A review by bookstorian
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

5.0

Interested to discover for myself if the hype was real about this book after seeing it all over Bookstagram and hearing Zara from Shameless podcast rave about it, I quickly purchased it from my local QBD and consumed it in days.

Struggling author June meets up with her long time College frenemy Athena to celebrate her Netflix deal, later that evening Athena is dead and her unpublished, unheard of manuscript is in June's bag. What follows is a physiological thriller that makes you question your own morals, who gets to tell what stories and the world of publishing. 

I don't think I was prepared for just how quickly and all consuming this read would be. Complex characters, moral dilemma's, greed, race and masterful writing all made for an incredible story that made me hungry to discuss the plot, character motivations and deeper themes with others. My copy is covered in notes and highlighted lines. For me the real lessons lied in the revelations about the publishing industry and how it appears to be diverse, but has a lot of work to do as well as how isolating and lonely publishing can be. What happens when being a successful author is your dream, but it is not the reality. 

The perfect book club book, I cannot wait to talk about this read with others. Also keen to read Babel now.