Growing up, Wong Liu Tsong falls in love with silent films, running home to mimic the expressions of the actresses she sees on screen. Taunted at school for her Chinese heritage, she dreams of becoming a star, picking out her own stage name as a child: Anna May Wong. While her sister Lulu is obedient, helping their parents faithfully at their laundry, Anna is a rebel, drawing the ire of their father. But when all of her hard work pays off and Anna gets an opportunity as an extra in The Red Lantern, she's hooked for life -- and there's no one who can stop her. Pitted against white actresses in yellowface, predatory film executives, and an American audience that wants their Chinese heroines either unsympathetic villainesses or good girls who always die, Anna rises in the industry nonetheless, and leaves a lasting impact that will change the lives of many Chinese and Chinese-American women for generations.
Anna May Wong has captured the imaginations -- and hearts -- of people ever since she debuted in 1919. A trailblazer by every definition of the word, she's someone who fought time and time again against discrimination and oppression, and although we now look back on her as a woman who was successful, she often felt the stinging blow of being denied role after role, only to have it taken by a white woman in dreadful, monstrous yellowface. Tsukiyama makes an effort here to peel back the layers, to allow us to see the film icon from her own perspective, and to also help us understand the setbacks she faced and overcame each time.
As a fan of Wong's, it was a thrill to see this book available on Netgalley. The cover, with its beautiful photograph of her with the haircut that inspired so many others to chop their bangs, caught my attention instantly. Reading the first page of The Brighest Star, however, I'm afraid to say that I felt the first, slightest hints of apprehension. This is my first time reading a novel by Tsukiyama, but she's famous and well-regarded, so I wasn't very concerned that I would dislike her writing. With that being said, as difficult as it is to say this, I'm not a fan of Tsukiyama's writing in the slightest. My main problem is partly due to writing style, which is all tell, no show, and partly due to pacing, which takes you so quickly through every part of Wong's life that it feels as if you get no time to absorb it whatsoever.
This is one of my biggest disappointments of 2023. It's hard to emphasize how much the pacing damages this story; it feels almost like flashes of her mind and thoughts and then, in the blink of an eye, it's gone. To put it simply, everything is flat, particularly Wong's inner monologue. There's absolutely no personality, and it's extremely off-putting, especially when you consider what an interesting and brave person Wong was. One other problem: the depiction of her relationship with Marlene Dietrich. Many people are aware of their relationship, but while Tsukiyama gives much dedication to the relationships Wong had with older, predatory men (including those when she was underage), and gives much detail to their "love and passion," Marlene is many times called nothing more than a friend. Very strange.
So, with all of that being said, I couldn't in good conscience give The Brightest Star a rating higher than two stars.
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