předchozím autorčiným dílům fantasy, a tak jsem byla zvědavá, jak se s tím popere.

A můj verdikt zní, že se s tím poprala vcelku dobře. Za mě je teda Nažluto slabší než Babylon a moje hodnocení dost v průběhu četby kolísalo, ale celkově hodnotím velmi kladně.

Nažluto je o spisovatelce, která vezme rukopis své mrtvé kamarádky (taky spisovatelky, ale mnohem úspěšnější), upraví ho a vydá ho pod svým jménem. Celá knížka se potom zabývá vlastně tím, jak se s celým procesem a přijetím knihy popasuje.

Moc dobře se to četlo. Nikde to nezadrhávalo, nic nebylo navíc, jazyk byl čtivý. Nejslabší mi přišel začátek, a to jazykově, takže si nejsem jistá, jestli to není vlivem překladu (ich forma se mi tam zdála dost neobratná, ale s přibývajícími stránkami se to zlepšilo anebo jsem si zvykla). Prostředek byl naopak fakt super, tomu bych dala klidně 5/5, bylo to napínavé, vlastně i uvěřitelné, do poslední chvíle jsem nevěděla, kam autorka směřuje a jak to skončí. No a to se dostáváme ke konci, který byl za mě zase horší, ale tentokrát příběhově. Konec mě prostě zklamal. Přišlo mi, že to tak trochu shodí celý ten děj, ale možná je to jen mnou, nevím.

Zajímavé na této knize je, že hlavní postava není úplně nejvíc sympatická. Ve všech příručkách a návodech byste přitom našli, že hlavní postava prostě musí být super, aby o ní chtěl čtenář číst. Mně ale Juniper zajímala právě proto, že byla taková reálná. Ve spoustě jejích insecurities se poznávám. A jak příběh plynul, vlastně jsem ji pak i měla ráda.

I like the premise, the plot, the narrator and the discussion about cultural appropriation. The writing flows nicely. The pop culture references and the tweets were fun at the start too, but eventually it got too repetitive for my taste. I get that the main character was spiraling, but it felt tedious towards the end. At times, the villain-ness of the main character felt too heavy-handed, verging on rage-bait (or was it just too close to home?). And the ending didn't do the book justice.

Writing an actual review for this one because I found my thinking changing on it as time has passed since completion.

There's a lot going on in this book. It tackles themes of cultural appropriation, tokenism, and privilege in world of book publishing, while at the same time critiquing notions that people can only write a story from their lived perspective. If you think those lines are complex to navigate and somewhat fluid, you'd be right, and Kuang herself seems to have trouble drawing it over the course of the book.

It's a very tense read and moves quickly. Written from June's first-person perspective– certainly an unreliable narrator –it is often an uncomfortable read, which is as it should be when racism is a topic. But June's detractors don't come off particularly great either. The book seems less researched than her other works, but makes up for it in the intensity of the controversy June must weather as her lies start to unravel.

It's a good book, attempting to tackle real issues, but not Kuang's best. When I finished it, I would have put it at a five stars, but as I've mulling it around in my brain, I think it's probably more like four stars. There's something that feels off, like an unexpected flat note in what is otherwise a tense piece of music. Maybe it's the nature of the topic, but it feels like Kuang wasn't sure which of her points she wanted to drive home, and so attempted to make all of them unevenly. Ultimately, few of the characters seem to learn anything from their experiences.

And as mentioned above, these topics are difficult, so maybe Kuang's goal is simply to illustrate the mess as opposed to providing any answers. But given some of the early build-up, that comes off as disappointing.

This tale from a deeply unreliable, envy-driven narrator is more of a sharp satire of liberal racism than its publishing industry setting. It's at its least compelling when discussing Twitter drama, but there's ample snark just underneath each turn of phrase, and more than enough ratcheting tension to have kept me turning the pages.

My main problem with the book was that I don't think I've ever read a first-person book in which I've found the main character so unlikable, which made it a little hard to read. But it was a compelling story that was hard to put down.