Any fans of Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou? Or was anyone else riveted by the Bad Art Friend NYT saga of October 2021? Well, this satire is BAF times a thousand, but dial up the racial dynamics and forget the kidney. Kuang deftly constructs a hilariously grotesque mirror maze of publishing’s worst aspects, complete with Twitter takedowns, fake narcissistic author friends, and a dizzying exploration of inspiration vs imitation vs borrowing vs theft vs exploitation, as it pertains to art. Who owns a story? Who gets to tell it? What do we owe to our friends, or the dead, or to people of color? It’s a fast, fun, and wild ride and so worth the read. Drops next week! Many thanks to @netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.

#rfkuang #yellowface #arcreview #netgalley

What a great time to read this during AAPI Heritage month! This book pulled me in and did not let go. I was enthralled from the beginning. This was my first R. F. Kuang book and what a writer she is. Who is right and who is wrong is the theme as a writer looking for her next book, revises and passes off a story a now dead acquaintance wrote. This story is timely and captivating..

Wow wow wow! The hype around this book is so well deserved! Such an engaging and interesting read that really pulls you into the world of publishing and deception. It reads like a very interesting monologue, and I'm sure it makes a stunning audiobook! June was so easy to hate, and it made me love the book so much more. I felt the end was a tad bit underwhelming, but the book as a whole was so well crafted that I didn't really care!

R.F. Kuang is known for her fantasy novels but steps outside of the genre in this satirical, unreliable-narrator novel. Yellowface is, if nothing else, a compulsively interesting read. Some of the Goodreads reviews are pretty divided on it, which I think is testament to the complexity of the satire that R.F. Kuang has introduced. Kuang, who is Chinese-American, writes from the perspective of a white woman whose friend is a successful Asian writer. When that friend dies in a freak accident, the narrator steals her manuscript and publishes it as her own work. What follows is a critique of publishing, social media, and the arts as a profession, with race and gender weighing heavily on it all.

I found some of Kuang’s commentary to be somewhat over-the-top or at least obvious. The narrator June Hayward (publishing under the suspiciously racially ambiguous name Juniper Song) says a lot of things that are flat-out racist and completely self-centered. And sometimes, she had some commentary that made sense, such as her thoughts on how bestsellers get “picked” and how social media can be a vicious place. This is what I found to be really interesting – Kuang has created a truly vile character in June, but I still felt like I understood her motivations and, inexplicably, felt a little anxiety at the thought that her plagiarism might be found out. Even though I hated June and had been hoping the whole time that the scheme would be uncovered!

It’s also interesting that Athena Liu, June deceased friend and a character who has a great deal of similarities to R.F. Kuang herself, was a flawed character. While some of the perspective we get on Liu is muddied by June’s jealousy, there is valid commentary on how Liu pilfered personal stories of suffering and trauma from others and utilized them in her writing. Kuang also touches on cancel culture – the Twitter mob and their ferocity are definitely villainous from June’s perspective, but they are also rightfully calling June out on her actions. As a white woman who doesn’t work in publishing, I can’t speak too definitively on how well Kuang handles themes of race in the industry. But many of her satirical insights rang true from my understanding – for example, the tokenization of diversity and the limited opportunities of writers of color. If nothing else, Yellowface made me think.

Kuang excels at writing morally gray (at best) characters, and I sometimes even felt myself being gaslit by June Hayward’s narration – constantly questioning what was real and what was being skewed by June’s justifications. Yellowface is extremely interesting and worth a read just for the conversations you’ll have afterwards.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

June Song Hayward is a white American novelist whose literary career faltered almost as soon as it began whereas, her sort-of friend/acquaintance, Athena Liu is an acclaimed Chinese American writer at the height of her literary success.

On a fateful night, when it’s only the two of them in Athena’s flat, Athena chokes on a piece of pancake and dies. June is stunned by Athena's sudden death and calls 911 for help but also manages to discreetly pocket Athena’s finished first draft of a historical fiction manuscript that she is sure no one else knows about.

June reads the draft and begins to fill in the gaps in the story, polishing it further until it is ready to be published and, on a whim, submits it as her work, conveniently editing Athena out of the narrative. To lend some credibility to June writing a Chinese story, she publishes the book as June Song, has a deliberately racially ambiguous photo taken that makes her whiteness less apparent, and with the support of her publishers, promotes her “nomadic” background to counter any appropriation claims.

The story then takes an even more intense turn following the soaring popularity of the book with plagiarism accusations, online critiques, backlash through negative reviews, and someone very determined to get revenge.

I enjoyed reading this book and loved the nuanced descriptions of Athena as not a very likable character, June’s mental dialogue and justifications for her self-satisfaction for whatever accusation she thinks and knows readers will definitely levy at her, and some of the many ways in which the publishing industry promotes diversity superficially.

Yellowface is compulsively readable, thoroughly entertaining, and immensely thought-provoking. Though I did not find it humorous or very satirical, nor does it have the unique charm and literary appeal that Babel had, it is still a good starting point to highlight the very obvious racial biases in the publishing industry.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to @harpercollinsca for the ARC.

📌
Came across the term “Highlander Syndrome” in this book & looked it up, so interesting and unfortunately quite common!
Look it up!

#yellowface #rfkuang

Is there anything R.F. Kuang *can't* do? Frpm the "Poppy War" trilogy to the epic, ingenious fantasy "Babel" to this: a brilliant send-up of intellectual property and the publishing industry. The hits just keep on coming!

Wow…what an interesting book! The main character is not likeable, but like a car wreck, I couldn’t stop looking and wanted to see what was going to happen.

Some of my favorite parts are the “behind the scene” glimpses into the publishing industry. I am looking forward to hearing more about the accuracy of how the book business was portrayed. Lots to discuss with this one. Highly recommend, especially to lovers of contemporary fiction.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary digital ARC.

Quite often you read a blurb and think “oh, that sounds good” and read the book and it doesn’t live up to the hype. “Yellowface” absolutely lives up to and exceeded all my expectations. If it weren’t for work, I would have read this in one sitting. The narrative style was easy to read. The story was compelling and kept me guessing. This may very easily become the best book I read all year.

This is the most compelling thing I've read in a very long time. I was hooked from the start and never wanted to put this book down. I felt a compulsive need to continue turning pages and see what horrible, cringeworthy thing happened next. I'm actually shocked how much this book drew me in because I don't typically enjoy literary or contemporary fiction much. I'm a huge fan of Kuang's fantasy works, so I wanted to take a chance on this one regardless.

It really is an addictive story. It's one of those experiences where you simultaneously want to look away while being too fascinated to actually tear your eyes away. These pages are chockful of cringe statements, secondhand embarrassment and groan-inducing audacity.

It's also an incredibly tense read, which really surprised me. Certain sections read almost like a thriller, complete with jump scares, paranoia, and held breath. I actually felt stressed out as the story progressed and we find ourselves buried deeper and deeper in a situation that feels impossible to escape from unscathed. I found myself rooting for the inevitable consequences, the monumental downfall we all knew had to be just around the corner while at the same time dreading it, thinking maybe something would still turn the tides in Juniper's favor for just a little longer. Not to suggest that I was ever rooting for her (it's pretty impossible to) but I just never felt ready for it all to come crashing down.

In addition to all the beautifully crafted fiction aspects, the social commentary here is top notch. It's definitely one of those books that really makes you reflect. Kuang obviously has things to say here and I absolutely believe she will get the discourse she's looking for out of this one. Fantastic execution.

My only small complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed, especially after how frantic and tense the buildup was. But honestly I was so thoroughly invested and entertained that I almost don't even care. I still had THE best time reading this book.

Highly recommend. Can't wait to check back on the reviews after publication.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for my ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

"Yellowface" is my first Kuang novel and I'm not really sure how to feel about it. As an Asian American woman who also writes, I was incredibly excited for this one and to see how Kuang critiques the publishing industry but again, I'm sort of lost as to how I should feel. First and foremost, I guess I'm a bit underwhelmed and disappointed by this but I suppose since she primarily writes fantasy, I might just have an issue with her writing here. I think Kuang raises a lot of good questions and concerns here about publishing and the industry and existing within it as a writer of color and I understand why she chose to do this from the perspective of a white author, June, but ultimately I felt like Kuang would bring these huge discussions and questions up but give no real statement or stance on it. There were also issues brought up with "cancel culture" and "wokeness" that I felt were just hot-button issues that again ultimately went nowhere.

I also understand that June is supposed to be unlikable and deplorable. We're not supposed to sympathize with her but my god, I could not stand her and reading her justifying stealing work from a dead WOC was a lot. I also felt like even though June was the being defensive in the narrative, some of the critiques that she was defending herself against and the ones surrounding Athena sounded VERY similar to what I've read from other reviewers about Kuang herself. So although I hadn't read any Kuang prior to this novel, I was familiar with the critiques against her and it felt weird to see those pop up again against Athena. To see those valid critiques get condescended to as being from writers who were jealous of Athena and hated her for being talented and pretty just felt....I don't know. It certainly didn't leave a nice taste in my mouth.

Ultimately, I think this novel really fails what it promised. It doesn't feel like a critique of the publishing industry but more of a huge middle-finger to any reviewers and readers who dare to be critical of Kuang. As a writer, I understand integrating some of myself into my writing but I think Kuang really oversteps and put too much of herself into the narrative and characters. If I hadn't known about what's been said about Kuang, I likely would have enjoyed the book more and thought it to be much more critical than it actually is. Unfortunately, because I do know about critiques of Kuang, especially from other AAPI people, the book just felt very vain and defensive. Especially when considering that many of the critiques are incredibly valid and again, Kuang touches so briefly on them just to shove them aside and label them as overly critical and jealous. I

I'd only recommend this if you don't know anything about Kuang.

THIS WAS SO GOOD. I love R.F. Kuang but it is always nerve-wrecking to have a favorite author switch up their genre but when you've got a great writer on your hands, like Kuang, there is nothing to fear. I hate to say it but this is a perfect book to go into without a ton of information on the story's content because Kuang's storytelling is all you will need. This is really a title that I will need to re-read pretty soon because there is SO much to unpack and I cannot wait. This was perfect and I loved every moment of it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5/5 stars. How do I even begin this review? YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang follows a white woman named June Hayward who witnesses her friend Athena Liu die, steals her dead friend's unfinished manuscript, and then claims it as her own. This literary thriller tackles the publishing industry, social media culture, and the weaponization of social justice language and mental health language in today's society. It keeps readers guessing until the very end. I will read and recommend anything R.F. Kuang writes!

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of Yellowface by R. F. Kuang from @harpercollinsca and oh. my. god. I cannot wait for this to be in more readers hands so I can talk about it!!!

I am still thinking about this book and had to take a couple of days after finishing it to write this review. I absolutely adored it. This is one of the most refreshing pieces of satire I’ve read since I finished my undergrad, and while Juniper is one of the most infuriating perspectives to read from, the choice to focus this story on her and her perspective was a great one in terms of satire. It was very obvious where some of the plot points were taken from Kuang’s own life and publishing journey, and the moments focused on social media, specifically the hellsite that is Twitter, we’re absolutely perfect and hilarious. This story is not only funny, and makes fun of the whiteness of publishing, cancel culture, and the world of writing on social media, but it also is a dark and psychologically fraught look into the mind of someone who genuinely thinks that they are more deserving of success than others. I can totally understand where the satire was just too much for some readers and it made it hard for them to read, but for me, that made me get through it even faster. I mean, my consistent thought was “It can’t possibly get worse than this, can it?” Reader, it did. It was like watching a car crash, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away, which was exactly the point.

I think everyone should give this one a go, it comes out on May 25th, and it was a clear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

Yellowface is my first R.F. Kuang novel and it did not disappoint. There is no question that Kuang's writing is addicting - witty and filled with satire, Yellowface is an uncomfortable, but realistic look at the publishing industry and its inner workings.

June is incredibly insufferable and does what Kuang set out to accomplish with her character, an unreliable narrator who is ignorant and consciously (and unconsciously) racist and ploys her way to success by stealing her counterpart's work after she passes.

One of the best things this book highlights is this notion of who is allowed to tell stories of marginalized groups, something of debate for sometime on social media platforms. However, Kuang places another level of complexity to it and also makes us question whether or not someone from said marginalized group, but without any direct experience, should be allowed to tell those stories too. While Athena is Chinese, she is still very much Asian-American with no real ties from the story she drafted about Chinese labor workers. Is she allowed to tell these stories too?

The ending was a bit unsatisfying, but also makes sense from the perspective of June as a white woman. Overall, a really solid read. Thought this would be an easier introduction to Kuang's works and I was not wrong.

While Yellowface is distinctly different than The Poppy War and Babel both in terms of genre as well as pacing, this book still feels written by the same author so I expect many fans of her previous works to enjoy this as well.

This satirical/meta literary fiction (with some thriller elements) is very fast-paced and extremely hard to put down (a complete change in feel from the experience of reading Babel which is great in its own way). It sucks you in immediately - especially if you're a reader like me who has been plugged into the online book community and aware of the many dramas that have unfolded over the past few years. The messy drama between messy characters and their messy relationships (particularly between June and Athena) are like a train wreck - it's so awful it's hard to look away. This book is also a fascinating and important look at systemic racism within the publishing industry and I can tell that when this is released there will be lots of discussion surrounding the themes explored throughout..

3.5 stars

I’m honestly not sure how to feel about this one. Part of me wants to approach this from the satire angle, which helps me to not take this story so seriously and thereby enables me to tamp down my frustration and anger at the plethora of “problematic” actions and behaviors of all the characters in the story. The other part wants to approach this from the angle of a necessary commentary on the dark and ruthless underbelly of the publishing industry, the toxicity of social media, the rise of online book communities, and of course, the most front and center hot button topic in recent years — racism and social justice. Regardless of which angle though, one thing I do need to make clear is that I’m approaching this book from the position of not having read any of R.F. Kuang’s previous works and also not having much knowledge of her background or history as an author. I feel this is an important distinction to make because, just glancing through the mixed bag of reviews and ratings on Goodreads, it’s pretty obvious that this book is going to provoke strong reactions in readers that will vary greatly depending on each person’s background, experiences, and also familiarity with the author and/or her works. (As a side note, it seems that most of the negative reviews of this book on Goodreads seem to focus on the “meta” aspect of the story as it pertains to Kuang’s own background and interactions related to her previous works — while these observations may be completely valid, this was an angle that did not concern me given my lack of familiarity with the author, so it won’t be a focus of this review).

Kuang actually covers a lot of ground with this book in terms of topics — in addition to the commentary on hot button issues mentioned earlier, the story also explores cultural appropriation, colonialism, systemic racism, cyber bullying, the current political environment, censorship, toxic friendships, recent debates about who should be allowed to tell which stories, etc. While so many of these topics are important and should be brought up for discussion, I have to admit that it felt like too much all at once, to the point that, at times, I felt I was being bombarded with one issue after another after another, making it difficult to process my thoughts (which, to me, was necessary given how “heavy” so many of the topics were). I honestly think that the story would’ve been a less overwhelming experience (and hence a more powerful and effective story) if it had focused less on trying to cover all bases and instead, focused on only a few topics to explore more in depth.

Aside from the subject matter, the other thing that made this book a difficult read, at least for me, was the fact that all of the characters in the story were hugely unlikable, with the main protagonist June Hayward (aka Juniper Song) being particularly loathsome and pathetic (it also didn’t help that the entire story was narrated from June’s first person point of view, so we were stuck listening to her endless excuses and whining the whole time). It’s honestly hard to enjoy a story when you hate the main character and have no one else to root for because all the supporting characters were also annoying.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a provocative story with so many topics that could actually be debated ad nauseam and probably we would never be able to come to an agreement on anything. One of the central issues that the story dives into — and the one most resonant for me — is the idea of who gets to tell what story. In theory, I don’t have a problem with an author “going outside their lane” so to speak — in this instance, a white author writing an Asian story — as long as it’s done correctly, which in my book means doing so respectfully and as authentically as possible (though yes, there is also the argument about how this takes the opportunity away from a marginalized author to tell the same story, which I also agree with, but that’s a whole separate debate altogether and not really the focus of this story). But I think what happens in Yellowface actually goes beyond this (who should get to tell the story) — technically, it’s not about whether June, who is white, should be allowed to tell a story about Chinese history and culture, as the fact of the matter is that the original story was written by her friend Athena Liu (who is Chinese). The real issue here is that, when Athena dies unexpectedly, June “takes” the manuscript and publishes it as her own. Sure, June makes a lot of edits to the manuscript and even “rewrites” large chunks of it, since Athena’s version was unfinished (this is important because June clings to this throughout the story as her main “justification” for why the story belongs to her and hence she did nothing wrong). Even so, June had the choice to go down the proper path with this — that is, to credit Athena for coming up with the story and writing majority of it, and to attach herself as collaborator in finishing and editing it (there is a scene where June actually considers doing this). But she deliberately chooses not to and that, friends, is the crux of the problem. To me, once June made that choice, nothing else mattered — I no longer cared what excuses or justifications she gave (believe me, she gave PLENTY), or what “factually” happened or didn’t happen (i.e.: “I didn’t mean to take it, I was just curious” or “I never ‘pretended’ to be Chinese so it’s not cultural appropriation” or “Athena is a bad person because she stole from me first”, etc). At that point, it was hard not to view June in a negative light for the rest of the story.

Of course, it probably also doesn’t help June’s case that I’m Chinese myself and am intimately familiar with the language and culture, which means that I understood most of the nuances in Athena’s manuscript, so June’s actions come across as even more egregious in my view. There was one passage in particular that got me seething mad (yes, THAT passage in which June’s complete ignorance of Chinese culture is put on full display) — thinking about it now though, it strikes me that perhaps this may have been intentional on the author’s part, as there is no way that anyone with even a passing knowledge of Chinese language and culture wouldn’t be triggered by the “edits” that June makes to the script. Speaking of which, the other thing that really bothered me was June’s attitude — specifically the utter delight and glee with which she “changed” Athena’s creation. The entire section that details June’s “editing sessions” was honestly very painful to read — not just from the perspective of someone who knows the culture, but also from the perspective of a writer who has spent countless hours on a project, only to see someone else come in and happily “butcher” it. And then, to add further insult to injury, there’s this passage, where June’s editor Daniella tells her at the end of the sessions: “You are so wonderfully easy to work with. Most authors are pickier about killing their darlings” to which June’s immediate reaction is “This makes me beam. I want my editor to like me. I want her to think I’m easy to work with, that I’m not a stubborn diva, that I’m capable of making any changes she asks for. It’ll make her more likely to sign me on for future projects.” Needless to say, I wanted to punch June’s lights out by that point (and this was only at the 15% mark in the story, unfortunately).

Overall, in terms of literary merit, I feel that this book is definitely worth reading (and to some extent, it’s actually a necessary read from the social commentary aspect), but like I said earlier, what the reading experience is going to be like will depend on how close you are to the subject matter. Given my background, reading this book was obviously not a pleasant experience for me (hence why I rated this the way I did), but that does not mean others will feel the same way. With that said, I do think that, with this book in particular, given so many triggering elements to it, the best course of action might be to check out as many reviews as possible (both positive and negative) before making the decision whether to pick it up. I had heard that this book is actually a departure from R.F. Kuang’s usual style and while I can’t comment on that, I will say that the unpleasant experience with this one hasn’t discouraged me from wanting to read her previous works. I have both Babel and The Poppy Wars trilogy on my shelves and I do intend to read both at some point down the line.

Received ARC from William Morrow via NetGalley.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of yellowface by r. f. Kuang. this was a fantastic story of the horrible ideal of if i stole this will i can make it my own. this spiraling story of the guilt over her friends death and the backlash after getting called out of racism, theft, and even murder at some points. this was a fantastic story about the unlikely and what would happen if you took advantage of a situation such as this.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this, even tho I didn't love it. There was not a single likeable character in this book, I wasn't rooting for anyone. The social commentary was very heavy handed and almost insulting in some instances. Honestly, at a loss for how to even really review this right now, maybe I will have better words after digesting this for a bit. #netgalley #yellowface

What in the world did I just read?

Yellowface is my first Kuang novel and boy is it a doozy. I have a feeling that this book is going to be very polarizing and readers are going to feel very strongly one way or the other.

Love it or hate it, Yellowface is one compulsive read oozing satire and shock value about topics such as cultural appropriation, cancel culture, racism, diversity, the inner workings of the publishing industry, and more.

If you're looking for something to blow your mind, be it good or bad, then get your hands on this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow, and the author for this advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Yellowface is an amazing satire where I love to hate every single character.

On the night of Athena Liu's death, June steals Athena's final manuscript and proceeds to publish it as her own using a racially ambiguous name. But as speculations of her misdeads come to light, June suspects she is haunted by Athena's ghost.

This book is very character driven and a commentary of publishing at every aspect along the way. Every person in the novel is a characterization of all the worst parts of the publishing and book industry. It highlights the discrepencies between treatment of white and cis-het authors as compared to their marginalized counterparts. It showcases how publishing can be an author's greatest ally or their greatest frenemy. It picks apart everything that is hypocritical about the industry of books.

I really enjoyed that Kuang drew on real life people and events for her inspiration of her characters and plots. While everything is a satire, it is far from fictitious. But by putting the worst of everything on the page, it makes the readers question what is right and wrong and if certain discussions, such as plagiarism, authenticity, and cancel culture, can be easily seen as black and white.