Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Review

 

* This review is spoiler-free *

2.75/5 ⭐

Tropes

➮ Black and grey morality

➮ Book about books

➮ Unreliable narrator

Synopsis

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars, but Athena’s a literary darling, and June didn’t get a paperback release. When June witnesses Athena’s death, she acts on impulse and she steals Athena’s experimental novel about the contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during WWI. So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song including an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this story deserve to be told, whoever the teller is? June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, but evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. 

Best Quote From the Book

“Reading lets us live in someone else’s shoes. Literature builds bridges; it makes our world larger, not smaller."

LGBTQ+ Representation

2/5 🌈

Athena is referred to as vaguely queer. I want to iterate that this is a completely valid identity and does not take away from the LGBTQ+ community so no negativity is needed. I would've loved to see this aspect of her character come into play more throughout the story. 

My Thoughts

This book is the cornerstone of the unreliable narrator trope. June is incredibly delusional and cannot be trusted. As the story progresses, she goes further and further off the deep end. It got to the point I could hardly stand to finish the book. June is just so insufferable the important message of the book just falls by the wayside as I was blinded by my distaste for her character. I acknowledge that June is not supposed to be likable, but rarely do I feel prickly about and character and June hit that mark. 

This book takes a powerful stance in terms of the state of the literary world and the inherent racism within it. I admire Kuang's strength it took to express such a bold viewpoint. That said, it did feel like Kuang made this book overly personal. It morphed into a misguided perspective on racism in the form of self-insert fanfiction. A lot of the criticism of Kuang's other works is thrown into the narrative of this one. 

I went into this book as blindly as I could given this book's popularity. In a way, I wish I hadn't. This book would've had more value to me if while reading it I was taking it as more of a literary commentary instead of a narrative. My perspective while reading definitely negatively impacted my rating of the book because my ratings are based almost purely on my enjoyment while reading. 

Overall, if this book lost its last portion where June becomes insane in her delusions to the point of neuroticism, this story would be a lot easier to get through and still get the message. I highly respect this book for its commentary aspects, especially in terms of what would slide in the publishing industry as it stands today. I recommend reading it for those involved in the publishing industry or highly interested in it. If that is not you, the annoyance you will feel while reading is not worth the hype.