I read Victim a few weeks ago, and it seemed like suuuuch a BARpod book so it’s cool to see it mentioned in this ep. It’s about a literary scandal surrounding identity, so naturally while reading it I was reminded of Yellowface, a much more successful and popular book that is also about a literary scandal surrounding identity that I thou…
I read Victim a few weeks ago, and it seemed like suuuuch a BARpod book so it’s cool to see it mentioned in this ep. It’s about a literary scandal surrounding identity, so naturally while reading it I was reminded of Yellowface, a much more successful and popular book that is also about a literary scandal surrounding identity that I thought was maddeningly unsophisticated and preachy. Yellowface really relies on creating caricatures of its characters while Victim makes fun of those kinds of caricatures. Yellowface didn’t teach me anything while Victim reeeally made me think. I really wish Victim was getting more love because it really deserves it, Boryga did such a great job on it. Y’all should buy a copy!
I actually really enjoyed Yellowface (though I have heard others make similar criticisms!) Reading both Yellowface and Victim, I kept thinking “I can’t believe this got published!” I think publishing people want to signal they get the joke….. otherwise they’d have to admit they’re the object of the joke
I understand your critisism of yellowface but I actually enjoyed it a lot. I was suprised that it was actually very critical of cancel culture and satirized the publishing industry quite effectively. I will read victim next.
I read Victim a few weeks ago, and it seemed like suuuuch a BARpod book so it’s cool to see it mentioned in this ep. It’s about a literary scandal surrounding identity, so naturally while reading it I was reminded of Yellowface, a much more successful and popular book that is also about a literary scandal surrounding identity that I thought was maddeningly unsophisticated and preachy. Yellowface really relies on creating caricatures of its characters while Victim makes fun of those kinds of caricatures. Yellowface didn’t teach me anything while Victim reeeally made me think. I really wish Victim was getting more love because it really deserves it, Boryga did such a great job on it. Y’all should buy a copy!
I actually really enjoyed Yellowface (though I have heard others make similar criticisms!) Reading both Yellowface and Victim, I kept thinking “I can’t believe this got published!” I think publishing people want to signal they get the joke….. otherwise they’d have to admit they’re the object of the joke
I agree, I thought Yellowface was actually quite nuanced. Babel, on the other hand, was just embarrassing.
That’s true, they are both very transgressive in the same ways!
I understand your critisism of yellowface but I actually enjoyed it a lot. I was suprised that it was actually very critical of cancel culture and satirized the publishing industry quite effectively. I will read victim next.