Tom
Tom asked:

Is it some sort of meta-joke that a book about plagiarising another author's work seems to have taken its plot, almost beat for beat, from another author's work (the -in my opinion- way superior About the Author by John Colapinto)?

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Kelly I’m halfway through Yellowface screaming on the inside that I’ve read this book about stealing a book already in The Plot by Korelitz.
Mal Can't the same be said for almost any book idea? Jean Hanff Korelitz's "The Plot" has the same general idea as well. I haven't read anywhere that Kuang was saying the idea itself was entirely new, but the twist here seems to be about the implications of a white person stealing the book of an Asian person, which doesn't seem to be the case for Colapinto's book (and isn't for Korelitz).
Judith This book takes the plagiarism plot line in a different direction with the cultural & publishing issues, but I think even more interestingly, it examines the nature of "victimhood." Who, how, & why?
SusanTalksBooks I haven't read About the Author, but will check it out. I think writing about people stealing others' work is a new trope/genre, with different takes on the theme. Yellowface's take is cultural appropriation and also "inside scoop" on the publishing industry. I had just read The Plot before this and also read The Mythmakers which is an adjacent theme - stealing an experience and writing about it.
Shahira8826 I'm so glad I'm not the only one seeing that! I happened to read "Yellowface" first, and later, when I casually picked up "The Plot" by Jean Hanff Korelitz, I thought *she* (Jean Hanff Korelitz) had to be the plagiarist, but then I realized "Yellowface" was published 2 years *after* "The Plot" came out. I find it so annoying that the plagiarised book got way more successful than the original!
Sierra I think thats intentional but also i love it
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by R.F. Kuang (Goodreads Author)
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