IBARW: Liar Cover, and My Beef With It
The cover!controversy has been talked about quite a bit in IBARW and all around the web so I’m going to be brief. Let this be clear: I am so angry at this. It is yet another instance of white-washing novel!covers, a disgusting trend in book publishing trend that HAS TO STOP NOW.
ETA: For those who don't know, Liar is a novel surrounding the murder and told from our narrator who may or may not have been involved in the killing. She is a compulsive liar, and she is also a black girl living during the 1930s in NYC. THIS is how the cover looks like
But I’ll be honest, what really pissed me out about the cover!controversy? The bullshit Melanie Cecka pulled by trying to justify having a lily white girl on the cover when the protagonist is depicted to be black:
The entire premise of this book is about a compulsive liar,” said Melanie Cecka, publishing director of Bloomsbury Children’s Books USA and Walker Books for Young Readers, who worked on Liar. “Of all the things you’re going to choose to believe of her, you’re going to choose to believe she was telling the truth about race?”
I, just ARGH. *stabbity stab* not only this is a blatant lie in attempt to convince the audience that they were actually being clever about the whole cover girl thing, (which was further dispelled by Justine Larbalestier’s post on the real reason she was given by the publisher on why this cover was chosen) not only was this a poorly thought out excuse in order to justify white-washing the novel cover, but this is just like the whole RACE CARD THING white people like to accuse POC of!
Because, of course, whenever any form of racial discourse POC tries to raise as an issue or w/e, it’s OBVIOUSLY A LIE. *stabs* Because if a fictional character in a book claims to be black she’s obviously LYING about it.
Because everyone in the world is white by default and if you claim to be of another ethnicity YOU ARE LYING ABOUT IT.
Needless to say, I will definitely not be buying the US version of Liar and instead using my money to get an Australian copy.
Also, I believe I’ve been seeing some comments where people are talking about how they thought the cover!girl looked “Asian” and references to the girls from Ju-On and the Ring. And you know what? I’m not even gonna bother with how that just sounds like a whole lot of derailing and instead say that as a girl of Chinese ethnicity who’s inner child always wished she could find more than a small handful of cover!girls who looked like her, the girl on that cover looks whitey lily white to me. Even if I accepted the hair and the “double eyelid” eyes, but you know that nose there? Is NOT an “Asian” nose. END. Moving on.
Links
Judge Me; Liar, Liar
Judging a Book by its Cover
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Liar (YA)
Book Covers and Race: WHY?
Review of Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Untrustworthy Narrators and Publishers
Liar Liar Pants on Fire
Who’s The LIAR?
Justine Larbalestier’s Cover of Liar
International Blog Against Racism Week: Liar cover edition
where to buy Australian YA Online
Proposal: Open Source Book Re-Covery Project
[IBARW]
Link | Comment | Read Comments
ETA: For those who don't know, Liar is a novel surrounding the murder and told from our narrator who may or may not have been involved in the killing. She is a compulsive liar, and she is also a black girl living during the 1930s in NYC. THIS is how the cover looks like
But I’ll be honest, what really pissed me out about the cover!controversy? The bullshit Melanie Cecka pulled by trying to justify having a lily white girl on the cover when the protagonist is depicted to be black:
The entire premise of this book is about a compulsive liar,” said Melanie Cecka, publishing director of Bloomsbury Children’s Books USA and Walker Books for Young Readers, who worked on Liar. “Of all the things you’re going to choose to believe of her, you’re going to choose to believe she was telling the truth about race?”
I, just ARGH. *stabbity stab* not only this is a blatant lie in attempt to convince the audience that they were actually being clever about the whole cover girl thing, (which was further dispelled by Justine Larbalestier’s post on the real reason she was given by the publisher on why this cover was chosen) not only was this a poorly thought out excuse in order to justify white-washing the novel cover, but this is just like the whole RACE CARD THING white people like to accuse POC of!
Because, of course, whenever any form of racial discourse POC tries to raise as an issue or w/e, it’s OBVIOUSLY A LIE. *stabs* Because if a fictional character in a book claims to be black she’s obviously LYING about it.
Because everyone in the world is white by default and if you claim to be of another ethnicity YOU ARE LYING ABOUT IT.
Needless to say, I will definitely not be buying the US version of Liar and instead using my money to get an Australian copy.
Also, I believe I’ve been seeing some comments where people are talking about how they thought the cover!girl looked “Asian” and references to the girls from Ju-On and the Ring. And you know what? I’m not even gonna bother with how that just sounds like a whole lot of derailing and instead say that as a girl of Chinese ethnicity who’s inner child always wished she could find more than a small handful of cover!girls who looked like her, the girl on that cover looks whitey lily white to me. Even if I accepted the hair and the “double eyelid” eyes, but you know that nose there? Is NOT an “Asian” nose. END. Moving on.
Links
Judge Me; Liar, Liar
Judging a Book by its Cover
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Liar (YA)
Book Covers and Race: WHY?
Review of Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Untrustworthy Narrators and Publishers
Liar Liar Pants on Fire
Who’s The LIAR?
Justine Larbalestier’s Cover of Liar
International Blog Against Racism Week: Liar cover edition
where to buy Australian YA Online
Proposal: Open Source Book Re-Covery Project
[IBARW]
Link | Comment | Read Comments