Unintentional Racist Humor?

The following is from an email I sent to my stepmom, a liberal Catholic who teaches at a rather conservative Evangelical university. I knew she'd appreciate it.

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"So I'm reading The Shack. (I know, I know, but it'll be nice to have people quit telling me how I totally need to read it! And how it will change my life! And anyway, I checked out a couple Christopher Moore books along with, just to balance things out.) To be fair, it's not as bad as I was expecting, but I wouldn't exactly call it a must-read. The unintentional humor, though, is pretty killer. At least, I hope it's unintentional. Here's a gem:

Just as [God the Father, apparently played here by Della Reese from Touched By An Angel] turned to enter the cabin, a small, distinctively Asian woman emerged from behind her . . . As she stepped back, Mack found himself involuntarily squinting in her direction, as if doing so would allow his eyes to see her better. But strangely, he still had a difficult time focusing on her . . . It was almost easier to see her out of the corner of his eye than it was to look at her directly. (Emphasis mine.)

Am I reading too much into this? Or did he really just introduce one of his characters as an Asian who can only be seen in your peripheral vision?"

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Seriously, how does an editor not catch that?