Within about 30 pages, I just knew this book was going to be an absolute winner! Firstly, this insightful critique of the publishing world is so spot on, and so in the here and now that it's hard to spot the truth from the fiction in this book. The satire is razor sharp, and poses so many questions about who should be able to tell whose stories, author integrity, and the simple matter of ethnic diversity within the book community. Not only is this book written with the lexical depth of her other works, R.F. Kuang absolutely nails her social critique.

This most anticipated book did not disappoint!! I had no idea where this was going and the plot twists were so cleverly written.
I was hooked from beginnig to end.

Fun takedown of writers and the publishing industry, Yellowface reads light but runs deeper. Lots to consider and think about inside this story. He character is complicated - at once amoral and reprehensible but you can’t help but root for them.

✨BOOK REVIEW✨

📚Yellowface - Rebecca F. Kuang📚

When I say to you that I ate this book up, I mean…
I. Ate. It. Up.
Devoured it in a matter of hours.
Gobble. Gobble. 🦃🦃

Going straight from reading Babel to getting stuck into Yellowface, I honestly didn’t know what to expect, and I was so pleasantly surprised. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Babel! It was/is epic and deserves all the praise it receives, but for me it was a slowww burn. Yellowface just hooked me in and I could not look away. It was fast-paced, full of intrigue and so witty in its delivery, posing important questions about the publishing industry and the role of social media.

It made you think, can you really trust anyone?…

What you can expect:
🟡 Publishing industry antics
🟡 Cancel culture
🟡 Morally grey MC
🟡 Dark satire

Yellowface is one of my favourite books that I’ve read so far this year and definitely one I would re-read in the future (and buy a physical copy of for my collection - IYKYK 🙈)

I can’t wait to see what Rebecca comes out with next 👀 this has absolutely cemented her as an auto-buy author for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Available to purchase now 😍🥳

Thank you so much to @netgalley @harpercollinsaustralia and @kuangrf for sending me this to review 🙏🏻

I have frequently bemoaned the fact that I don't find thrillers thrilling or suspense novels very suspenseful. Maybe I've been looking at the wrong books. <a href="https://amzn.to/42xMTcG" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Yellowface</em></a> by R. F. Kuang was suspenseful and thrilling - no murderers or stalkers involved - just a book deal and ambitious authors. Quite literally, a literary thriller.

The story is told from the first-person perspective of author June Hayward. The novel opens with June meeting her rival/ frenemy for drinks - fellow author Athena Liu. The women graduated from Yale together and published their debut novels the same year. But while June flounders, Athena goes from strength to strength - novels, Netflix deals, writers festivals.<!--more-->

When their evening out ends with June witnessing Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse, and steals Athena's just-finished manuscript, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>It's just a lark at first. Just a writing exercise. I wasn't rewriting the manuscript so much as seeing if I could fill in the blanks; if I had enough technical know-how to shade, fine-tune, and extrapolate until the picture was complete.</em></p>
When the tinkering is complete, June sends the novel to her agent. There's a bidding-war, and while the agent, editors and publishers busy themselves with rebranding June as Juniper Song (complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo), the doubts, justifications and enormity of what she's done starts to sink in.
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>I’ve labored for years to learn my craft. Perhaps the core idea of this novel wasn’t mine, but I’m the one who rescued it, who freed the diamond from the rough.</em></p>
As the story progresses, June works hard to protect her secret, escape Athena's shadow, and manage the pressure to produce her next book. The tension and suspense builds with every page and comes to a satisfying conclusion.

So many thoughts about this novel. Firstly, funny that I chose this book immediately after my <a href="https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.com/2023/06/04/nothing-bad-ever-happens-here-by-heather-rose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">last read</a>. Let's just say there were some common themes* (but expressed very differently).

Secondly, Kuong walks the razor-thin line between satire and tackling themes of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, all the while highlighting the fickle side of the publishing industry.
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>The hardest part is keeping track of all the characters. We change almost a dozen names to reduce confusion. Two different characters have the last name Zhang, and four have the last name Li. Athena differentiates them by giving them different first names, which she only occasionally uses, and other names that I assume are nicknames (A Geng, A Zhu; unless A is a last name and I’m missing something), or Da Liu and Xiao Liu, which throws me for a loop because I thought Liu was a last name, so what are Da and Xiao doing there? Why are so many of the female characters named Xiao as well? And if they’re family names, does that mean everyone is related? Is this a novel about incest? But the easy fix is to give them all distinct monikers, and I spend hours scrolling through pages on Chinese history and baby name sites to find names that will be culturally appropriate.</em></p>
I found myself laughing at parts of this story and then thinking - 'Should I be laughing at this...?' And therein lies Kuong's skill - every character is flawed, and nothing that happens is justifiable and yet, as you read, you find yourself keeping score between Athena and June - Athena with her Ivy League education, wealth, and a writing career that mines the traumatic history of 'her people' from a 'homeland' she had visited only a handful of times. And June, who is judged as the racist white woman using circumstances to justify her actions.
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em> It all boils down to self-interest…If publishing is rigged, you might as well make sure it's rigged in your favor.</em></p>
This novel is being described as 'meta' and also examined/ criticized for the parallels with Kuong's own life. I've no thoughts about either of those elements. All I know is that I couldn't put it down. It would make a ripping book group choice.

4/5 If you were gripped by the real life <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/magazine/dorland-v-larson.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bad Art Friend</a> in 2021, you will love this novel.

I received my copy of <em>Yellowface </em>from the publisher, Harper Collins Australia, via <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/283769" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NetGalley</a>, in exchange for an honest review.

*cultural appropriation

Ooooft this is such an interesting one to try to objectively critique, particularly as someone in the book industry! I though Kuang wrote a takedown that is sharp, incisive, and accurate. This book was entertaining, funny, absolutely cringe - i had to keep reminding myself that Kuang was the author as her voice as June Hayward was utterly believable, and repugnant. I think perhaps the plot lags in places to remain interesting the whole way through for someone that isn't so tied up in the industry, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and flew through in two days.

R.F. Kuang's latest book 'Yellowface' is abrasively captivating.

Like other books by R.F Kuang the writing style is easy to read, yet the topics remain heavy. The prose promotes an almost out of body experience as you become Juniper.
The ethical, moral and cultural dilemmas are perfectly written. You will want to fight the mindset you've been forced into, and that is the whole point. I would hate to give too much away but the rare peek into the publishing world was refreshing.

I can't get over how easy this book was to read in only two sittings. It was hard to sit in the uncomfortable but the writing style draws you in. It has moments of plot slowness, especially in describing the book within the book but it does add to the story. I feel without it, it wouldn't have had the same punch.

I was gifted a digital copy of 'Yellowface' in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing Australia.

I genuinely have no idea how to write this review. My first thought upon finishing this book was "That's it??? " and even now, a day later, my head is still pretty empty.

Yellowface is a satire about June Hayward, publishing as Juniper Song, who is an author who steals a manuscript from her "friend" Athena Liu after she dies. June is white, while Athena is Asian American, and the subject manner of Athena's work is the use of Chinese labourers in World War I. While the book June publishes is a commercial success, she has to deal with the consequences of publishing such a book (from online backlash about racial appropriation to living in fear of being exposed) and you get to go on the journey with her - which is something you deserve financial compensation for.

June is one of the most insufferable main characters I have ever had the misfortune of reading about, and while I recognise this is entirely purposeful, it made it difficult to care. Even though I was praying on her downfall, I wasn't emotionally invested enough to read what RFK intended to feel like a 300 page Twitter thread (I would rather just scroll on Twitter instead). Although this book was meant to be a "fast read", it took me over a fortnight to read this, whereas I read Babel (which is also considerably longer), in only a week. I do admit this is very subjective - the genre of this book is "literary fiction" I don't really know what this means, and at this point, I'm too afraid to ask , which, clearly, is not something I read much of. I was very excited to read this because RFK is one of my favourite authors. I knew this would be very different to her previous works, but I was still hoping that the aspects I do like - her writing style, her strong characters, and her intriguing and high-stakes plots - would still get a chance to shine. While I still enjoyed her prose occasionally (sometimes I saw glimpses of the writer I know and love), I was not particularly enthralled by the characters or plot - but then again, am I really supposed to be?

Perhaps my unfamiliarity with this genre is showing, but to me, the point of this book is to <i> think </i> about something. The author is presenting their take, and you get to ruminate on its merit.

And that's my biggest problem with this book. I don't know what the point of it was.

I do think that it focuses on important topics about racism and diversity in the publishing industry, but I don't fully know what the take-away messages were. RFK says in her own review, "There are no easy answers in YELLOWFACE about cultural appropriation. Only a train wreck of questions. Only mess" and I do have to agree. These are the questions and answers I believed this book presented:

Is racism bad? Yes.
Is plagiarism bad? Yes.
Is it easier to be white in publishing? Yes.
Is a focus on diversity in publishing bad? Yes and no (this one was probably the most nuanced one).
Should minorities be exempt from criticism? No.

As I mentioned at the start of my review, I didn't know what to write, so in June Hayward fashion, I decided to read a few other reviews to hopefully inspire me. Unlike June, however, I have no intentions of plagiarising - a lot of reviewers have touched on the use of characters as "mouthpieces" and the lack of subtlety in which things are presented as "good" or "bad" in a much more intelligent and articulate way than I ever could, so I won't. All I'm going to say is that when reading this book, there is one assumption I abided by: when in doubt, assume June Hayward is wrong. I know this book is meant to be satire, but there was nothing amusing about how blatantly ignorant June was.

Another thing pointed out by a lot of other reviewers is about how RFK seems to be dismissive of online criticism - she uses a very broad brush to paint criticism as just "chronically online people being chronically online" (especially when considering the parallels between the criticism presented in this book and the criticism RFK received in regard to her other works) - and while I do think a lot of authors, particularly minorities, do tend to face seemingly unwarranted backlash, sometimes people do have valid critiques. People undoubtedly go about this in the wrong way, and I can only imagine how difficult it would be to deal with as a public figure, but it did seem like RFK hates everyone on the bird or clock app.

I would like to conclude this review by admitting something: I am dumb. My reading comprehension skills aren't the greatest, but I like reading books because it's fun. I get to escape my monotonous life for a bit and and become emotionally invested in the lives of people who don't exist. The point of this confession is to admit that maybe “I'm the problem" (Swift, 2022). Maybe this book is fine, and I'm just not smart enough to figure that out. Regardless, since this is my review, I get to decide whether I liked this book or not - and I didn't.

Overall, I still will probably read everything RFK writes - I just hope her next book is more my cup of tea.

This book has been hyped so much that I was worried it would not live up to all the hype. However I needn't have worried as this was a fantastic read.
Yellowface follows June a struggling writter. When June's friend Athena, a successful Asian American author dies in a freak accident June steals her manuscript for The Last Front, a novel about Chinese laborers in World War I and passes it off as her own publishing it under the racially ambiguous name Juniper Song.
The book follows the publishing process and June's rise to literary stardom and the subsequent backlash that follows.
It was surprising to me that given how unliveable June and most of the characters are in the book what a compelling read it was. I had to keep reading just to see if June ever repented for her actions or if she got the upcomance she deserved.
The characters are all so well rounded and complex with their own motivations for their actions that it does not come as a two dimensional good vs evil tale.
Overall I thoroughly recommend this book

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

•Athena is an author of best selling books. When June witnesses Athena’s death, she takes Athena’s unfinished masterpiece about Chinese labourers in Word War I, and publishes the novel as her own. June is left to navigate the challenges of racism, cultural appropriation while hearing haunting Athena’s shadow.
•I’ve seen this book popping up everywhere. If you are among the bookish community than you know that there is no better time than now to read this book. This was an easy, fast pace read. I loved reading about the publishing process in a way than engaged me personally as the reader.

Feels: like a hidden masterpiece in itself.

★★★★★ 5/5

This book is wildly brilliant!

When the stars finally align for June Hayward (read: stars are aligned via theft), and she publishes her magnum opus, she goes along with the wave of adulation.
Until that wave becomes a hate tsunami of her own making. As her life and reputation unravel, you’d think June would get it, take responsibility, move on and just STOP. But she doesn’t, and the insanity ensues.

How brilliant is the writing, when as a person of colour, you have to check yourself after feeling empathy for what Juniper Song Hayward is going through! An obviously extremely unlikeable, horrible character.

An insight into the murky waters of diversity, sensitivity and tokenism in the publishing industry, as well as jealousy and pseudo friendships, in the most satirical of ways and I was here for all of it..

This book is comparable to a fever dream. Never have I finished a book so quickly but still have no idea how to rate it for a few days following…would I recommend this? No idea. Would I read it again? Probably not. But did this book completely engulf me for a few hours? Absolutely.

As the reader, you are positioned to watch the main character, June, actively made immoral decisions, lie and steal the work of someone else. And it’s uncomfortable as hell. But at the same time, I was glued to my iPad, desperate to see what would happen to June. This book is addictive, fast-paced and thrilling. It also highlights a lot of the misogyny, racism and cultural appropriation within the publishing industry.

Curiosity, impending doom and shock were the feelings that coursed through me while reading - so interpret that as you wish. R.F.Kuang, you’ve done it again!

Yellowface — Rebecca Kuang

Books are important both for the stories they tell and the fact that they act as points of reference for wider discussions about class, race, and gender. They exist in and of themselves and within the context of the wider world.

So despite (usually) labouring over each and every word, once an author publishes their novel, they effectively lose control over how it is perceived and the surrounding discourse. The story can become about so many other things than the story.

June Hayward has an understanding of this that would best be described as limited. She watched her friend/literary rival Athena Lui’s meteoric rise to literary fame from somewhere-closer-than-afar, with a level of jealousy that was almost lethal. Perhaps it was, given her decision to steal Athena’s unpublished manuscript, following her frenemy’s accidental death, and publish it under her own name.

What could go wrong?

In the age of Twitter pile-ons and cancellation attempts, quite a bit.

Yellowface tackles a lot — cultural appropriation, own voices, the fallible nature of the publishing industry, social media toxicity and plenty more. It’s ambiguous and forthright (potentially, at times, a little heavy-handed) in its agenda, snarky and satirical and features one of the more unlikeable narrators you’ll ever encounter.

As with all books, whether these are positives or negatives will depend on the reader. I personally found Yellowface to be timely and thoroughly entertaining.

Thank you to @harpercollinsaustralia and @netgalley for the ARC! Yellowface is released in Australia on the 7th of June — next week!

I (ironically due to the subject matter) had been hearing the hype for Yellowface by R. F. Kuang all over BookTok. It didn’t disappoint – I read it in one sitting, with the feeling of dread inching deeper as I followed the main character make truly terrible decisions.

In Yellowface, we are introduced to authors June Hayward and her much more successful friend Athena Liu. When June witnesses Athena’s death in a comically tragic accident, she steals Athena’s literary gem of manuscript exploring the unsung history of Chinese labourers during WWI. June’s star rises as does questions of authorship and her right to share these stories as a white author.

I appreciated that neither Athena nor Juniper were perfect people (although Athena is portrayed through Juniper's subjective opinion, so who truly knows), but Juniper really is something else 👀 I think her characterisation and actions are a searing and accurate look at how many white authors perceive and position themselves.

What a tense, timely, and brutally revealing look at authorship, identity, and jealousy in the publishing industry. Yellowface was really thought-provoking. I’m still mulling over all the questions it raised.

THE book of the moment and I loved it! It's an absolute train wreck and I could not look away. Stayed up until well after midnight Thursday night to finish it off. Honestly, I love a well written villain for a main character, and Juniper has just the right amount of good to keep you hanging in there, but then she comes out with the bad, and sometimes it's just so bad, you have to shake your head. It's so addictive.

If you want to go in blind like I did - stop reading now - but I'll keep it pretty vague. I've read a few stolen manuscript stories and I was wondering how this would all go down. It's written so incredibly well that I was even to and fro'ing at times as to whether or not I wanted her to get caught. Not sure if that makes me a bad person too - I definitely did not agree with what she did - but Juniper had so many shades to her, as did Athena - it's so well done. Without that shade, I don't think I would have cared what happened to her. She was also so good at convincing herself of her lies that it starts to convince you too - until it doesn't again. I loved the constant ethical questioning as a reader.

The insights into the world of publishing were also brilliant and could only be written by someone with insider knowledge. As were the parts about social media and the role it can play in making or breaking a book. And the creepy parts! I am a chicken and I was getting scared in my own bed last night!

What a follow up to Babel! So different. Not what I was expecting at all. This has fully cemented Kuang into my must read Authors and I'll be adding The Poppy War to my tbr. And lastly, the name of the book and that cover! Absolute perfection!

Thank you to @netgalley for my gifted ebook. Please can you make all galleys able to be sent to Kindle though? The pdf's or 'netgalley shelf only' ones are so frustrating. But I am eternally grateful to you for all the gifted books so please don't stop approving them for me.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for this ARC.

THIS BOOK! I didn’t know what to expect but it far exceeded any expectations I did have. This is my first book by RF Kuang but it won’t be my last. It was quite literally, genius.
What would you do for fame? Incredibly crafted and takes the reader on a twisted path. It also delves deep into the publishing industry and the ugliness it can entail. Social media is also a huge part of this book and details the devastating hook it can have.

Highly recommend. It does not disappoint.

Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang is an intriguing story about writers, publishers and social media (especially Twitter). What an interesting insight! Is it really so cut throat?? Can Twitter tweets really cause chaos? Lots of tension and suspense….

When June’s friend Athena unfortunately dies after a freak accident in her presence, she takes her unpublished manuscript, reworks and makes it her own; a can of worms is opened …..

June moves from being a mediocre writer to one with talent - but it really isn’t her and is it right or not? The anguish of writing and what June goes through is explored. To say much more would be a spoiler but the twist at the end was unexpected.

I certainly enjoyed reading Yellowface.

Love June’s passion for writing and this particular quote in Chapter 17 really grabbed me:

“But I can’t quit the one thing that gives meaning to my life.
Writing is the closest hint we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing; is opening door to other lands. Writing give you power to have your own world when the real one hurts too much. To stop writing would be like dropping out of Hogwarts and living in the Muggle world by choice.”

I guess for readers it is the same - opening the door to other lands!

Highly recommended read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from HarperCollins Publishers Australia via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#Yellowface #Netgalley

YELLOWFACE follows an author named June Hayward who is struggling to produce her next novel as nothing is inspiring her. After witnessing her “best friend” Athena's death ( she dies by choking on pancakes) June steals one one Athena's unfinished manuscripts, a historical fiction novel about Chinese laborers during WWI. June publishes it as her own, changes her writing name to Juniper Song and intentionally presents herself as ethnically ambiguous to attract more readers, even through she is not Chinese.

This book was compulsively readable in the same way, I felt like the last 150 pages in particular I couldn’t put this down! June was extremely jealous of Athena’s success and believed she deserved the same, her jealousy drove her to the point of no return and she made herself believe that The Last Front was her original work.

June was such an unlikable MC she had disgusting behaviours and was entirely racist. I had no sympathy for her whatsoever. (Like she contemplated murdering someone to keep her secret) I’m sorry NO.

Kuang graciously handled the subject of cancel culture and how character assassinations leave everyone damaged with only the keyboard warriors and critics and bloggers victorious with their increased reach and engagement.

Yellowface also elaborates on the social commentary with the horrors of publishing and how racist, unfair and elitist it can be. How a book is declared a "bestseller" not on the merits of its writing/storytelling but because the publishers said it will be.

Would this book be for everyone? Probably not but Kuang’s writing is absolutely phenomenal and I cannot wait to pick up more from her backlist.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an ARC of Yellowface for an honest review.

😶 Yellowface -Rebecca F Kuang 😶

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars

WOW, if you have read The Poppy War series and Babel then you would know that R.F Kuangs writing is nothing short of amazing but this book was mind-blowing.

Completely out of my usual reading genre, this book took me through all different stages of deep thought.

June and Athena were meant to be rising stars with the same debut year for publishing. However with Athena’s success and June’s struggle, things turn. June witnesses Athena’s death and on impulse steals Athena’s masterpiece and deceives the publisher.

Coming face to face with racism, diversity, and cultural appropriation. Yellowface is a modern literacy fiction, taking on many topics in the publishing industry with a brilliant and addictive plot full of drama.

This book is worth the read. I wasn’t expecting to love this book as much as I was.

Yellowface is my first Rebecca F Kuang book, and I went into this read utterly blind. These days there are few books that not only call upon readers to reflect but touch upon grey areas about the unspoken conditions of fiction in the context of culture, the undercurrent of jealousy, racism and xenophobia. The author tackles this with compelling prose and dark humour with utterly flawed characters. The multitasking of multiple issues is well entrenched within the plot that it reads as a symphony; you do not know when one begins and the other ends. Kuang does not hesitate to throw punches with the growing toxicity of the publishing industry, along with the thinning line between support and envy. The ending was simply apt.

Thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins Australia for giving me an ARC. This honest review is left voluntary.