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A review by willowbiblio
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
4.0
"Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to other lands. Writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much."
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It was clear that this was intended to be a kind of dark satire. I think Kuang nailed her main character's misguided sense of entitlement and victimhood from the world and her mother. However, there were moments I was sort of pushed out of the narrative by her writing style and plot choices. It was hard to believe Kuang herself wasn't a white racist moonlighting as an Asian woman for how well she wrote that POV. Kuang is a fantastic writer and her witticisms and dry humor really kept this going.
I found her portrayal of the Twitter storms that have now become common and the way many scandals feel ultimately meaningless because they change nothing to be spot on. I guess the narrative also felt shallow to me. No one was blameless, but Juniper was deeply problematic and unwilling to take any form of accountability. Throughout it felt like there weren't any strong character arcs, which maybe was the point.
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It was clear that this was intended to be a kind of dark satire. I think Kuang nailed her main character's misguided sense of entitlement and victimhood from the world and her mother. However, there were moments I was sort of pushed out of the narrative by her writing style and plot choices. It was hard to believe Kuang herself wasn't a white racist moonlighting as an Asian woman for how well she wrote that POV. Kuang is a fantastic writer and her witticisms and dry humor really kept this going.
I found her portrayal of the Twitter storms that have now become common and the way many scandals feel ultimately meaningless because they change nothing to be spot on. I guess the narrative also felt shallow to me. No one was blameless, but Juniper was deeply problematic and unwilling to take any form of accountability. Throughout it felt like there weren't any strong character arcs, which maybe was the point.