The thought that would not leave me head while I was reading Yellowface is "wow, this book is genius". In Yellowface, R.F. Kuang manages to compress a bucket load of social commentary into a fairly mundane tale of a white woman stealing her Chinese friend and colleague's book. Anyone with some familiarity with the world of books and publishing will find reference to many recognizable events and processes, be it Goodreads or Twitter drama.

In Juniper "June" Song Hayward, we have a righteous, unapologetically bad unreliable narrator. At times I felt myself rooting for her despite my horror at her actions, which highlights how well she's portrayed. I marvelled at her sheer confidence in sticking to the lie, a hallmark of her privilege.

Another thing I love about Yellowface is the characterization of Athena. On the one hand, the entire book is an exploration of the ethics of stealing a dead writer's work and allowing it to live on. But we also see that many of the characters in Yellowface have purely selfish reasons for their opinion on the situation. In fact, Athena is presented as an unlikeable figure and, similar to June, we root for her work in spite of her character. I especially liked the hidden layers and her relationship with her family, which formed a dark undertone left unexplored.

My one major dislike, after thinking on it a little, regards the ending. I felt like the resolution was quite abrupt and deserved more development in the way that June was developed in her journey. It didn't seem like the ending did these characters justice given how brilliant the rest of the novel is. And as for the major twist, all I can say is that I predicted it well in advance.

As I was reading, I was reminded of recent controversies involving plagiarism and cultural appropriation, which makes this book all the more relevant. Through the characters we're shown different aspects of the publishing industry, hardships faced by those in various positions. Yellowface is a timely and multifaceted exploration of the publishing industry and what lurks beneath its shiny veneer.

This was a very ambitious genre switch to literary fiction for R.F Kuang and I must say I haven't read anything like it. The closest comparison in style that I can make is The Other Black Girl.

This book really invoked so much anger in me, the protagonist is honestly one of the most narcissistic I've ever read. She's defo one of those I'm not racist but full of microaggressions kinda white women. It was interesting to read her point of view.

Anyway, I read it in one sitting. I found the plot very gripping and I just really wanted to know how it was going to end. It is left quite open to be honest, which I was expecting from literary fiction so not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall I'm very impressed and appreciate the criticism of the industry.

I inhaled this book and read it feverishly in three days during any spare moments I could find. I have never read anything by Rebecca F Kuang before. However, drawn in by the provocative title, I was keen to read her first foray into the world of literary fiction. After reading and loving Yellowface, I'm ready to read anything this author writes. I've already pre-ordered her next book Babel and downloaded The Poppy War, the first in a fantasy trilogy, despite fantasy not being a genre I typically read.

The satire in Yellowface is exactly my kind of humour; Kuang is merciless in her scathing attack of the publishing industry. The whole story is told from the perspective of June Hayward, a white writer whose debut novel's reception was underwhelming to say the least. When her friend Athena, a Chinese-American woman, whose books have been huge commercial successes, dies, June decides to steal her newly completed manuscript and pass it off as her own. The split-second decision she takes to steal Athena's work has some pretty terrible consequences for June but it also sets in motion a series of events that expose the hypocrisy and nepotism of the publishing industry.

Social media and its role in either elevating or utterly taking down an author is explored extensively in this book. Some may argue that references to apps like Twitter, Instagram etc. will, in time, date this book and cause it to lose its relevance but I disagree. The form and speed through which literary darlings can be crowned and then unceremoniously deposed may have changed with the advent of social media but it points to an enduring truth in publishing - only a select few are chosen to succeed and as rapidly as they rise to fame so too can they fall out of favour. Kuang's treatment of so-called "keyboard warriors" shines a light on the worst parts of human nature which come to the fore when we have a keyboard and an avatar to hide behind.

There was so much about this novel I enjoyed - June is perfect as the unreliable narrator you love to hate, so utterly clueless is she about her own failings. Kuang's commentary on race, publishing, tokenism and the court of public opinion is compelling to read and challenged my own behaviour as a consumer of literature and an aspiring writer myself.

Reading this book raised so many questions for me: Who gets to tell which stories? When do we cross the line from taking inspiration from something to plagiarising it? When do we go from being moved by someone's story to stealing it? I know I will think about Yellowface for weeks and months to come. I'm just sad I have to wait until May 2023 (when the book is released) to talk to more people about the themes it confronts.

My thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for an e-arc and the opportunity to be an early reader for this fantastic novel.

Absolutely fantastic and worryingly gripping from start to finish, I feel like a *lot* of readers (there, often, hopeful writers) will find themselves uncomfortably relating to a lot of the publishing/writing - related satire in this novel. By being brutally honest, Kuang also is disturbingly accurate, and the intricate themes of racism, social media and, again, the publishing industry as a whole, are so sincerely depicted that novel almost reads like a genuine confession/memoir. I was completely hooked, Junkie’s voice is bold, real and entirely immersive, and the only way for me to move on from this is to read everything else that Kuang has ever written.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the privilege. I feel like so many readers, authors, publicists, influencers, etc. will find a piece of themselves in this book, for better or worse…

Inventing Anna meets Crazy Rich Asians with everything in between… could not put it down

This is a brilliant read that explores so many topical issues, the toxic world of twitter and social media, race and the pressure people place on themselves to name but a few. I loved the insight to the world of publishing.

We see characters who are wholly developed we see their good and bad side, no one is a paragon here. In fact they are all quite horrible but brilliantly horrible.

Junie tells us the story that spans over a few years, it moves quick, she descends into what I can only describe as a mental health breakdown that I think has been coming a long time for her, she has let her jealously, pettiness, self delusion and trauma turn her into a poor me sort person with I deserve better, it is not my fault, bla bla narrative … dare I say a Karen!!! This makes her do unforgivable things yet as I reader you do start to root for her. As she tells the story you see she is much more than just a Karen. I actually found myself giggling at the end she still had the spark and self belief of a only true narcissist can have, very much of the snowflake social media era.

Her story highlights the many issues around race today and explores some uncomfortable truths.

The story itself is excellent what a interesting concept that is well paced, plotted well and keeps you very much interested to the end.

It is a thriller but not as you know it, it is a very contemporary commentary character driven piece as well being intertwined with slightly amusing dark satire. I can’t express enough how clever and well written it is. I will be seeking out the authors previous work.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC

Wow. There's biting satire… and then there's Yellowface. In this pacey, twisty novel, no one survives unscathed. The entire publishing industry is pilloried, plus wider society and the way that racism is woven into every sphere.
At times it's pretty painful to read - but that's the point - and at other times it's painfully funny. I loved how June/Juniper's blind ambition and complete lack of self awareness were portrayed - and the build-up of her paranoia as these traits are pushed to their ugly, logical conclusion.
Despite it being a very contemporary commentary, it almost reminded me of a vintage Hollywood/Ealing comedy because of the the relentless progression of things going from dire to worse. You're thinking, 'No, surely not, no... just don't...' And then she does.
I suspect it might be of more interest to people who know or have an interest in the publishing world than some mainstream readers. And that it will push the buttons of many a Twitter keyboard warrior, which will be very Meta indeed...

4.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley UK for sending me the ARC. This is my honest review.

T/W – racism, sexual assault, suicidal thoughts, racial slurs against Asian people.

I have so many thoughts about this book but I want to start by saying that as someone who works in publishing, this is truly a treat. I am still new to reading and reviewing literary fiction but lately, I have realised that I really enjoy it.

Genuinely I can’t remember the last time I have been this consumed with a book in recent times. Every time a specific editing or marketing process was being discussed from the author’s perspective it was always a moment of recognition. That made this book infinitely funnier. As you can tell from my rating, I have overwhelmingly positive thoughts but towards the end of this review, I will also talk about some things I didn’t enjoy as much.

The book starts with such an interesting and promising line that I was instantly gripped. I love books where we are pushed into the thick of it from the get-go. The pacing of this book is perfect. At no point did I feel like the book was lagging or rushing. I feel like Kuang really knows how much information the reader needs and I have noticed this with all of her books till now.

The plot went so absolutely amazing for the first 70% of the book. I did not want to put the book down, I could not put the book down. That does slow down a little in the last 30% but that’s not to say that the end sucks. The dark-satire aspect really did shine through in the story. I also could not help but notice that Kuang has put some of her own life into some of the characters and that is so interesting to me!

The story is very very very meta. That’s not necessarily or entirely a bad thing but this is where some of my less favourite parts come in. There’s a quote in the book that goes – “I’ve written myself into a corner. The first two thirds of the book were a breeze to compose, but what do I do with the ending? Where do I leave my protagonist, now that there’s no clear resolution?” I just feel like that’s exactly what happened with the writing of this book.

I was very slightly disappointed while reading the climax and the ending. Not because it was predictable or boring but because I felt like it came out of nowhere and not in a clever way. The ending felt a bit like “that’s it???” to the point where I was convinced that I had only gotten half of the ARC. I do understand that had she continued after the ending, the story would have just gone in circles. Still, I feel like it could have landed better. Since this book is not out for another year there is a good chance they will rework the ending.

Mostly, I am just very excited for this book to come out. As far as first ventures into literary fiction go, I think this was a brilliant one. Can’t wait to see what the final cover looks like! For now, let me wait eagerly for Babel.

This was not what I expected when I started reading this.
The book OKAY at its best!
I haven't read TPW trilogy, so I'm not acquainted with RFK's writing.
Her writing is good, but it feels 'forced' somehow.

More addictive than a true crime podcast, this novel is the most gripping thing I’ve read in ages. Part satire and take down of the inner workings of the publishing industry and part commentary about racism in the literary scene. As a writer and someone who is fascinated by a Twitter storm and online dramas, this was the perfect novel for me. It felt so authentic and current, combined with thriller style plotting - this was a compulsive 5 star read.

Content warnings: racism, death

Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year so far! Thank you HarperCollinsUK and NetGalley for the e-ARC. “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang comes out 16.03.2023.

“Yellowface” follows June, a white writer who decides to steal a manuscript from her much more successful Asian writer friend, Athena. After witnessing her death, June edits Athena’s manuscript and publishes it as her own. What follows is a satire on the publishing industry and its treatment of ‘diversity’ and ‘representation’, especially in the case of Asian women writers, and the power dynamic between white women and women of colour.

I can’t stop gushing about this book to everyone! While I’ve seen some say its commentary on race and publishing felt a bit heavy-handed, I don’t fully agree with that assessment. To me, June’s character is satirical but not cartoonish, and I think the more subtle hints at her beliefs in the narration make this book genuinely exceptional - her obviously wrong behaviour is a logical conclusion of commonly held and defended beliefs. I found the commentary in “Yellowface” to be very nuanced, too, especially with the discussion of the ethics of Athena’s own writing. Kuang’s coverage of the subject of racism in publishing is multi-dimensional and incredibly well thought-out and executed.

I also found the book to be extremely readable - despite starting it while still in a reading slump, I absolutely flew through it in a matter of days. While I often complain about book endings, I actually found the resolution of “Yellowface” to be satisfying and, once more, a logical conclusion to the story and June’s character. It’s an engrossing and nuanced novel that I can’t stop thinking and talking about since I finished it - I absolutely love everything I’ve read from R.F. Kuang so far and this book is no exception.

I really struggled to rate this one. The writing, I thought, was brilliant - seemingly effortless, subtle, very clever and very funny at times. I loved being inside June's head, in a cringy way, and couldn't wait to see what happened after she put her dastardly plan into operation.

The satire on modern culture in general and the publishing industry in particular was very well done. Virtue signalling, pack mentalities and the terror of being cancelled were brilliantly mocked. There was a lot of thought-provoking stuff about racism and how it's related to self-interest.

My big problem was that I never felt able to really immerse myself in the story and forget that it was a story, which defines good fiction for me. It was like reading June's report of what had happened, rather than 'being there'. I think the exposition-heavy text had something to do with this. It only came alive for me in the (unfortunately few and far between) proper scenes, where characters interacted with each other and things happened in real time.

Another problem was that every character except for June was so one-dimensional and appeared so fleetingly. This was probably deliberate, but meant I just wasn't very interested in what happened to any of them.

The ending felt rushed, almost like a summary of another few thousand words that the author had meant to add.

Finally, I think this book has been misclassified - it's not a mystery or a thriller.

All that being said, I did find myself thinking about the book a lot and there were many passages that were very page-turny.

Finishing this book the only thing I felt certain of is that my feelings towards ‘Yellowface’ when considering the novel itself are largely negative. While being notably easy to read the novel was a struggle to get through as finding motivation to read this was difficult to say the least.

Largely this was due to the many poorly written sections, with so many aspects feeling messy and inconsequential. Most of the narration consists of vaguely referential statements that seem inconsistently relevant, being mashed together into an in-cohesive whole.

Twitter discourse mixes with mentions of systemic issues with little nuance or prolonged attention besides how they inconvenience the narrator. With most of the important discussions presented while reading being given a cursory surface level analysis. Deserted in favour of painful to read interactions between the main character and any other, and frequent pop culture references that left the book feeling outdated even reading it nearly a year before it’s release.

Although, this book still had *something*, not enough that I would genuinely recommend reading this, but thinking about this book: where it fails and succeeds, and where it’s core themes lead, felt rewarding as it’s own separate to the actual reading experience.

It’s fascinating to see that where the book’s strongest elements could have thrived other aspects brought some of this novel’s worst. The discussions of authorship and the publishing industry showed so much promise for intense critique and exploration but never seemed to deliver in full with the disruptive presence of the narrator’s voice. Similarly this relationship was seen in the second half of the book, with the tension building in the final act the book became more engrossing, coming to a jarring halt with the underwhelming ending that ultimately left this novel feeling inconsequential.

This book was a challenge for me, and while I do not think that this book was good in its entirety I can’t help but love the range of thoughts and feeling I had about it’s faults and it’s successes.

This review has been posted to goodreads, StoryGraph, and Twitter on 11/07/2022 (all are linked below).

I'm still reeling from having binged this book yesterday, but WOW. WOW. WOW. It has been a journey™.

I don't think I've ever hated a character as much as I hate Juniper, and that's saying something. The way Kuang wrote her... As someone so inherently racist but also unaware of it, someone who tried to jusyify all the wrong things she did, how she convinced herself that she was the victim in it all... My mind was boggled. It was so far fetched and delusional, yet somehow made sense?

The entire time I was reading this, it felt too fantastical... Like when you consume content and think, "oh, this happens only in fiction and can never be real." The entire story had that feel to it, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

While the entire build up for the story was phenomenal, I felt that the climax didn't live up to what the story had been up to that point. I wanted it to go BOOM! at the end, but it failed to live up to my expectations. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. I think a lot of this has to do with how realistic the ending seemed in comparison to the rest of the story.

Overall, it was a great story that kept you on edge, wanting to know more, but also, I've read better from Kuang, so I expected more.

[ Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review - I should point out that as this review is for a book I did not finish, I will not be posting this on goodreads or related sites, as I can only give an opinion on what I read, and I am sure I am the minority in this case ]

I thought I was going to love this book. I've previously read The Poppy War by RF Kuang, and really enjoyed the majority of that (althought I struggled with the writing style during the second part). I also figured that since this is a contemporary fiction piece, the writing might be less dense. (And come on, who doesn't want to read a speculative fiction book about a white author masquerading as asian to get diversity points? Sounds awful/offensive and scandalous in equal measure)

But the writing was really dense and went on LOTS of tangents - so much so that the first line of the book had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of its chapter or those that followed. I also struggled with the tense changes. It switched from 1st to 3rd person and back and back again pretty much ever paragraph which really diorientated me and took me out of the narrative so I DNFed this one early.

That said, RF Kuang is very popular and I think those who are fans of her writing style will probably get lots more out of this than I did. I'm so sorry, I wanted to be obsessed with this one and it just fell flat for me - ace concept, average execution!

Such an intriguing premise and a really enjoyable read that shows the ugly side of life that I imagine any failing author/influencer or even just person could fall prey to partaking in.

This book is a tricky one to review. The premise is GENIUS - famed young asian-americas author dies and her white failing author friend ends up with her unpublished manuscript. What will she do next‽

SPOILER WARNING.

One of my issues, though, is how unlikeable June is. I mean, from the start she is utterly boring and quite frankly mean, and so we fail to actually want to invest in her story. I had to keep putting it down and picking it up later. Truthfully, it does get better in the second half. You end up developing a relationship where - even though you despise her - you NEED to know what she will do next. Now, I'm not saying she should be made into a darling character - the whole point of the book is how she WAS fucked and racist from the start, but I wish there was more intrigue in the plot to pull us in past the whole "stealing the book". She doesn't need to be likeable, but I wish the plot had developed quicker at the beginning - I wish we had more of those snippets where it felt like she was hinting to something in the future. Kuang dotted a few in there, but I really wish she'd leant more into the idea that this was June's own novel, and we were reading her account of the events, rather than following her exact thought process - or I wish that there was more of a development of other point's of view. Truthfully though, it is a good thing that June was consistently unlikeable, because it proved the point of this book. June (and likely several white authors in the industry) will always see themselves as victims, no matter how much wrong they do. There is no need for us to paint her like a darling and then rip it away from us. She can just be a bad person. My criticism is more that June is unlikeable and really we need something else then to pull us into the story. Sure, the premise is smart, but it needs to be developed (which it was in the later parts, WHICH I LOVED.)

Another issue truly is the mention of cultural things that are VERY inclusive of now. Things like twitter, BTS, GoodReads. Though it does paint a picture of what is going on now, I do worry that the book focusses a bit too much on social media - despite not being advertised as a social media heavy book. Maybe where this could change is the marketing focussing on this point -- otherwise it got a bit same-y.

I would like to say, though, that I really enjoyed this book. I saw other reviews criticising Kuang for letting her own voice shine through but - so what? It's her book. It's likely derived on her experiences. I couldn't careless that she did so - if anything, it made the book MORE impactful. As a whole - this book has faults. Is it a good read? Sure. But I do hope they don't market it like MYOR&R, Bunny, or other books with unlikeable MCs, because it isn't their genre, it's quite frankly one of it's own.

Kindly given to me by NetGalley to honestly review.

This book is going to break the publishing industry in half!

‘Yellowface’ is for anyone who reviews books for fun, participates in Twitter discourse, publishes books, or works in the publishing industry. While it’s intentionally quite didactic, Kuang uses the character of Juniper to personify an ugly side of the publishing industry that is seldom confronted straight on. She is a truly unlikeable character (in the best way possible) and several times I found myself covering my eyes, afraid to read on to see what she would do next.

Overall a thoroughly entertaining read with a lot of really important messaging about the current state of book publishing and the online world.

Reading Yellowface was like witnessing a crash where you don't want to keep looking but you can't help it. Kuang constructs her character of Juniper so well that you forget for short seconds how unreliable and guilty she is. It also deconstructs the publishing industry to the smallest detail, and gets it 100% right!

What an absolute whirlwind of a novel. The anticipation, the joy, the warring feelings, but also the very hyperspecific/in-the-moment way this novel is.. So good.

An amusing and timely read that explores debates on cultural appropriation and authorial ownership through a breezy drama between author frenemies - a successful and dead Asian author, and her less talented white friend. ⁣
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June Hayward is a struggling writer who gives SAT tuition on the side to make ends meet. Her lack of literary success contrasts painfully with her college friend, Athena Liu - a glamourous, ridiculously successful, and wealthy writer who has made a name writing about the Chinese diaspora. June is an honest narrator, openly resentful and jealous of Athena, and prone to amplifying the role of identity politics in her friend’s success. The book begins with Athena choking to death in the middle of a pandan pancake eating competition (yes, really), upon which June steals an unpublished manuscript and polishes it into her own. The Last Front, on Chinese labour coolies during WWI, is astoundingly well-received but inevitability drums up debate (and more) about whether this is a white woman’s story to tell. ⁣
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The book is closer to chick lit than the topic suggests, and is fairly gentle with the moralising. There is a certain even-handedness lent by the narrator being white, and the author of Yellowface being Asian. June manages to be both sympathetic and ridiculous, Athena is neither angel nor hero, and the angry Twitterati make valid points even as they bully. There are wider observations here about the publishing industry, identity politics, and cancel culture. These are exhausting and difficult topics, but the tone is balanced by the humour in the story - in one scene June reads Chinese ghost stories and makes an offering of kung pao chicken to a framed picture of Athena, and in another she wonders why all the female characters are called ‘Xiao’ and if they might be related. ⁣
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#Yellowface #RFKuang