By Samantha Pak
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story
Written by Sarah Kuhn, illustrated by Arielle Jovellanos
DC Comics, 2023
Lois Lane is an ambitious small town girl with big dreams of becoming a hard-hitting journalist at “The Daily Planet” in Metropolis. But for now, she’s spending her summer as an intern at a website in National City—which is fine because it’s all part of her life plan.
But as soon as she arrives, Lois finds herself living with her former best friend-turned-frenemy, and the internship she was so excited for has become all about fetching coffee for her new boss after the website becomes newly corporatized. Needless to say, her plan—her entire life and future, really—is derailed.
But then Lois discovers a potentially explosive scandal. And since her boss won’t let her publish the story on their site, Lois teams up with the last person she’d expect to self publish on their newly created website for young people—even though it could truly jeopardize her future.
Most people know Lois Lane as the star reporter of “The Daily Planet” and Superman/Clark Kent’s love interest. But what’s her origin story? Kuhn and Jovellanos gives us a glimpse into who Lois is as a young half Japanese woman years before she ever meets the Man of Steel.
With her Type A personality and determination, we see the makings of who Lois will become, but Kuhn—with Jovellanos’ great illustrations—balances that with the uncertainty that comes with being young. As focused as Lois is, when things don’t go as planned, she can’t help but be discouraged, which is only natural and makes her that much more relatable. And as she learns to go with the flow, Lois starts opening herself up to new things, including friendship and possibly romance.
I especially enjoyed seeing Lois find her stride as a journalist and figure out what types of stories she wants to tell. This was something I could personally relate to and I appreciated the focus on giving people the opportunity to have their voices heard and tell their own stories—which is the kind of journalism I have become very passionate about.
Yellowface
By R.F. Kuang
William Morrow, 2023
Having graduated from the same program at Yale, June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be rising stars together. But Athena, who is Chinese American, is the literary world’s new darling, while June is a nobody—because who wants a story about basic white girls nowadays?
So when June witnesses Athena’s death, acting on impulse, she steals the other woman’s newly finished manuscript about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I. And taking things even further, after editing the story, June submits Athena’s work as her own. So what if June is suddenly rebranded as Juniper Song, complete with a new ethnically ambiguous author photo?
Then the book lands on The New York Times bestseller list. And suddenly June is thrown into the spotlight and getting praised for her (stolen) work. But the more successful she becomes, the more emerging evidence threatens to reveal June’s secret. In addition, June can’t seem to get away from Athena’s shadow and she soon learns how far she’s willing to go to get what she believes she deserves.
In “Yellowface,” Kuang gives readers a glimpse into the publishing world. Told in first person, from June’s perspective, we see how isolating it can get as a writer and the huge role social media plays in the industry and how quickly things can go south with a single tweet.
As someone who has been a bookworm their whole life, I can’t remember the last time I’ve read a character who is so (intentionally) unlikable, but still feel empathy and compassion for. Kuang does a great job of humanizing June and giving readers moments to understand why she is the way she is. June is entitled, petty, and jealous, and has an overinflated sense of her own talents. These are traits many people possess. The only difference is that June makes horrible and problematic choices as a result, which makes for an entertaining read, while you still want to shake and slap her to be better. Because it’s easier to dislike her than to admit that sometimes, we wish we could act like June, too.
Making a Scene
By Constance Wu
Scribner, 2022
In May 2019, ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” was renewed for a sixth and final season. Constance Wu, one of the stars of the show, tweeted her displeasure at the news. And thus, she was called ungrateful—among other things—and summarily canceled.
But what the rest of the world didn’t know was why she was so upset. We didn’t know that she’d been sexually harassed by one of her bosses and was basically hanging by a thread. We also didn’t know that as a result of the abuse and vitriol she received, she attempted to take her own life.
In “Making a Scene,” Wu shares her side of that story, along with other stories from her life. Growing up in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, she was often scolded for having big feelings and strong reactions. She spent most of her childhood suppressing that side of her, until she found an outlet in community theater. Acting became Wu’s refuge and, eventually, her career.
I’ll admit that as much as I love to read, memoirs aren’t always my first choice. But I really enjoyed Wu’s story. Sharing private memories from throughout her life, including the aforementioned sexual harassment as well as a sexual assault from another time in her life, Wu doesn’t hide much from readers. It can’t be easy to be so open and vulnerable, which I appreciated.
Wu also does a great job of balancing the difficult stories from her life with the lighter and fun stories. I particularly enjoyed learning about how she got her pet rabbit. Even though I’m not a pet person, I know how animals can become part of someone’s family, so it was fun to see how much Wu loves her rabbit. I also love the fact that her pet is a rabbit, and not a more common cat or dog.