This novel immediately grabs the reader with the sudden death of a young author as another author friend looks on. Athena Liu was a trending Asian author whose death gave June Hayward, aka Juniper Song, the opportunity to steal Liu's manuscript and embellish the story of the contributions of Chinese Laborers during World War I.
June convinces her publisher and the reading world that she is the author of the book and assumes the persona of an Asian woman to make it more convincing. The book, The Last Front, becomes a NYT Best Seller and June reaps all the rewards of editing the book in which she skews the actions of the white people in the book to make them more sympathetic. She fears that if she tells the real story she may alienate those white readers on whom books depend for success.
With the success of the book, attention is drawn to the origin of the manuscript. June finds herself defending her authorship as well as struggling with her inner sense of morality. She endures criticism from social media that haunts her, even as her publishers stand behind her. To thwart this she undertakes the publishing of another book, the premise of which also comes from Liu's notebooks.
The fact that she may be a white woman writing about the experiences of Asians is a platform for racism. Kuang's point comes across with satiric vitriol of the publishing world as she is an Asian writing a white woman's story.
This was a gripping novel with depth beyond the stories of June and Juniper. The lecture by R.F. Kuang was erudite as she explained the role the publishing world has played in racism, diversity, and cultural appropriateness.
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| April 28, 2025 - R.F. Kuang |
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| April 28, 2025 - R.F. Kuang |
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| April 28, 2025 - R.F. Kuang signing my book |
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