Yellowface by R F Kuang #BookReview - The Books of Ours

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Yellowface by R F Kuang

Identitas Buku

Penulis: R. F. Kuang

Alih bahasa: Poppy D. Chusfani

Editor: Dini Pandia

Ilustrator sampul: David Ardinaryas Lojaya

ISBN: 9786020672793

ISBN digital: 9786020672809

Tebal buku: 336 hlm: 23 cm

Fakta Menarik

Yellowface – digambarkan sebagai satire tentang keragaman ras di industri penerbitan serta metafiksi tentang media sosial, khususnya Twitter.

Mari kita ulas

Yellowface — mengisahkan persahabatan June Hayward dan Athena Liu yang terjalin sejak kecil hingga kuliah di Yale University. Keduanya sama sama bermimpi menjadi penulis terkenal. Namun sejak masa kuliah, Athena sudah lebih dulu bersinar. Karya karyanya dimuat di majalah dan cerpen cerpennya dikenal luas. Dari sinilah kecemburuan June mulai tumbuh karena ia merasa Athena meraih kesuksesan dengan mudah di usia muda.

Suatu hari, June dan Athena bertemu di apartemen Athena untuk hangout. Tanpa diduga, Athena meninggal karena tersedak pancake. Dalam situasi panik dan penuh ambisi, June mencuri naskah manuskrip Athena yang belum pernah diterbitkan dan belum diketahui siapa pun.

June kemudian mengedit manuskrip itu dan menerbitkannya atas namanya sendiri. Novel tersebut sukses besar. Undangan wawancara dan tawaran menjadi pembicara terus berdatangan. Namun kesuksesan itu tidak bertahan lama. Kecurigaan mulai muncul hingga akhirnya terungkap bahwa karya tersebut adalah milik Athena. June pun dihujani kecaman dan dibenci di Twitter.

Lalu bagaimana June menghadapi semua kritik itu. Apakah ia akan mengakui bahwa novel tersebut adalah hasil curian, atau justru terus mempertahankan kebohongannya demi karier yang telah ia bangun.

Opiniku

Baru kali ini aku membaca novel dengan sosok karakter utama (point of view aku) yang aku sendiri benci banget sama tingkahnya. Bener-bener greget sama apa yang dia lakukan atau sama apa yang dia pikirkan. Meskipun aku paham perasaan June sebagaimana melihat temannya sendiri lebih bersinar dibanding dia, iri adalah perasaan yang lumrah. Namun, dengan mencuri manuscript mah termasuk kriminal gak sih?

Dengan novel yang cukup tebal, aku bisa nyelesain bacaan ini kurang dari seminggu, jadi ngerti kan secandu apa bacanya, karena gak bisa berhenti penasaran gimana nasib June yang jadi ‘Most Wanted’ di Twitter. 

Rating dariku

5/5 ⭐

English Version | 🇺🇸

Fun Fact!

Yellowface is portrayed as a satire about racial diversity in the publishing industry and also as a metafiction on social media, especially Twitter.

Here Comes the Review!

Yellowface — It tells the story of the friendship between June Hayward and Athena Liu, which starts in childhood and continues into their college years at Yale University. Both of them dream of becoming famous writers. But while they are still in college, Athena starts to shine first. Her work gets published in magazines and her short stories become well known. That is when June’s jealousy begins to grow, as she feels Athena achieves success so easily at a young age.

One day, June and Athena meet up at Athena’s apartment to hang out. Unexpectedly, Athena dies after choking on a pancake. In a moment of panic mixed with ambition, June steals Athena’s unpublished manuscript that no one else knows about.

June then edits the manuscript and publishes it under her own name. The novel became a huge success. Interview invitations and speaking offers keep coming in. But the success does not last long. Suspicion starts to grow, until it is finally revealed that the work actually belongs to Athena. June ends up being heavily criticized and hated on Twitter.

So how does June deal with all the criticism? Will she admit that the novel was stolen, or will she keep holding on to the lie to protect the career she has built?

Inside Nora’s Mind🙋🏻‍♀️

This is the first time I have ever read a novel where I genuinely hate the main character from my own point of view. I get so annoyed by everything she does and even by the way she thinks. Even though I understand June’s feelings when she sees her friend shining brighter than her, jealousy is a pretty normal emotion. But stealing someone else’s manuscript honestly feels like crossing into straight up criminal behavior, right?

Even though the novel is pretty thick, I managed to finish it in less than a week, so you can imagine how addictive it was. I just could not stop reading because I kept wondering what would happen to June after she became the most wanted person on Twitter.

A Star From Nora!

5/5 ⭐