Autor: R. F. KUANG
Mentiras piadosas. Humor negro. Consecuencias mortales... La sensación de los bestsellers Juniper Song no es quien dice ser, no escribió el libro que dice que escribió, y ciertamente no es asiático-americana, en esta novela escalofriante e hilarantemente cortante de R.F. Kuang, el autor #1 de Babel en ventas del New York Times.
Se suponía que las autoras June Hayward y Athena Liu eran estrellas gemelas en ascenso. Pero Atenea es una querida de la literatura. June Hayward no es literalmente nadie. ¿Quién quiere historias sobre chicas blancas básicas?, piensa June.
Así que cuando June es testigo de la muerte de Athena en un extraño accidente, actúa por impulso: roba la obra maestra recién terminada de Athena, una novela experimental sobre las contribuciones no reconocidas de los trabajadores chinos durante la Primera Guerra Mundial.
¿Y qué pasa si June edita la novela de Athena y se la envía a su agente como si fuera su propio trabajo? Entonces, ¿qué pasa si deja que su nuevo editor la renombre como Juniper Song, con una foto de autor ambiguamente étnica? ¿No merece este pedazo de historia ser contado, quienquiera que sea el telle?
IDIOMA ORIGINAL
White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.