“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” —Phillip Pullman
You’re so right, Phillip. We desperately need stories in this crazy mixed-up world of ours. If they’re insanely good stories, all the better. I’ll take an inspiring narrative over nourishment unless we’re talking about tacos. Chips and guac too. I want to ask, what makes a story good for you? Originality? Unforgettable characters? Maybe you’re a fan of daring novels that push boundaries? Who doesn’t love the unputdownable? Anticipation and suspense are hard to resist. I’m a devotee of pages that make me feel and consider. And reconsider opinions. I love the power of deep thought—it keeps me on the path to self-discovery.
I don’t know about you, but I love when I finish a book and feel the need to talk about it. After the last line of R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, I promptly phoned Rae to see if she’d read about June Hayward—a struggling, insecure writer who steals her dead friend Athena’s manuscript when opportunity presents itself. This is no ordinary friend, mind you. Athena Liu was a best-selling author whose rise to fame was meteoric. She was a standout among her Asian peers. June refuses to admit theft. Accusations fly. June’s rationale and responses are sometimes mind-bending to me. Here’s one of many: "It all boils down to self-interest. Manipulating the story...If publishing is rigged, you might as well make sure it's rigged in your favor." More than once, I felt exasperation. At times, June felt like an unreliable narrator, which didn’t alter the fact that Kuang’s novel was compelling, and I had to see where the literary chips would fall.
Yellowface ticks boxes. Originality: check. Unforgettable character: check. Pushes boundaries: check. I’m on the fence as to whether it was insanely good. But I’m glad I read Yellowface. Here’s what the incomparable Stephen King had to say: “This is a great read. Crime, satire, horror, paranoia, questions of cultural appropriation. Plenty of nasty social media pile-ons, too. But, basically, just a great story. Hard to put down, harder to forget.”