Reviews

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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k8lynn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i loved this book and simultaneously hated every single thing Juniper did. she was a cery unlikeable character and i did not sympathize with her morivations whatsoever. it was challenging to read the POV of a "villain" doing something so ethically wrong, and i really wanted to see her get what she had coming to her, but certain people always seem to get off scotch-free. i really enjoyed how this was written, i especially enjoyed the audiobook form, and i felt engaged right off the bat from the first chapter/athena's death scene. this a great read, especially for those who hate plaigarists and people who try to be someone they're not because it challenges you to see from the other side. the ending didn't fall flat for me; if anything it just showed how Juniper will not stop her toxic ways.

also, reverse racism is totally not a thing.

Content Warnings

leoniethom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

milaniezh's review

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4.0

Never in my life, I’ve written a review bigger than two sentences, but “Yellowface” was one of the most thought-provoking things I’ve ever read.

The story is about unpopular writer June Hayward, who stole and appropriated her recently passed friend’s unpublished manuscript.
Juniper doesn’t stop. She always wants more readers, more great ideas, and she didn’t stop justifying herself,
“I know what you’re thinking. Thief. Plagiariser. And perhaps, because all bad things must be racially motivated, Racist. Hear me out. It’s not so awful as it sounds.”
She doesn’t recognize that behavior with the possibility of being called “revenge”, doesn’t exclude the fact of being unacceptable. However, every time she receives death-wish messages you terrified. This isn’t a sympathetic character, but you still can feel sorry for her.

During the story we finding out not only about main character, but also about Athena, who’s manuscript, actually, was stolen. Athena is a golden girl: she’s smart, pretty and charming, so why from all people, exactly June friend-from-freshman-year was here while she dying? At the end, you may see a lot of parallels in them.

SPOILERS!
I was really moved and impressed with one part of Mrs. Liu and June’s call dialogue:
““It [Mother Witch] really is original work”…
“I know,” says Mrs. Liu, and now there’s a hard edge in her voice. “I know, June. Athena never would have written something like that.”
Before I can ask her what she means, she hangs up.”
What do we know about June’s family? –Her mother loves her daughters but thinks that for Junie being an accounted better than being an author. Her sister lives her life with an average middle class family and doesn’t understand the importance of sister’s achievements. But also we have a father who’s died and mentioned in text maybe three times, but has the biggest significance for June.
Athena’s mother as well as our main character’s mother doesn’t read her daughter’s works, but one of them doesn’t – because scared of fact seeing her parenting from children’s view, and one – simply doesn’t care.

““…nobody believed me. They said that the Chinese were not in World War One”… “Thank you for telling this story.”” One more beautiful and moving scene.
Can white authors write about racism from perspective of asian mans? This book doesn’t have an easy answer. Is it bad? - I don’t know, I think it’s something that everyone need to answer himself.

“Geoff is one of the few people on earth who also understand the unique point of trying to love Athena Liu. The futility of it all. Like Echo looking Narcissus. Like Icarus hurtling straight at the sun, just to feel it’s warmth on his skin”.
I noticed that paragraph while searching for quotes, and let me say how accurate these myths selected. June is unable to makes good stories without stolen others ideas as well as Echo was forced to use the voices of others to speak. And after all they both ends only as someone’s echo.

Conclusion
Saw the review where someone tells that feel as their thoughts on such a masterpiece not worthy of being put on paper, and I agree with that. Absolutely. Thanks to Rebecca Kuang for such a great reading and I hope my bad-english-writing was not such awful.

sarahk_42's review against another edition

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challenging tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’ve rarely hated a main character as much as I hated June Hayward.

natexy's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Yellowface is a product of its times, a literary zeitgeist of the early 2020s.

I was hooked by its mystery, and taken along for a fun ride with its ups and downs.

The only point that felt flat for me was the unravelling of its climax. I found Candice’s dialogue for the lack of a better word, cringe. But maybe that was the point.

I like its nuanced take on racism and diversity. Getting me to read this in a climate that has numbed and tired me out to any discourse of racism or reverse racism, is a feat in itself.

It also felt like the fourth wall was breaking while I read about the real-life challenges of authors in this publishing climate.

Will definitely be looking out and reading more of R. F. Kuang!