R.F. Kuang's prose is easily digestible. Unlike the pandan pancakes that stick in the throat of the protaganist's erstwhile friend, brilliant young auR.F. Kuang's prose is easily digestible. Unlike the pandan pancakes that stick in the throat of the protaganist's erstwhile friend, brilliant young author Athena Lui. After Athena chokes to death, June Hayward can't stop herself from absconding with the rough workings of one of Athena's projects that are just sitting there on her desk. Thus starts June's strange, sad story of plagiarism. As keen readers start to see the similarities between Athena's work and June's out-of-nowhere novel, which is nothing like her lack-luster debut, accusations of "yellowface" begin. Just as white folks would use dark brown makeup and pretend to sing the songs of popular negro entertainers in the early 20th century, June is rightfully accused of donning, albeit somewhat unconsciously, the story-telling persona of an Asian American.
I found it especially interesting how, even though they wanted to do a racial sensitive reading, no one on her publishing team thought it was dangerous to use June's middle name as a penname for this book: Song. Juniper Song or June Song sounds pretty Asian to me! In fact, the crass, ugly commercial processes of the self-serving publishing industry is another whole aspect that Kuang exposites.
Also, even after the first scandal, which shakes but does not destroy June's career has unfolded. She creates a somewhat more personal memoir-novel, which unfortunately opens with a paragraph again lifted directly from Athena. Not a quick learner, our Junie...
Kuang has created a modern tale that presents us with a lot of good questions relevant in today's world of publishing and entertainment. Who has the right to tell whose story? Where is the line between borrowing an idea from another artist and running with it to completion? Is not all art, as they say, somewhat derivative?
The book was most interesting, but left me with a bit of a sad chill, as you can see so many reflections in today's storytelling, especially in those who like to self-justify and rationalize their "truths"....more
Barry Gough is an unsung hero of Pacific Northwest history. Although he can sometimes go off on circular tangents and introduce inconsistencies in theBarry Gough is an unsung hero of Pacific Northwest history. Although he can sometimes go off on circular tangents and introduce inconsistencies in the occasional date, reading his books has increased my knowledge of my home region's history tenfold.
In this book, Gough sets the scene for the eventual mapping expeditions of Captain George Vancouver in the early 1790s that finally proved that there was no "Northwest Passage" in latitudes lower than the Arctic Circle and that Cook's Nootka Sound was actually located on a rather large island that soon came to be known as Vancouver Island. As far back as 1592, a Greek sailor who sailed for Spain as Juan du Fuca, who lost a fortune to Francis Drake, told the tale of a large straight around the latitude of 47 or 48 degrees North, that drove eastward into the North American content into a large inland sea. He speculated that this inland sea probably led back all the way to Europe, the fabled "Northwest Passage."
The Spanish navy eventually investigated his claims when they discovered the British, starting with Captain Cook, had sparked an enticing trade in sea otter pelts centered on Nootka Sound on eastern Vancouver Island. Gough weaves a story with Spanish naval officers sent to deal with these British interlopers (leading to an unfortunate international incident), American fur traders, Russian fur traders, all coming to explore the Pacific Northwest to find riches in the fur trade or determine if the rumours of a Northwest Passage were actually true.
The more I read about my local history, the more surprised I am to find how it links to worldwide events. I didn't know that the Spanish had spent a lot of time patrolling this coast in the name of Spain, that the infamous Captain Bligh sailed as a junior officer with Captain Cook in BC waters, that the Spanish namesakes of Galiano and Valdes Islands fought bravely against Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar, and on and on... These stories would make at least one or two marvelous historical fiction pieces....more
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