🎬 Danmei Book Recommendation: 跨界演员 Crossover Actor by 北南 Beinan/North-South
• Genre/setting: Modern, realistic
• This book is about a little-known actor’s journey to stardom and developing relationship with an acclaimed scriptwriter.
• Social anxiety disorder! (I don’t consider this a spoiler because 1, the disorder becomes fairly obvious early on in the book and 2, the author put it in the blurb.) Tasty. It’s so good to see someone finding love despite their difficulty in building deep connections with people.
• I like how one of the characters’ backstory is revealed. Peel that trauma apart like an onion.
• The romance is slow-burn.
• Opposites (eventually) attract. The actor is not famous at the start of the book, not that bright, and is so straightforward that it has a childlike quality to it. The scriptwriter is renowned, has mature, self-possessed vibes, and is reserved. But both of them are good with people in their own ways, which is surprising in relation to one of them because of his social anxiety disorder. No prizes for guessing who.
• Excerpt (translated by me): At that, Lu Wen said, piqued: “You only love my face?” Qu Yanting said: “I wish I could love your brain, but I can’t find it.”
I read the novel in Mandarin, but a quick search shows that there is an ongoing English fan translation online. I put the link in the notes because Tumblr discriminates against posts with external links in them.
For more recommendations, see my danmei book rec list: https://tentative-wanderer.tumblr.com/post/624449567085248512/danmei-book-recommendations
Edited on 6 June 2021, will be updated as I go along.
(For the uninitiated: danmei=gay Chinese fiction)
Wanted to revisit the happiness thes
Let me know if this rec was fun to read/if it helps 👍
