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A review by tetcha
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
4.0
**spoiler alert** I will say it - I hated this book at first and thought about quitting with every chapter... unlikeable characters don't normally bother me too much but June was just soooo awful!
I could read this again and would have a whole list of things to continue unpacking from this story - the insights into the publishing industry, the debate over cultural appropriation, who is allowed to tell what stories... just to name a few, but at the end of the day just dealing with June's character alone is enough to leave me thinking about this book for a long time to come...
Side note: Two quotes that stuck with me were:
“Most of the accounts that participate so clearly do not care about the truth. They’re here for the entertainment. These people love to have a target, and they’ll tear apart anything you put in front of them.”
*This is a reality about social media that especially became apparent to me during the Covid Epidemic... no matter what side people were on and their beliefs, I saw so many posts from people that must have felt hiding behind a screen gave them the license to say things they would never say or admit to in public face to face.
“I would have liked Allie better if she were a shy, bookish type I could have taken on shopping sprees at indie bookstores instead of an iPhone-addicted, TikTok-obsessed basic bitch in training.”
*This quote from June about her niece made me laugh out loud, then think how much more it said about how selfish June was than what type of person her niece was.
I could read this again and would have a whole list of things to continue unpacking from this story - the insights into the publishing industry, the debate over cultural appropriation, who is allowed to tell what stories... just to name a few, but at the end of the day just dealing with June's character alone is enough to leave me thinking about this book for a long time to come...
Side note: Two quotes that stuck with me were:
“Most of the accounts that participate so clearly do not care about the truth. They’re here for the entertainment. These people love to have a target, and they’ll tear apart anything you put in front of them.”
*This is a reality about social media that especially became apparent to me during the Covid Epidemic... no matter what side people were on and their beliefs, I saw so many posts from people that must have felt hiding behind a screen gave them the license to say things they would never say or admit to in public face to face.
“I would have liked Allie better if she were a shy, bookish type I could have taken on shopping sprees at indie bookstores instead of an iPhone-addicted, TikTok-obsessed basic bitch in training.”
*This quote from June about her niece made me laugh out loud, then think how much more it said about how selfish June was than what type of person her niece was.