📖 Yellowface

Yellowface was undoubtedly one of the sharpest books I've ever read. Well, I did expect as such, since R.F. Kuang wrote it, but, still! Jesus Christ. The way it's written was very compelling, actually. Yellowface was kind of divided up into sections of time, with only some events being described in extreme detail. The storyline is more akin to a series of largely described time skips before important scenes flash in. Unconventional, but I still found it captivating nonetheless. Anyway, the plot. Yellowface follows the story of small-time writer June Hayward. Most annoyingly to her, she is very good friends with an extremely rich and well-off Asian author known as Athena Liu. The two are out celebrating, because Athena had just signed a deal with Netflix, but then, at Athena's house, the two decide to make pancakes. Athena chokes on one and dies, June witnessing the death. June isn't convicted of anything while paramedics wheel Athena's body away, but when she gets home, June reveals that she has in fact, taken Athena's manuscript for her latest novel from her mansion. Luckily for June, Athena doesn't do any of her work on a computer, and she refuses to show anyone a novel until it's absolutely done, which means there's nothing stopping June from taking the papers and passing the book off as her own. A few months later, and her new book, The Last Front, is one of the most popular war books on the market. June has even become a New York Times Bestselling author. But then, on Twitter a new, mysterious user catches June's attention. Their handle is "AthenaLiusGhost," and suddenly June is being accused of stealing Athena's manuscript and publishing it under her name. Good thing the accusations are all false. Hey, wait a second… All of a sudden, the entire internet is on June in a second, pounding her name into dust, anonymously sending her death threats and insults, unfollowing her account. Usual Twitter activities. I'll leave it there. All in all, Yellowface was a scandalous take and dastardly view on the publishing industry and book market. It goes extremely into detail on the way any publishing company operates, how some books with promise are elevated, and others without are set up to fail. More than that, though, it's also a brutally honest view on the internet in general nowadays. We're more like a pack of wolves than anything else. Humans are extremely susceptible. I've got a good example too, actually. I recently went to see the Cher Show with my sister (it was good, by the way), and at the end of the musical, they had a really big song with lots of flashing and dancing and singing. One of the women in the row ahead of us was obviously super excited to see the show, and the moment the song reached its crescendo, she jumped out of her seat screaming. Then an old lady a few seats to her left saw and stood up as well. Then I realized what was about to happen. A singular superfan got an entire theater of hundreds of people to stand up from their seats and start jumping around like it was a rock concert. It was actually insane. That's that. Great book. Recommended for enjoyers of fine literature, people that hate the internet, and psychology students.

《黄面》无疑是我读过的最犀利的作品之一。好吧,我确实料到会这样,毕竟作者是 R.F. Kuang,但,天哪! 实际上,它的写法非常引人入胜。《黄面》大致是按时间划分成几个部分,只有某些事件被详尽描述。其情节更像是在重要场景闪现之前,对大部分时间跨度进行了大致的描述。这种写法很不寻常,但我还是觉得它很吸引人。 总之,剧情是这样的。《黄脸》讲述了小作家琼·海沃德的故事。最让她恼火的是,她和一位极其富有且成功的亚裔作家雅典娜·刘关系很好。两人正在庆祝,因为雅典娜刚刚和网飞公司签了约,但在雅典娜家,她们决定做煎饼。雅典娜被一块煎饼噎住,当场死亡,琼目睹了这一幕。 尽管救护人员推着阿特娜的担架车离开了,但琼并未受到任何指控。然而回到家后,琼却透露她实际上从阿特娜的宅邸拿走了她最新小说的手稿。对琼来说幸运的是,阿特娜从不在电脑上写作,而且她绝不会在小说完成之前给任何人看,这意味着琼可以拿着这些手稿,把书当作自己的作品出版。 几个月后,她的新书《最后的前线》成为市场上最受欢迎的战争题材书籍之一。琼甚至成为了《纽约时报》畅销书作家。 但随后,在推特上,一个新出现的神秘用户引起了朱恩的注意。这个用户的账号是"AthenaLiusGhost",突然间朱恩被指控窃取了阿特赫娜的手稿,并以她的名义发表。好在这些指控都是子虚乌有。 嘿,等一下…… 突然之间,整个网络瞬间都对琼斯群起而攻之,将她的名字踩得粉碎,匿名向她发送死亡威胁和侮辱,纷纷取消关注她的账号。这不过是推特上常见的活动罢了。 我就说到这儿。 总的来说,《黄脸》是对出版业和图书市场的丑恶揭露和恶意解读。它极其详尽地描述了任何一家出版公司是如何运作的,哪些有潜力的书会受到重视,而哪些没有潜力的书则注定失败。 不仅如此,这还是对当今互联网的一种极其坦诚的看法。我们更像是狼群而非其他。人类极易受影响。实际上,我也有一个很好的例子。最近我和我妹妹去看《珍·西摩》(顺便说一下,那场演出很棒),在音乐剧的结尾,他们有一首非常大的歌曲,有很多闪烁的灯光、舞蹈和歌唱。 我们前面一排有个女士显然对这场演出超级兴奋,歌曲一到高潮,她就从座位上跳起来尖叫。接着她左边几排的一位老太太也看到了,也站了起来。这时我意识到接下来会发生什么。 一位狂热的粉丝让整个剧院里数百名观众都从座位上站起来,像在摇滚音乐会上那样蹦蹦跳跳,这简直太疯狂了。 就这样吧。很棒的一本书。推荐给喜欢优秀文学作品的人、讨厌互联网的人以及心理学专业的学生