So, at Kirkus today I wrote about the upcoming Immortal Rules.
Which—assuming it hasn't been changed—has this cover art:
I pulled some quotes* from the text that make it quite clear that the main character, Allison Sekemoto, is of Asian descent. Like, for instance, some dudes in a dark alley refer to her as a "sweet little Asian doll". (Don't worry, she totally kicks their asses up and down the street.)
Errr. So, yeah. Am I seeing things, or are we looking at another case of whitewashing?
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*The formatting at Kirkus looks a bit off -- the first two quotes are one line each, and the third one is three lines long.
I vote for fail. There's no way that girl looks Asian - esp in a darkened alley.
Posted by: Colleen | 16 April 2012 at 07:58 PM
The girl on the cover looks vaguely eastern european... Maybe the part of Asia that Russia is in? Ha.
Posted by: Robin | 16 April 2012 at 09:06 PM
If that's the case, the bit about the katana (the third quote I posted at Kirkus) makes no sense. Sigh.
Posted by: Leila | 16 April 2012 at 09:07 PM
*So* glad to see someone bringing light to this. When I read the ARC last month and noticed the obvious whitewashing, I was surprised/dismayed to realize that I hadn't seen any talk about it in the greater blogosphere. A few Goodreads friends acknowledged it and we all plan to note it in our reviews, but I expected more commentary.
Posted by: Angela H. | 16 April 2012 at 09:29 PM
You know those episodes of Maury Pauvich where the audience has to decide whether the guest is a man in drag or a woman? I feel like that now: that's a white girl, Maury! She white!
But really, they could have at least tried to make her look Central Asia asian.
Posted by: Janine | 17 April 2012 at 05:55 AM
Well, while I'm dismayed that it's happening again, I'm glad to know that I wasn't just imagining things.
Posted by: Leila | 17 April 2012 at 06:01 AM
I think it's a case of gender-switching. That's totally a dude.
Posted by: Heather | 17 April 2012 at 02:39 PM
I've got a hardcover final copy in my hands - the cover is the same as above. Really too bad.
Posted by: Paige | 19 April 2012 at 01:29 PM
RATS. I was really hoping that they'd changed it.
Posted by: Leila | 19 April 2012 at 01:33 PM