Yellowface by R.F. KuangMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.
White lies
When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.
Dark humour
But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
Deadly consequences…
What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
White lies
When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.
Dark humour
But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
Deadly consequences…
What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
--
This book is a masterpiece. And it exposes soooooo much--not just in terms of biases within the publishing industry and how the industry works, but the racism and erasure of non-white voices in the industry and elsewhere.
I'm a traditionally published author, and there were so many eye-opening moments in this. Not just in those that really exposed how the book business works (making it a great read for those who aren't writers, as it teaches so much) but in making me think deeper about everything. A lot of complex themes are explored. There is so much important discourse. And all of this is done within the most compelling narrative voice ever. Because June's narration is just FANTASTIC. She felt so, so believable. So realistic. I mean, at times I felt like I was reading a memoir. That's how much I believed the writing.
And June's characterisation was truly phenomenal. She is blood-thirsty. She turns everything to her advantage. Even when her crimes were catching up with her and there seemed to be no way out, I was struck by how she always managed to use it for her own advantage again and again. She is the epitome of an unlikeable character--and I was struck by just how unlikeable she is while the narrative itself is hugely likeable. I mean, this is one of my fave reads of 2023. And even though June is pretty much an awful person you can totally argue that she's a good person who just made one bad mistake (a terrible mistake!!!) and then didn't want to be found out. Like, everything snowballed. There were times when I wanted her to get away with it, because the first-person narration is just that good at justifying it, and then I was horrified at myself.
This was a compulsive read that I just couldn't put down.
View all my reviews
This book is a masterpiece. And it exposes soooooo much--not just in terms of biases within the publishing industry and how the industry works, but the racism and erasure of non-white voices in the industry and elsewhere.
I'm a traditionally published author, and there were so many eye-opening moments in this. Not just in those that really exposed how the book business works (making it a great read for those who aren't writers, as it teaches so much) but in making me think deeper about everything. A lot of complex themes are explored. There is so much important discourse. And all of this is done within the most compelling narrative voice ever. Because June's narration is just FANTASTIC. She felt so, so believable. So realistic. I mean, at times I felt like I was reading a memoir. That's how much I believed the writing.
And June's characterisation was truly phenomenal. She is blood-thirsty. She turns everything to her advantage. Even when her crimes were catching up with her and there seemed to be no way out, I was struck by how she always managed to use it for her own advantage again and again. She is the epitome of an unlikeable character--and I was struck by just how unlikeable she is while the narrative itself is hugely likeable. I mean, this is one of my fave reads of 2023. And even though June is pretty much an awful person you can totally argue that she's a good person who just made one bad mistake (a terrible mistake!!!) and then didn't want to be found out. Like, everything snowballed. There were times when I wanted her to get away with it, because the first-person narration is just that good at justifying it, and then I was horrified at myself.
This was a compulsive read that I just couldn't put down.
View all my reviews
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