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A review by actuallyjusthanne
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have so many thoughts about this book . . . yet I think I hated it?
Yellowface is told from the perspective of both the protagonist and the antagonist, Juniper "June" Song Hayward (cis, plain, white, from philly). At the core of the story, it is a story of living in the shadow of someone with more opportunities and/or privilege, whether by talent or by luck. June was best friends with Athena Liu (asian, pretty, queer, raised internationally): they had the same dreams and desires of being an author and publishing books, but Athena always had more success. Whether that was by skill, luck, or affirmative action, it is unclear to June, but she is deeply envious of Athena.
When Athena dies, June tries to step into her shoes and capitalize off of both being her best friend, as well as the one who takes her idea and publishes a book based off her rough draft, despite the book being about Chinese history and June having no idea what that entails. This opens up a discussion about the publishing industry, and who is allowed to tell what story, and, most interesting to me, whether someone who doesn't have strong cultural ties to a background is the best person to write a story about that background.
The story itself discussed some important topics and was overall interesting but watching the story unravel was so hard. It was a mind exercise to decipher what is truly happening versus what June is perceiving. As the story proceeds, the unreliability of June's narration becomes more and more apparent - everything becomes more and more contradictory and defensive, and whether June has been telling the story truthfully at all comes into play.
June is INCREDIBLY good at justifying each of her decisions, and as the story progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that she is reaching more and more to justify her decisions. Is she really as good of a writer as she claims? Do the parts of Athena's book that she rewrote really fuse into the story as good as she thinks it does? Does her publishing team really support her as much as she thinks they do? From June's perspective, it is all serving her, only BECAUSE she is riding Athena's coattails. She is incredibly self-serving and continuously takes steps to avoid consequences and self-reflection. She simply becomes more and more insufferable and pathetic as the book goes on, and the way that she is pictured in the book is really a testament to the author's writing ability.
June was able to twist her story so much that it made me really consider whether I was as oblivious and as good at making excuses/justifying my bad decisions, and whether or not I am actually being a good person, or am twisting the narrative to make it seem like I am. Of course, I always think that I am the best and I am doing the right thing and responding rationally to the circumstances that surround me, but am I? Are the people in my life watching my life unravel without any self awareness like we watch June's life unravel in this book? Watching her life fall apart was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, and it made me think about whether we exist in the context of all in which we live and what came before us, in the words of Kamala Harris. June has done absolutely no personal growth through the entirety of the book, and ends probably a worse person than when she began. She deserved worse, and yet, and I think that this is part of the story, she got off lighter than a person of color would have for the offenses that she committed.
My favorite discussion that this book undertook was the balance about whether Athena was objectively a "good" person or not - we will probably never know, because inevitably, her legacy, her story, was told by June. From June's perspective, Athena was given it all--a good education, skill, a good team, success in publishing--AND was a person of color, which was what was giving her a leg up. The question of whether Athena had the right to write stories about Chinese laborers after being raised in various international boarding schools and attending Yale and ostensibly never truly being "connected" to her Chinese roots was soooo interesting, and I don't know if I have a true opinion on the matter. As well, the discussion of whether Athena herself was a good person was interesting, because of the skewed way that she was portrayed.
I really liked the look into the publishing industry - I have been in the book/book marketing world long enough to know a lot about how it works, but the specific steps that it entails and the people and the money and all of that was really fun to read about. There was also a LOT of online drama in this book, a lot about being cancelled, a lot of doomscrolling on twitter, and such. I found it realistic and fitting, but I feel like a lot of people would hate it lol.
This book is also set in DC, which is my home city, and reading it was really fun! June does a reading at Politics and Prose at the Wharf in DC, one of my favorite indie bookstores in DC, which was so fun to read about, because I could picture it in my head.
I didn't really like how the story ended - I think the weird suspense angle that last quarter of the book took was really odd and didn't tie the story together in a way as satisfying as it could have been. There are so many ways this book could have ended, and I really feel like there could have been much more of an impact made.But isn't that how things go? grifters and hacks still DO profit from what they do in some way, whether that be an intentional benefit. So maybe this book WAS written perfectly, I don't know
I had a really hard time rating this book because objectively it was so well done: it was a super meta book about a writer writing about a writer, and it is very apparent how technically well done it was. However, technically well done doesn't translate to fun to read: the writing and the protagonist's narration was AGONIZING to read. While I understand that it was the exact intent of the author for the story to come across this way, I did not have fun reading this book. In fact, I had to force myself to sit down and read the entire last third of the book, because I knew that if I put the book down at any point, I wouldn't ever pick it up again.
I've never read a book where I hated the narrator and was actively cringing at the writing, and I would still recommend this book, if nothing but to read a masterclass in how a book is written well. I hated it, but it was a good book.
Yellowface is told from the perspective of both the protagonist and the antagonist, Juniper "June" Song Hayward (cis, plain, white, from philly). At the core of the story, it is a story of living in the shadow of someone with more opportunities and/or privilege, whether by talent or by luck. June was best friends with Athena Liu (asian, pretty, queer, raised internationally): they had the same dreams and desires of being an author and publishing books, but Athena always had more success. Whether that was by skill, luck, or affirmative action, it is unclear to June, but she is deeply envious of Athena.
When Athena dies, June tries to step into her shoes and capitalize off of both being her best friend, as well as the one who takes her idea and publishes a book based off her rough draft, despite the book being about Chinese history and June having no idea what that entails. This opens up a discussion about the publishing industry, and who is allowed to tell what story, and, most interesting to me, whether someone who doesn't have strong cultural ties to a background is the best person to write a story about that background.
The story itself discussed some important topics and was overall interesting but watching the story unravel was so hard. It was a mind exercise to decipher what is truly happening versus what June is perceiving. As the story proceeds, the unreliability of June's narration becomes more and more apparent - everything becomes more and more contradictory and defensive, and whether June has been telling the story truthfully at all comes into play.
June is INCREDIBLY good at justifying each of her decisions, and as the story progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that she is reaching more and more to justify her decisions. Is she really as good of a writer as she claims? Do the parts of Athena's book that she rewrote really fuse into the story as good as she thinks it does? Does her publishing team really support her as much as she thinks they do? From June's perspective, it is all serving her, only BECAUSE she is riding Athena's coattails. She is incredibly self-serving and continuously takes steps to avoid consequences and self-reflection. She simply becomes more and more insufferable and pathetic as the book goes on, and the way that she is pictured in the book is really a testament to the author's writing ability.
June was able to twist her story so much that it made me really consider whether I was as oblivious and as good at making excuses/justifying my bad decisions, and whether or not I am actually being a good person, or am twisting the narrative to make it seem like I am. Of course, I always think that I am the best and I am doing the right thing and responding rationally to the circumstances that surround me, but am I? Are the people in my life watching my life unravel without any self awareness like we watch June's life unravel in this book? Watching her life fall apart was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, and it made me think about whether we exist in the context of all in which we live and what came before us, in the words of Kamala Harris. June has done absolutely no personal growth through the entirety of the book, and ends probably a worse person than when she began. She deserved worse, and yet, and I think that this is part of the story, she got off lighter than a person of color would have for the offenses that she committed.
My favorite discussion that this book undertook was the balance about whether Athena was objectively a "good" person or not - we will probably never know, because inevitably, her legacy, her story, was told by June. From June's perspective, Athena was given it all--a good education, skill, a good team, success in publishing--AND was a person of color, which was what was giving her a leg up. The question of whether Athena had the right to write stories about Chinese laborers after being raised in various international boarding schools and attending Yale and ostensibly never truly being "connected" to her Chinese roots was soooo interesting, and I don't know if I have a true opinion on the matter. As well, the discussion of whether Athena herself was a good person was interesting, because of the skewed way that she was portrayed.
I really liked the look into the publishing industry - I have been in the book/book marketing world long enough to know a lot about how it works, but the specific steps that it entails and the people and the money and all of that was really fun to read about. There was also a LOT of online drama in this book, a lot about being cancelled, a lot of doomscrolling on twitter, and such. I found it realistic and fitting, but I feel like a lot of people would hate it lol.
This book is also set in DC, which is my home city, and reading it was really fun! June does a reading at Politics and Prose at the Wharf in DC, one of my favorite indie bookstores in DC, which was so fun to read about, because I could picture it in my head.
I didn't really like how the story ended - I think the weird suspense angle that last quarter of the book took was really odd and didn't tie the story together in a way as satisfying as it could have been. There are so many ways this book could have ended, and I really feel like there could have been much more of an impact made.
I had a really hard time rating this book because objectively it was so well done: it was a super meta book about a writer writing about a writer, and it is very apparent how technically well done it was. However, technically well done doesn't translate to fun to read: the writing and the protagonist's narration was AGONIZING to read. While I understand that it was the exact intent of the author for the story to come across this way, I did not have fun reading this book. In fact, I had to force myself to sit down and read the entire last third of the book, because I knew that if I put the book down at any point, I wouldn't ever pick it up again.
I've never read a book where I hated the narrator and was actively cringing at the writing, and I would still recommend this book, if nothing but to read a masterclass in how a book is written well. I hated it, but it was a good book.