Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Yellowface

R. F. KUANG HAS DONE IT AGAIN! 👏🏼 Wow. When I first finished reading Babel, I SCREAMED and then told everyone that would listen to read it 😂 This one had a similar effect (although this time around, only my mum was there to witness my excitement).

Honestly though, R. F. Kuang writes in a way that is completely satirical and all-consuming. Every time I picked up her book, I only put it down due to necessity (e.g. to eat, and even then I tried to read it on my Kindle).

I know that Athena was a flawed being (as are many of R. F. Kuang’s characters), but it was still so easy to despise June. Honestly some of the things she said 😫

I’m really not going to lie, I am SO glad Candice called her out on her shit. When Diana turns around in shock and says ‘We don’t all look the same’ I FELT THAT. Goodness gracious me.

I’ve also never been so invested in a character that I’ve despised so much, so that was another moment to appreciate Kuang’s writing.

Yellowface didn’t have the ending I expected it to, but it still enthralled me. I’d be amiss not to give it a 5 star rating ✨ Obviously content warnings are needed (and will be included below) but truly am recommending this to EVERYONE. Including the Junes of the world 👀

Content Warnings

deetabz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

nnisharajesh's review against another edition

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dark informative sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

This is my first time reading R.F. Kuang's book and this is something new for me. While I usually read for fun, this book is sophisticatedly written, I learned a lot about the publishing process, the book/movie process, and more.

This book is about a white woman who stole a manuscript of an unpublish book from her dead friend, a Chinese woman who had a very successful career as an author.

I love how R.F. Kuang portrayed June, how she seems so clueless about whatever she thinks and said about other races. (page 49) Most characters in this book are just naturally annoying and so untouched by reality.

Though, there are some parts where we can also see how Athena is when she's still alive. It's so heartbreaking when a story that June shared with Athena turns out to be used as a fictional story, without Athena asking for permission or even acknowledging it to June.

These are just stories that we maybe had experienced in real life. I know I did, and I can relate to certain things being said to the Asian characters in this book.

Content Warnings

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

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relaxing fast-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

marlanaysiaslibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

helliepad's review against another edition

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challenging medium-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

4.0

My least favorite RF Kuang book so far- though it delivered on its juicy premise, it reaaaallllyy took it's time to get there. The first part of the book didn't read like a story but rather like an extended rant, and the few bits of characterization at the end seemed out of place. Like I should've been invested in June's life at the beginning instead of outright hating her from the get go.

The thing is after 4 books you tend to notice that RF Kuang uses characters as a mouthpiece for her own anger, but she's a really good ventriloquist. The character voices are good and well-formed, they suck you in and they don't lose pitch. However, that did translate to June being silly- as a Southeast Asian girl I wasn't sold on the ghost aspect of this book because while June is haunted by Athena the myth and the human, it doesn't feel that way. The reader is stuck, flypaper and all, in June's very loud and singular voice.

...though I guess that'sbecause she did write in 1st person this entire book lol. RF Kuang writing in 2nd person will probably devastate me even more.

Still, this was an amazing read, if altogether preachy and drawn out longer than I expected. I can't wait for the author to explore other genres.

Content Warnings

sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

**will update, one day, but just putting down my immediate thoughts**

Despite owning multiple copies of The Poppy Wars trilogy, and Babel, Yellowface is the first R. F. Kuang novel I've read.

This novel is marketed as a satire about the publishing industry, so I was expecting it to be enjoyable/readable but for most of it to go over my head, because I generally don't understand satire.

However, the whole mystery/thriller aspect that's not really advertised had me quickly turning the pages for the last half of the book. I don't know if the writing and what happened is something that those that have read her backlist expected, but as a new to the author reader, it had me captured. Like where was Kuang going with this? What is happening? At the same time, I was and to guess what was happening as i got closer to the end - my original prediction at about 1/3 of the way done was wrong.

Anyways, highly recommend adding to your TBR if you want something that looks into the publishing industry, tokenization, diversity "efforts and inclusion".

It's really a lot about who gets to tell stories, who gets credit, how much credit.

CN: HP references

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