Play Book Tag discussion

Junie (Juniper) Hayward dreams of becoming a celebrated author. Her first novel was met with mediocre reviews and she knows she needs a real blockbuster to get her career the boost it needs. Her friend from college, Athena Liu, has become the darling of the publishing industry with her writing and Junie is not surprised since the beautiful Athena always has gotten whatever she wanted. One evening as the two women indulge in some heavy drinking at Athena's apartment a freak accident takes Athena's life. Junie is shocked at her friend's death but still manages to help herself to a stacked manuscript from Athena's forthcoming novel. Junie rewrites a good deal of the book and submits it under her own name. It is a passionate portrayal of Chinese laborers during WWI and becomes a huge success. Junie rides the high until people on social media begin to complain that a white woman has no business writing about the Chinese culture. Suddenly Junie's star begins to fall and most concerning of all, she has been receiving texts and emails from Athena.

The concept of the book is interesting but I felt it was very dry. I didn't think the complaints about a person of one culture writing a book about another culture would be such a problem. The contact with the supposed Athena towards the end of the book was spooky and helped the story quite a bit.

I found this an uncomfortable book to read. I know we should all disapprove of cultural appropriation, but I don’t think an author’s race automatically makes them more credible, especially with historical topics. Kuang however IS a true expert in Asian history, and I thought Babel was amazing. She also has a lot of credibility as a successful Asian author, and is no doubt aware that other Asian writers feel shut out by the tokenism in the publishing industry. Success can be very lonely in this situation, especially with all the hate comments online. I think she had a lot of axes to grind while writing this book.

This book felt like it was written by an emotionally raw person, trying to be objective. So part of it seemed dry, but there was a lot of panic and emotion too. She also tried to put herself in the heads of other authors and imagined their attitudes. There was a lot of defensiveness in the book directed in different directions. I imagine that writing the book helped her exact a tiny bit revenge on parties that criticized or rejected her. I hope it was a cathartic experience that helped her to move on. She has a new book coming out this year.

You make some very good points, Nancy, and certainly food for thought. You are right that the story came off raw and defensive. I think I am just guilty of wanting to be entertained and I wasn't.

It’s def not a relaxing entertaining book. I haven’t forgotten it though.

Here is my original love it - hate it review and the discussion.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I absolutely loved this book! I felt like it read like a thriller.
At face value I can see why people would view it as an axe to grind, so to speak, but she is certainly calling out Athena at the same time as well... especially in terms of her motivations in the story she crafted (that would later be stolen by June).

I enjoyed that Kuang calls out both how the industry marginalizes certain voices, but then exploits them when the social climate calls for it, and often pigeon-holing them into writing certain stories.

Definitely a lot going on in the book and it is thought-provoking.
I read this for book club and it was quite lively.

I enjoyed your review very much, Nancy. I get it.

I really loved this one, so much so that I went out and bought a copy after I finished it so I could lend it out to my friends and family.