June Hayward, a struggling white novelist, watches her more successful Chinese American rival Athena Liu die in an accident and walks away with Athena's unpublished manuscript about Chinese laborers in World War I. She submits it as her own under an ambiguous pen name, and a satire of the publishing industry unfolds as her bestselling success becomes threatened by accusations of plagiarism and cultural appropriation.
Books mentioned in Yellowface (10)
The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “as overhyped and disappointing as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon”
The Help by Kathryn Stockett: “it joins novels like The Help and The Good Earth”
The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck: “it joins novels like The Help and The Good Earth”
The Idiot by Elif Batuman: “our love of the same book, Elif Batuman's The Idiot”
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: “'Lolita,' Christina responds... 'By Nabokov?'”
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: “'Anna Karenina,' declares Johnson. 'Only Anna wouldn't kill herself.'”
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: “Imagine a world similar to The Handmaid's Tale”
The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien: “carrying chunky volumes of Lord of the Rings or The Spiderwick Chronicles”
The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black: “carrying chunky volumes of Lord of the Rings or The Spiderwick Chronicles”
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: “Sixth grade: my Twilight phase... infatuated with Alice Cullen”