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A review by cassie_roberts
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.5
Yellowface has been another fantastically written book by R.F. Kuang. This book was fast-paced, twisty, unpredictable, and impossible to put down. The book is a dramatic dark satire with side notes hilarious grimness, racism, insight into the publishing world, and extensive booktwt discourse.
Yellowface delves into the complexities of whiteness, racism, cultural appropriation, and the erasure of ethnic (in particular Asian) voices in Western society and in the publishing industry. RFK artfully highlights these issues using the narrative voice of June, a white female main character who witnesses the death of her 'friend' and immediately steals her finished manuscript to publish as her own.
June is awful, frustrating, manipulative, self-absorbed, and unfailingly realistic. RFK writes June so incredibly that at times you could even forget how repulsive June is and that she got everything she has because she stole Athena's story and passed it off as her own because of how well she is written.
I love that RFK didn't pull any punches with any of her characters and that you walk away from the book not having really liked any of them as people.
Yellowface gave us a lot of messy questions to come to terms with but no real answers on what can be done better. Whilst I would have enjoyed more insight into RFK thinking on these issues, as a work of fiction Yellowface did what it was meant to. It is enough for Yellowface to highlight these issues, complexities, and questions and for it to put them out into the world in a form that is easy to consume and understand. The book leaves it up to us to form our own conclusions on how we feel about these issues and make our own decisions on how we value marginalised stories and authors.
The book was very meta and heavy with popular culture references that weren't always enjoyable to wade through if you didn't understand or know the acronyms or what was being discussed. I struggled with the middle of the book because of how heavy-handed it was with Twitter discourse but otherwise, it was a thought-provoking book that was wonderfully written and extremely engaging.
I loved the writing, I don't think the book was necessarily a story that I really enjoyed reading but I think the issues and complexities that it dealt with were incredibly well done and easy to follow and understand.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.
Yellowface delves into the complexities of whiteness, racism, cultural appropriation, and the erasure of ethnic (in particular Asian) voices in Western society and in the publishing industry. RFK artfully highlights these issues using the narrative voice of June, a white female main character who witnesses the death of her 'friend' and immediately steals her finished manuscript to publish as her own.
June is awful, frustrating, manipulative, self-absorbed, and unfailingly realistic. RFK writes June so incredibly that at times you could even forget how repulsive June is and that she got everything she has because she stole Athena's story and passed it off as her own because of how well she is written.
I love that RFK didn't pull any punches with any of her characters and that you walk away from the book not having really liked any of them as people.
Yellowface gave us a lot of messy questions to come to terms with but no real answers on what can be done better. Whilst I would have enjoyed more insight into RFK thinking on these issues, as a work of fiction Yellowface did what it was meant to. It is enough for Yellowface to highlight these issues, complexities, and questions and for it to put them out into the world in a form that is easy to consume and understand. The book leaves it up to us to form our own conclusions on how we feel about these issues and make our own decisions on how we value marginalised stories and authors.
The book was very meta and heavy with popular culture references that weren't always enjoyable to wade through if you didn't understand or know the acronyms or what was being discussed. I struggled with the middle of the book because of how heavy-handed it was with Twitter discourse but otherwise, it was a thought-provoking book that was wonderfully written and extremely engaging.
I loved the writing, I don't think the book was necessarily a story that I really enjoyed reading but I think the issues and complexities that it dealt with were incredibly well done and easy to follow and understand.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and War