A review by mysticwiki
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Edit: ruminated on this for a bit and i think i'm bumping this down to a 3.5 actually, especially after learning a biiiit more context and realizing like. i think this book missed the mark on not being able to also talk about the 1) model minority myth, and 2) literal class differences between richer people of color who have money and access to a better, higher education vs lower class people of color whose experiences are NOT rooted in that kind of luxury and wealth, yknow?

short review: i love supporting women's wrongs but uh. maybe not in this case! reading this book was like watching a multi-collision car accident happen right in front of your face. the last half of this book turned into horror so fast, it caught me off guard A LOT, but wow. also i read this book within 2 days. couldn't help it since the writing was so fluid and narrative compelling.

long review: R.F. Kuang's way of satirically writing about how upcoming authors are treated in the current world of publishing, as well as online especially, was fascinating. i genuinely did not like June at all and all the nuanced things that were made into social commentary in this book made me question my own personal biases and views as a reader of books in general. i think the biggest thing i always have to remind myself is simply not to shape my world views around what others think. like i grew up on the internet, i know how it goes, especially when people deem things as "problematic" because of XYZ and then leave it at that. 

but going to the main central theme of this book, as i told my friend earlier today: being a person of color in these types of industries is like a double-edged sword because you have to navigate being seen as the token representation of your own culture from white people usually as well as understanding that people from your own cultural and ethnic background will be critical of your experiences no matter what. as an example, i was born in Pakistan and moved to the US as a baby. my Urdu isn't the greatest, i know our history, but my connection to my culture is a completely different experience than that of another Pakistani-American person, you know? it's the Diaspora as they say. 

everyone loves the word diaspora and how each of our own little narratives and life experiences add onto each unique diaspora. but yeah like generally, in this position as a person of color, you have to basically do double the work to be seen as an actual, skilled individual compared to your white counterparts in like almost every competitive industry. i can 100% see a lot of Kuang's own experiences in this book and everything she's been criticized with and like listen. this is my first Kuang book, so i don't have a whole lot of context for everything else lol but i do like the way she writes and i'm genuinely interested in reading her other works. i like the work she put into this, as well as the research and what have you, and how funny it was. 

also okay. my only biggest gripe about this book was the representation of the publishing industry. i used to work in publishing, though not in the fiction side of it. i worked in college textbooks, so it was a different world i admit, and i left because of mistreatment on my own end from my editorial team (i was just an editorial assistant). but like...... i dunno if this representation of publishing presented in this novel is the end all be all. but also! it's satire so like obviously it's going to be a bit exaggerated as well. and Kuang is a published author with a lot of books under her belt, and i know she's definitely pulling from her experiences as i said before. 

actually you know what, the more i write my thoughts here, the more i think about the satire part and how like yeah. perhaps a lot of people who have criticized this book have missed the satire piece and how this is not 100% reflective of our real world, but like hey it makes for a fun story tbh. the social commentary was fun and it does make me think how online spaces like this very website and twitter (and instagram, and tumblr, and tik tok, and just social media as a whole) are so meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but unfortunately still very hard to navigate because everyone will just flock there for basically everything.

anyway i think this is it for now, i don't want to sound even more insane, but yeah. definitely a fun read! i highly recommend.