What would you do if you found yourself with a manuscript to a book that you know would be an absolute gem... and you could... say it was yours... would you take it? Juniper Hayward is an author who wrote one book but never really made it, but the thing about her is that she is best friends with the best selling and talented Asian American author Athena Liu. Athena and Juniper have an interesting relationship, they both went to Yale at the same time, they had the same debut year, but they both went on completely different paths with Athena becoming a star and Juniper remaining a nobody. Athena doesn’t have any real friends except for Juniper... but Juniper is steeped in her jealousy. So when a night of celebrating Athena’s newest deal with Netflix and Juniper ends up reading some of Athena’s newest unpublished book, a masterpiece experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during WWI.... but then Athena dies in a freak accident and Juniper impulsively steals her manuscript. She takes it home, edits it, and sends it to her agent as her own work, because technically she did edit it and make it hers... right? Next thing she knows she is being rebranded as Juniper Song, a new name to make her seem more racially correct... along with an equally racially ambiguous ethnic author photo. Juniper is now leaning into the success, but someone knows something is wrong and there is evidence that threatens to bring down June’s stolen success. June is being haunted by Athena, she can’t escape her, and the accusations are mounting. How far will June go to claim what she thinks she deserves, how much will she justify? This was such a thrilling read, it kept me completely engrossed and absolutely at the edge of my seat as what was going to happen. Everyone in this story was morally grey, June, Athena, and the entire industry. Juniper and Athena were both complex and had a complicated relationship, the things they did to each other, the friendship they maintained despite being so different, the way they hurt one another. It truly had me captivated and I definitely enjoyed reading this one. I love the way R.F. Kuang writes and this one definitely was a fun one to read.

*Thanks Netgalley. and William Morrow for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book is a meta gut punch. RF Kuang tackles the complicated web of cancel culture with a satirical take on a white author blindly stumbling through horrible, ignorant choices about race, representation, and transparency in publishing politics. Using a white, plagiarizing protagonist, Kuang confronts every cringey scenario imaginable. I couldn't help but vacillate between morbid horror and, weirdly, a strong empathy for June. She is at times both extremely sympathetic and an absolute monster, which makes this book a very unsettling masterpiece. I think maybe RF Kuang is a genius and I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time.

If you've ever felt completely enraged by a white author's apparent obliviousness to their own ignorance, privilege, maliciousness... then you'll recognize our protagonist, June Hayward. But Kuang renders her likeable, relatable, and even sympathetic at times. I wrestled with my own emotions about June frequently throughout the book. But I loved that experience, ultimately, and I think were Kuang to portray June any other way, this story would have been predictable and not worth a bother. Instead, you're forced to contend with questions of who you ultimately want to see "win" here, and what that might mean. How is it possible June accomplishes what she does? (Why is it so completely plausible?)

I loved the ending, too. June's determination ultimately settles what we've suspected about her all along.

This book is a brilliant, topical answer to the conversations happening everyday about publishing. I suspect those complicit won't see that, and those who suffer these outrages will feel seen.

This dark satire was so cleverly well done! It was equal parts humorous and uncomfortable, and filled with incredibly unlikeable characters- which really worked for this novel! The portrayal of the main character; her internal dialogue, justifications, and motivations felt alarmingly accurate. The pacing was lightning fast and I devoured it over the course of 2 days. Given the heavy subject matter of racism and cultural appropriation, this book should not have been as fun to read as it was- but I think that's what makes it so genius.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book- I will definitely be reading other works by this author!

Yellowface is a satirical book that delves into the world of publishing. It explores the unfair politics and tokenism in the industry. June Hayward, a white author with a mediocre debut, falls into an opportunity to steal Athena Liu's next novel after she passes away. June uses a new pseudonym that's asian-passing and publishes Athena's novel about Chinese Laborers in WWI. We follow June's POV as she tries to justify all her actions.

As a Korean-American, I've noticed the increase in popularity with Asian Culture in media and publishing. However, the racism has still not died down. Now people talk about how the actor only won a Oscar because the Academy wants to seem more inclusive. And how being White is so hard because all the good roles are going to POC. Kuang's novel takes this turmoil and helps the reader into seeing how someone can rationalize "reverse racism".

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an eARC of Yellowface by R.F. Kuang.

First and foremost, my thoughts, feelings, and verbal exclamation when reading Yellowface and after I finished reading Yellowface were an incredulous and almost breathless, "The AUDACITY!" I was constantly shaking my head, eyes wide open, and asking myself, "What is this insane woman going to do next?"

Yellowface follows Juniper Hayward, a failed author, a typical "basic white girl," who has stolen her "frenemy" (that's the best word I can think of to fit how she felt) Athena Liu's manuscript for her novel that she never got to share with anyone before she died. In fact, Juniper is the only one who knows it exists... so what does she decide to do with this novel that is clearly not hers? Pass it off as her own. And she tries to JUSTIFY it every step of the way?!?!?! I mean, the justifications are just wild and insane. Every terrible thing she does, she finds a way to be like "Well, I mean I'm not actually doing anything wrong here. I'm not actually terrible."

Yellowface explores the issues of racism and cultural appropriation in the publishing industry and I think R.F. Kuang did an excellent job crafting this novel. She is an absolute genius.

I don't know if I've ever been angrier at a protagonist. R.F. Kuang does such an incredible job putting the reader inside of Juniper's mind that it can be hard to read at times. But ultimately, I couldn't put Yellowface down no matter how much June made me want to chuck my Kindle at the wall. It's darkly satirical and its skewering of the publishing industry is so spot-on. And while I know the book is already proving to be quite polarizing, I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to anyone. Even if you don't love it, Kuang does so many interesting things that leave you with a lot to think about and discuss, regardless of whether everything worked for you.

R.F. Kuang does a phenomenal job exploring contemporary publishing discourse including race, class, the impact of social media, and plagiarism. This book is fast-paced, engrossing, and forces you to live in the mind a protagonist who goes to great lengths to justify her actions.

<i><blockquote>
And for all the work I put into it, all those hours of effort—why shouldn’t it be my name on the title? Athena is, after all, thanked in the acknowledgments.
</blockquote></i>

<i>Yellowface</i> is about June Hayward, a White woman who steals her Asian friend's work and publishes it under the racially-ambiguous Juniper Song. As June's success grows, so does her determination to keep the truth hidden while battling Athena's ghost.

Once I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down. It's very meta, a book about a book. It reads like June's stream of consciousness, with all, and I mean all, of her thoughts: the good, the bad, and the ugly; and boy, does it get ugly. Right from the start, you can tell June is delusional. Reading about all of her trainwrecks was addicting, even though she's so obviously not a good person. Her continuous justifications of her thoughts and actions were astounding and laughable. Does she ever stop?

This book is fun to read for anyone related to the publishing world, including book reviewers. We get an inside look at the publishing process, from the initial query, to the advances, and other publishing details.

The dark side of publishing, with regards to diversity and racist tokenism, is also exposed. We see how easy it is for diverse voices to be suppressed with the lack of diversity in publishing. Kuang also highlights the role of sensitivity readers and OwnVoices, and I'm especially glad to see this as an Asian-American. I've been an avid reader since childhood, but publishers have not made any effort to publish diverse stories until fairly recently. And there's still more work to be done, as the HarperCollins Union strike illustrated.

Overall, I thought this was an incredibly timely novel. It shows us how special authentic stories are. How diverse stories, told by diverse authors, make all the difference. I'm looking forward to R.F. Kuang's next work (in her own words, <i>Katabasis</i>)!

I don't know how to feel about this book. I loved it. I hated it. It's so sharp it hurts, and so disturbing it haunts. I hated the protagonist, which was the point making the Kuang utterly brilliant. I need more people to read this so I can talk about it.

I don't know how to feel about this book but it gets 5 stars because whether or not I want to, I'll be grappling with it for a long time to come. And that, in my opinion, is the mark of greatness.

Thank you so much to William Morrow and NetGalley for an ARC of one of my most anticipated books of the year! It did not disappoint!

As someone who was a huge fan of Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou, I couldn't wait for yet another satirical commentary on the condition of Asian women in the US. RF Kuang's prose is sharp, deadpan, and completely ironic; if it seems like she's laying it on thick, it's because she is. The number of times I had to reread sentences because I was mentally thrust from the page into a similar scenario that Athena went through or June is describing was incredible. I also think that the narrative choice is so clever: an Asian woman writing from a white woman who's pretending to be Asian's perspective, especially when June gripes about Own Voices and how it's not fair to limit who can write stories from other people's shoes.

June is not likeable; I don't think she's meant to be. She lives life through a privileged perspective. Yes, she's a woman so she automatically takes the back seat to white men, but she fails to have enough self-awareness to admit that yes, while she's a liberal, she still has implicit bias. A lot of her off-the-cuff remarks read like "oh come on, you were thinking it, I just said it out loud" or "this isn't racist!!" and she actually believes it, which is so indicative of real life. I'm sure there will be people out there who will read this and feel validated by June's remarks--which I think is kinda the point. The irony of it all is that these are very common thought processes and a lot of people will (hopefully) realize that these thoughts are Not Okay and actually Very Racist.

RF Kuang is a genius and I will continue to support her career in any way I can, I just need her to keep writing. The callbacks to Babel were also very perfect and I cried a bit, but that's not news to anyone. All this to say we need more Own Voices authors!!!!!, @ publishers everywhere.

Yellowface is out everywhere on May 16!

Yellow face
R.F. Kuang
Pub Date May 16
Borough
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Literary Fiction , contemporary
Trigger warnings: racism, slur, suicidal ideation, sexual assault
I had trouble keeping track of the characters. This is not the book for me.
3 stars

This book was unlike anything I’ve read before. It is definitely a dark satire with realistic elements and I enjoyed every second of it. I think it’s going to make some people uncomfortable but I would say that’s the point of this book. I really enjoyed how awful the main characters are. Both June and Athena are quite the pair. R.F. Kuang knows how to write awful characters while still making the book enjoyable. The slight thriller aspects kept the plot pacing going and kept me on my toes as I waited for everything to come crashing down.

This book is immersive and I honestly felt at times like I was having a conversation with R.F. Kuang about the topics of diversity, cultural appropriation and eraser of Asian American voices. It is not so much a show me type story with flowery prose and profound dialogue. It’s a sharp and to the point tell me type story. The characters experience many of the hot topics and discourse that are currently kicking off on Twitter. I actually had to look up some of the mentioned drama to see if it was real or made up.

Overall I think this is a book that is going to divide people’s opinions but I personally really enjoyed it. As a member of the AAPI community it was inspiring and at times laugh out loud awkward how real and raw the writing was. I really appreciated how R.F. Kuang didn’t shy away from the uncomfortable reality and anger that often goes unspoken within the community.

Thank you William Marrow and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC/eARC

Great things:
- The insight of the innerworkings of white folks minds and ability to create justifications for our behavior or reframe ourselves as the victim is just *chefs kiss* very accurate for a lot of folks
- There are so many phrases where I was like "YES!"
- I like that there's not really a 'good guy' in this book. Even the characters we are supposed to like and agree with are problematic in their own ways
- Beautifully skewers the publishing industry

Less good things:
- The climax is very easy to see coming
- Even though it's in first person the MC conveniently leaves things out until they can be big reveals. This is kind of nonsensical when we're supposedly inside your head.
- This felt too long for the content. I haven't yet read anything else by R.F. Kuang but I know she tends to write long. It's too long for my tastes in this scenario but I also prefer much shorter books unless the length is really justified.

Overall:
Should you still read this? Yes.
Is it enjoyable? Yes.
Is it well written? Yes.
Do I think it will be one of my favorite 2023 releases? We'll see, but I don't think so.

This book is responsible for giving me back my reading mojo. I can hardly believe that this same author wrote Babel. What a range!
June Hayward has always been jealous of the success of her college frenemy Athena Liu. When Athena dies in front of June, she takes the opportunity to abscond with Athena's finished, yet unknown, war epic. It is so good that June passes it off as her own. June is White, and uses the pen name Juniper Song to seem more Asian. The book is a resounding success. But Can Juniper handle what's next?

This book is so well-written and incisive and so spot on. So many people will be talking about this book and I am so glad that I got to read it early. I will definitely be purchasing this for my library.

Some novels offer a side order of social commentary along with a healthy and fulfilling plotline. With this technique, even the most controversial subjects can be addressed without too much fear of rapprochement or outrage. Then, there are novels that don’t just sample potentially divisive topics but offer a full buffet of concepts for chewing. R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface is a wonderfully executed example of the latter. The author mixes in: American racial inequity and politics, intellectual property arguments, cultural appropriation questions, comments on the ephemeral nature of fame, and evidence of rooted prejudice within the publishing industry. The narrator, Juniper Song, is insecure in her own writing talents and covetous of the acclaim that she sees others receive. Her envy is embodied in her greatest rival and friend, Athena Liu, whose effortless rise to fame Juniper observes with obsessive contempt. Faced with a pivotal decision, Juniper quickly rationalizes that her theft and completion of Athena’s latest project is sufficient for her to claim total ownership. The “hybrid” work catapults Juniper to a heady and corrupting fame—one that she readily accepts while stifling feelings of guilt. The specter of imposter syndrome and dread of exposure, combined with a fickle and volatile public, requires her to exhaustively protect her secret. When the world pressures her to produce another opus, Juniper panics and her paranoia threatens to prove her downfall. A less-talented writer would have left a reader overly stuffed, but Kuang manages to balance the heavy issues with a gripping story. Don’t bother looking for a likeable character in Yellowface—even the smallest actor is depicted as somehow greedy and self-serving. This book is about as self-referential and scathing as it gets: providing a disparaging view of the very industry with which it is forced to comply.

Thanks to the author, Borough Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is the first R.F. Kuang I have ever read. I think compared to her other novels, this one is probably the most digestible (based on what I've heard), which alarms me. For a 300-something page book, I had to put it down a few times in frustration, which I'm sure was intentional. But I couldn't believe how unlikeable all the characters were. It was certainly a thought-provoking novel, especially the parts to do with the publishing business, but the ending was a bit of a let-down plot-wise. I liked the wrap up in terms of how June responds to what has happened to her (will elaborate in spoilers below), but the conclusion in terms of June's haunting was very meh and felt rushed. In general, I thought the parts to do with the haunting were much less interesting than the parts that dealt with writing and publishing. Despite all this, I am not deterred from Kuang's writing--I was drawn in and finished within 24 hours, which is always a win in my book.



SPOILERS**************************




I thought the Candice wrap up was oh-so-disappointing. It was pretty obvious to me when June suspects everyone \except\ Candice that she would come back later and have a big part in the plot. I did like the conclusion of June writing a book in response to what has happened, as it kind of encapsulates the whole book and how the publishing world is fickle and everyone has their side of things, but the mystery conclusion was very mediocre to me.

Wow, wow, and wow. This book made me feel all sorts of uncomfortable and for good reason. Kuang hits it out of the park with her eviscerating observations on the publishing world—one that glorifies white authors and continues to both fetishize and colonize Asian writers. The main character was so utterly insufferable while also appearing to have no personality/ conscience. The slow burn seething is unlike anything I’ve read and one can tell that this rage has been brewing in the author for a long time and rightfully so. Kuang asks the most astute and provoking questions: Who gets to succeed in publishing? Why are they mostly white? Why can we only have a few writers of color in a publisher’s docket at a time? Who gets to call out these transactions and does cancel culture hold the transgressors responsible or continue to sow their internalized racism? As a biracial women, this was even more painful to read because of racial standards/protocols that I was implicitly instructed to follow. Work hard, dress nice, be nice, be smart, but don’t call anyone out for their biases and prejudices. Kuang takes a jackhammer and blasts through these ideals. I love to read women's work that expresses anger because I still think it’s a little shown trope in contemporary fiction. The way Kuang has balanced sooo many different threads while staying true to her message—the publishing world either likes you or they don’t and it’s even better if you fit the desirable white mold. If you don’t, you really need to serve a specific purpose in order to fill a niche/hot category as a “diverse person” and you’d better be grateful that you got that far. The ending was SO well done and made more feel all kinds of icky in the best way and ends with the question: what’s the point of writing the great American novel if you’ve manipulated, exploited, and fetishized people of color to get there?

This is a tough one to review. There is already so much discourse surrounding Kuang, and this book specifically, that feels a bit ironic considering the book in question. There is so much promise in "Yellowface" and despite Kuang's desperate attempts to prove that there's a deeper argument, it all falls flat.

First of all: this is not a successful satire. Satire is meant to be exaggerated; it's meant to be over-the-top and outrageous so as to fully expose the inanity of its subject matter. At the same time, successful satire should be deeply self-aware -- it pokes fun at itself. Reality is more absurd than fiction, and to properly lampoon it requires a delicacy and a wit that Kuang just isn't capable of. Her work is both heavily plot-driven and self-involved and it reads like she has a million axes to grind while she dares her audience to disagree.

That's not to say Kuang isn't a talented writer -- she is, without a doubt. But she suffers from a lack of polish and subtlety, which I think stems from the fact that she is so young. Imagine this book written by someone in their late 30s/early 40s who hasn't had runaway commercial success. Their perspective on the publishing industry would be that much richer simply because of their life experiences.

The closest Kuang gets to actual satire is when June is briefly embraced by the far-right wing community. It's patently absurd, yet it's entirely plausible. Unfortunately, it's discarded within a couple of paragraphs. One could argue that the outrageousness of the final scenes of Candice confronting June at the Exorcist stairs is satire -- it definitely reminded me of the dénouement of Tár but it was so late in the book that it just felt out of place, rather than a deliberate set piece.

There are a lot of very interesting questions raised but never properly addressed. Is everything an artist experiences or witnesses fair game to be used in their work? Where does inspiration turn into full-on stealing? Who is allowed to tell what stories, and who gets to decide? These topics are barely glanced and never explored. Instead, Kuang's ham-handed approach removes almost all sense of complexity.

Wow, this book was not what I expected at all. I'm glad to see R.F. Kuang branch out from her usual writing, but this book just didn't hit the mark for me. I get she was trying to use satire, but she also has a way of kind of beating her readers over the head with what she thinks our opinion should be. As a reader, I want to form my own thoughts and opinions and I would hope that an author would trust that i'm smart enough for that??

More review to come. I really have to sit on this for a while longer.

WOW— I devoured this and cannot wait for my booksellers to read it!! There is so much to discus- it will be a great book club pick. Deftly written- Kuang uses the first person narrative brilliantly. June is very complex, a character with few if any redeeming qualities. Set in the world of publishing- you get an inside look at all the slight of hand involved in brining a book to life. June’s anxiety bleeds off the page. This is a brilliant work!!!!