So they keep it a secret from their friends and families-in fact, Harriet barely even admits it to herself, focusing instead on her grueling hours as a surgical resident. They’ve been part of the same boisterous friend group since college, and they know that their breakup will devastate the others and make things more than a little awkward. Wyn Connor and Harriet Kilpatrick were the perfect couple-until Wyn dumped Harriet for reasons she still doesn’t fully understand. Kuang, however, does manage to leave some questions unanswered: fodder, perhaps, for a new tweetstorm.Ī quick, biting critique of the publishing industry.Įxes pretend they’re still together for the sake of their friends on their annual summer vacation. and who will win out in the end? An incredibly meta novel, with commentary on everything from trade reviews to Twitter, the ultimate message is clear from the start, which can lead to a lack of nuance. At times, the novel feels so much like a social media feed that it’s impossible to stop reading-what new drama is waiting to unfold. Yes, publishing is like this finally someone has written it out. This satirical take on racism and success in the publishing industry at times veers into the realm of the unbelievable, but, on the whole, witnessing June’s constant casual racism and flimsy justifications for her actions is somehow cathartic. When June faces social media accusations and staggering writer’s block, she can’t shake the feeling that someone knows the truth about what she’s done. June edits the novel and passes it off as her own, and no one seems the wiser, but once the novel becomes a smash success, cracks begin to form. When Athena suddenly dies, June, almost accidentally, walks off with her latest manuscript, a novel about the World War I Chinese Labour Corps. While June has had little success since publication and is struggling to write her second novel, Athena has become a darling of the publishing industry, much to June’s frustration. after graduation, and are both writers, but the similarities end there. June Hayward and Athena Liu went to Yale together, moved to D.C. What happens when a midlist author steals a manuscript and publishes it as her own?

Yellow face rf kuang