June Hayward and Athena Liu were both authors who got deals as young, freshly grauated college students. June is white, Athena is Asian American. June's work flopped, and Athena rose to critical accliam. The two stayed "friends," and occasionnaly spent time together, until one night they are hanging out and there's a freak accident and June sees Athena die. She also finds Athena's latest manuscript, and decides to take it home.
When reading the eArc, I just couldn't get into it, but the audiobook was great! The narrator had great inflection and brought the voice of the main character out in a way that the text didn't for me.
Though I wasn't a huge fan of the voice of the main character, this book brings up a lot of important topics about the publishing industry, social personas, social media, cancel culture, misogyny, diversity, racism, cultural appropriation, and micro-agressions. It's doing A LOT, so some things aren't explored as deeply, but it brings up a lot of current issues and even though fictional, shows a side of publishing that fans and readers don't often get to see.

❝ what more can we want as writers, but such immortality? don’t ghosts just want to be remembered?❞

oh my god. RF Kuang has made me read literary fiction - and LIKE it. A feat I didn't even think was possible. She's stepped out from fantasy and I thought - hey maybe I can too. And I'm so glad I did.

Yellowface reads like an inside joke. Kuang and I are sitting on a bench and scrolling on booktwt and laughing the entire time while commenting 'go touch some grass' at the protagonists of this novel. It's satire to the fullest, dark and sinister with just the right touch of slapstick humor to be considered a thriller. Have you ever seen american psycho? this is my version.

I hate June so much and she's easy to hate, she's written to be hateable- to not hate her by the end of this is a red flag. She's a loser, an unreliable narrator and a white woman who thinks voting biden means she's not racist. She's obsessed with Athena and her success and thinks "surely this is because Athena is Asian and publishing loves Asian stories rn" and not because "I'm a bad writer". There's even a scene of her mentoring an Asian college student where she point blank says how publishing will be DYING for her novel since she's Asian and queer.

So when Athena dies - her first thought is to steal her manuscript and pass it off as her own. But to do that she must whitewash it. There's entire paragraphs about this - how she renames the characters to be easier to follow, more sympathetic white ones are added in, real life cruelties are taken away to make the white soldiers less evil. Even her name is changed - she publishes under her  "hippie" middle name Song and takes what she calls "an ethnically ambiguous photo".

And June sees nothing wrong with this.

One thing I LOVED about this novel is that Athena isn't let off the hook either - even in death she's still overly criticized as soon as a negative thought piece on her goes viral - of her selling Asian pain for profit. Athena is no saint - she's a literary darling but there's a very important point here on where the line is on profiting off culture.

I won't get into the rest of the story because I think y'all should read this downfall for yourself, but this is simply put one of the best novels I've read in a while. June is a mouthpiece and RF uses her extremely well to showcase the racism, sexism and all out bigotry in both the publishing world and online discourse.

cw// death, choking, suicide mention, c slur, sexual assault, theft, blackmail

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much, Harper Collins, for providing me with an E-Arc for review!!

R. F. Kuang’s brain is really and truly everything. She really is my favorite author and weaves so much intricate commentary into everything she creates she continues to change the way I read & consume books & media, and her books continue to absolutely rattle and shake up the genres with which they are published.

The fact that Kuang considers Yellowface a silly little gremlin pandemic book is SO WILD to me because, in my opinion, it packs a punch to the same degree as The Poppy War and Babel do; just in this case, it’s more modern. The way this book breaks down ignorance, racism, white womanhood, false allyship, tokenization, fetishization, corrupt publishing, cancel culture, and more was so incredibly profound, and it also reads as such a biting and witty satire, and it’s absolutely brilliant!

Being inside the head of the protagonist June was one of the most viscerally aggravating reading experiences I’ve maybe ever had, but it also was so unbelievably entertaining and actually physically jaw-dropping and gag-worthy following along with June, and her absolute delusions and Caucasity & I was so enthralled by every aspect of this book. The way it also has some genre-bending psychological thriller and near paranormal horror elements thrown in there as well was such an unexpected surprise, and I really and truly would read R. F. Kuang’s grocery list.

TW: Racism, tokenization, fetishization, SA/Rape (not a graphic depiction of the act, but the after-effects and thoughts and trauma), death, violence, blood, Grief, Psychosis, Toxic Friendship, Cultural Appropriation, Islamophobia, Racial Slurs, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Bullying, Hate Crime,

I read Yellowface by @kuangrf
Back in March 2023. Thank you to @harpercollinsca for my eARC copy. Official publication date is May 16th, 2023.

All I have to say is...
Holy f****** satire! All future
writers & Bookstagrammers
need to check this out, totally worth the read. Kuang
can write anything and I would read it. She has a way of grabbing your attention and holding you on the end of your seat the whole way through.
Unputdownable, slow clap 👏.

Similar to The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz, but 💯 times better 😅.

I can't wait to get a hardcopy on release day to add this one to my forever shelf.

While this was not my favorite R.F. Kuang novel, it was certainly enjoyable in the most uncomfortable way. The characters are deliciously unlikeable, the story will make you cringe, and it's a quick read that you can knock out in a couple of days. My main critique is that the inspection of the publishing industry, while fair, reads too much like Kuang's voice as if it came from her social media feed. Much of it was too "on-the-nose," so to speak. I have a feeling this was the intent though, so it was well-written, just lacking in the subtlety that it really needed.

DNF @50%

This is RF Kuang…someone who writes so vividly and in tune with racism that it made me so viscerally angry. The only reason this book is a DNF is because it kept making my blood pressure spike.

There are so many white people that truly believe in reverse racism, so I just wanted to throw Juniper off of a cliff. I LOATHED her, and I couldn’t keep reading without wanting to throw something across the room.

Kuang weaves compulsively readable and fascinating tale based in pop culture and the publishing industry. The storytelling is artful, the book is constantly entertaining, and I haven't had such a good reading experience in a long time. I will definitely be recommending this book on my platforms.

I thought the concept of this book was fascinating and timely. It was very well done without being over the top. I love Kuang’s writing and storytelling.

This book isn’t out for a while, so I don’t want to spoil anything in this review! Speaking generally about the book, this is what I can say:

1. I was debating starting this one, but after the first page I was hooked.

2. I came to this book because I liked The Other Black Girl. This book is not that book and quite honestly, it’s a stretch! I did enjoy both but they are veryyy different stories.

3. I think the first third was spectacular. The middle third was doing a lot and the last part was …. well, it made it very clear this was satire!

4. If you’ve ever wanted a little peek into how publishing, Goodreads, agents etc could work (I don’t know for sure) it’s a fun one to read.

5. The current cover doesn’t do it justice.

6. Thank you, NetGalley, for supporting my ARC habit 💕 onto the next!

asklajflksadfjk

okay okay. This novel is so Interesting like the way R.F Kuang writes June and the way she includes twitter scandals and how the publishing world works and the level of racism that authors of color face and the fragility of white women.

Also. my god June was so unlikeable. Which I love because I was actively rooting for her to crash and burn so hard. And every word out of her mouth was very much "white woman tears on tiktok" and her desperate attempt to be an ally comes off SO performative

god. I can't wait to have a physical copy in my hands.

Thank you to netGalley and William Morrow for the eGalley!

This one is going to sit with me for awhile. As a publishing professional, nothing about this satire (??) shocked me, and maybe that’s the most disturbing part of all. We’re supposed to hate June; she represents whiteness and entitlement wrapped up in a character who insists that she is the victim. However what RF Kuang does with Athena, the actual victim, is so masterful and complex. She doesn’t make Athena someone that everyone can empathize with; she has flaws, but she also can’t be everything that every single person or stakeholder in her career wants her to be. And that’s real. This book raises questions about what it’s like to be of the diaspora without having diasporic experiences and what that means to storytelling; it shines a blazing spotlight on the very real issues and conversations happening in publishing right now. I can’t wait to listen to the conversations this one sparks.

Yellowface is a must read! A fast paced, story of the plagiarism of an extremely self-righteous white women who stole her dead Chinese friend's manuscript about the Chinese labor corp and published as her own. She eventually is accused of doing so, to no avail. She is attacked by the Asian community for appropriation, while never taking ownership of doing just that. The entire story is of her blaming "other marginalized communities" and accusing them of reverse racism, because, only diverse writers / authors get published. This is her reasoning as to why her own book was a flop. The main character has zero redeeming qualities and I was actually waiting for them to appear. I think I liked that aspect the most. The author shows, not everyone is going to eventually "find their way" , seek redemption and become a good person. Some, just keep finding fault with everyone else, and never believes they are in the wrong.

I really liked how the author ended the book. The protagonist never takes any responsibility for her actions and even somehow ends up becoming a worse person by the last page! The ending felt like a psychotic character from a thriller told in such a fast paced way, that I wasn't even ready for the end when it actually came.

The author does a great telling of how the publishing world works and how from start to finish a book lands on bookshelves.

This would be an amazing bookclub pick, because there is just sooo much to unpack here.

This is a phenomenal book. Were we expecting anything less from this author? It was fast paced. It was entertaining. I was captured by the words of the writer. Highly recommend.

This fast paced, smart, cutting social commentary is very different than the authors usual style. With highly questionable, frequently unlikable characters making often cringewothy decisions, it kept me hooked to the end. I would recommend it, just to see for oneself. Great book for discussion, bookclubs and reflection.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Thank you to William Morrow (via NetGalley) for the ARC!

Quick summary! June Hayward and Athena Liu are frenemies and have been since college. Athena, daughter of Chinese immigrants, has been wildly successful in publishing, since her early 20's. June has not. Her debut flopped and she hasn't published anything since. Fast forward a few years. Athena and June keep in touch, but still aren't close. June happens to be there when Athena dies in a freak accident and <i>happens</i> to see a just-finished manuscript (that no one else knows about) on Athena's desk. So of course, June takes it. And passes it off on her own. And so begins June's success story. Except now, she can't escape Athena's shadow (dun dun dun).

Whew, this book was a wild ride! First off, I don't think I've ever hated a protagonist more while simultaneously enjoying a book so much, so hats off to the author for that.

June Hayward (or Juniper Song, if we must) is the most infuriating character, right of the bat. I hated her entirely by the end of the first chapter. She is selfish, lazy, and so NOT self-aware that it's almost painful. She is also an expert at playing the victim. I really <i>really</i> thought at one point that she might have a tiny moment of redemption or self-reflection, but no. All the way until the bitter end June holds on to the completely incorrect idea that she has been the victim in this entire mess that she created. And it made me hate her so much more!

June is almost a caricature of the unaware, privileged white woman who calls herself a liberal but, when it comes down to it, she really doesn't like anything that makes her uncomfortable or causes her to examine her life in any meaningful way. She thinks she's a feminist, but she only is in relation to white men. Intersectional feminism? Never heard of her! Racism (and June's potential to be racist) doesn't even factor into her version of feminism, which is ironic since that is what causes this whole mess to begin with!

The first half of the book is a sharp critique of the publishing industry (through June's utterly oblivious eyes) and a discussion of who is allowed to write what (i.e. should a white person be telling the stories of Chinese laborers, in this particular case), which is always a hot topic in publishing. That doesn't even being to address the problems of June stealing Athena's manuscript before her body is cold, but at this point June has already convinced herself that she hasn't done anything wrong and is doing the world a favor by giving them Athena's last work, heavily edited by herself.

The second half is where I think the book may lose some people. It turns into, basically, a play-by-play of every single Twitter argument I've seen happen on book twitter in the few years I've been in that community. They're always heated, passionate, and they are ALWAYS a mess. And they never, ever solve anything. I tend to stay on the sidelines because Twitter arguments can get ugly, fast. And they are cyclical. It's the same fight every few months about the same topics. Sometimes with the same people. It gets tiring and very predictable. And Kuang manages to capture this environment perfectly when June is accused of stealing Athena Liu's work. And because Twitter must debate everything to death, Athena herself gets posthumously pulled into the fray, her merit and memory pulled to shreds by trolls and fans alike. While this part of the book was frighteningly accurate, I can see how it could turn readers off. If you're not tuned into book twitter, this part could get really annoying really quickly. And it could be a bit repetitive, especially with how June physically can't pull herself away from the negativity, to the point where it becomes unhealthy for her (it was only at this point in the book where I felt a very tiny bit of sympathy for her). Honestly, this is mainly why I didn't give the book 5 stars. The Twitter subplot (and I hesitate to call it a subplot because it takes up so much of the second half of the book) is VERY niche and could also be something that prevents the book from aging well, because it seems to be very "of the moment."

There is a bit of a twist, although I hesitate to call it that because I saw it coming a million miles away (and that's saying something because I NEVER predict plot twists). It was definitely set up as a twist for June because she was shocked, but any reader who pays just the smallest bit of attention will see the seeds planted for this throughout the entire book. If you don't, you may be more like June than you care to admit, so have a little think about that.

Overall I think this was a solid, enjoyable book. It was fast-paced and I definitely had a good time cackling at all of June's self-created misfortunes. I do also think that this will be Kuang's most divisive book among her already-established fanbase because it is absolutely nothing like any of the books she's written before. I personally love authors who genre-hop, but I know there are many readers who don't.

Take my rambling review how you will, but I will wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone.

I hate to say I really enjoyed reading this book, but only because the main character was such a terrible human. This was an really interesting look at what goes in to publishing a book today, which is way more than I even thought.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy!

R.F. Kuang keeps dropping literary bombs and this is no exception! You can't help but feel bad for the main character and her lack of success, but get that crawling sensation under the skin when she takes a...non-traditional route to success. "Yellowface" will be a provocative read for fans of Melissa Broder's "Milk Fed". Both stories have you asking many questions at the end, and re-evaluating the perspective of which you view life.

I recently had the opportunity to read "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang, and I have to say that it was quite an adventure. Firstly, I would like to thank the publisher for sending me an advanced reading copy of this book.

The story follows June Hayward, a writer who feels like she's been overlooked in the publishing industry. When her Yale classmate and cross-genre literary darling, Athena Liu, dies in a freak accident, June steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I. June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work. She also allows her new publisher to rebrand her as Juniper Song, complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo. The book becomes a bestseller, but as June basks in her stolen success, she can't escape Athena's shadow. Emerging evidence threatens to expose her deceit, and June must race to protect her secret while discovering how far she's willing to go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

The plot is fast-paced, and the writing style is vivid, which makes the book an immersive experience. However, the dual narrative approach can be a bit confusing. On the one hand, the story exposes the prevalent racism in the publishing industry, highlighting the difficulties faced by writers of color. On the other hand, it explores the harsh realities of the publishing world in general, commentary on the industry as a whole.

Iconic. Phenomenal. Divisive.

Honestly, I kind of want to go scream out a window after finishing this. But I'll abstain. For now.

Y'all remember that one author who said that publishing was discriminating against White authors? Yeah, okay, now imagine sitting in their head for 350 pages and you have Yellowface.

Yellowface is sold as satire, and it truly is a satirical look at some very hot topics, with a dash of autobiographical reflection (or so it seems). With questions of authorship, ownership, and race, Yellowface focuses on who has the right to tell a story. This is examined from various angles - plagiarism, racism, cultural purity, narrative control, theft from life - and it deep dives into different perspectives on these issues, all while sitting in June's head and getting her first-hand reaction to much of the discourse. It's uncomfortable, at first, but you do find yourself saying every now and then, "Does June have a point?" Given the synopsis and the impression I've given of the story, you may now think I've been brainwashed, but the true artistry of this story is in those small moments of doubt.

I think this story will definitely be one you'll either think is pure genius, or absolute garbage (depending on your person leanings), because it does deal in a lot of reality, which this book shows can be skewed and divisive in a myriad of ways. I've seen a few reviews talking about autobiographical references (i.e., similar criticism RFK received on Twitter), and, while that might be true (I don't have Twitter, so my opinion is moot there), these aren't isolated comments. The criticism and discourse around own voices and diversity in publishing is something that is very real and it's amazing that RFK brings this into the bigger picture of ownership. Can diaspora writers write about ancestral experiences if they haven't experienced it themselves? Are they profiting off the pain of victims of war, colonialism, and immigration? Where does authenticity come into play? There is a strict standard to which diverse authors are held that doesn't exist for White authors and it's frustrating, isolating, and problematic.

That being said, readers are placed in June's point of view and there is no escaping her own questioning of how the publishing industry should work and her perceived problems and disadvantages. The criticism she receives as an author is interesting, because it shows the harsh critique given, but also shares June's problematic view and self-satisfaction in her choices, both with respect to writing and life. There's an interesting balance struck where we get both sides of the argument for why and why not. June's continual negotiation with herself, her opinions, and her own righteousness feel wrong to read, but also reiterates arguments that have been seen time and time again through discourse around authorship, racism, characterization, and ownership.

Yellowface made me want to scream, beat up June, and also melt into a puddle of second-hand WHY DID YOU DO THAT?? But at the end of the day, Yellowface left me with a lot to think about regarding who gets to make the narrative.

I still want to scream though.

TW: death, racism, cyber bullying, ableist language (countered), rape, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, panic attack, alcohol; mentions suicide, war, racial slurs, Islamophobia

Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 4.5/5
Overall: 5/5

eARC gifted via NetGalley by HarperCollins Canada in exchange for an honest review.

My most often asked question while reading Yellowface was; why did Kuang have to write June Hayward as first person because the secondhand shame crawled over my skin like a too-tight shirt exposing all the bits I’d prefer to cover. But, did I ever love it! The absolute cringe of being in June’s head while she continuously tried to justify her actions and then double downed on them because god forbid the women ever take accountability. It felt like one horror show to the next and all I could do is watch it happen and oddly… I don’t know, root for her in a way? It was weird because I was like: Oh my god they’re going to find me—I mean—June out! It was absolutely a roller coaster to read and Kuang never fails to make me think. She never fails to teach me something through her cutting words and I relish the lesson. The racism and micro-aggressions and white bystander syndrome and the whole concept of being a token Asian author etc, How bestsellers are handpicked and the list just goes on. Kuang is fierce, her writing is compelling, and despite disliking June immensely she somehow made me strap on a seatbelt and sit front passenger side with her hoping not to crash. I wish I could convey everything that Yellowface was but if I leave it with one word then that word would be: Brilliant! Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for the arc of one of my most anticipated reads of the year, it absolutely did not disappoint!! I will be posting a review on my Instagram within the next week. Hopefully Friday, April 14th.