Juniper "June" Howard a mediocre white American Author, is best friends with the hugely successful Asian author Athena Liu. Their friendship based on jealousy and lies is superficial and phoney. They both use each other at various points in their lives to suit themselves. When Athena suffers a fatal accident June seizes the opportunity to steal her yet unpublished notes on her upcoming novel.

A Satirical tale of jealousy, spitefulness and manipulation begins as we are enveloped into the world of the American Publishing Industry. A world where the realities of todays cultural differences, bias and self censorship affect a books selling appeal during all stages of publishing and media hype. Sensitivity reviewers are hired to avoid the risk of cancel culture. Online trolls and bullying in the workplace are revealed for the harm they cause to the individual in question.

The main character June is vile and completely unaware of her own bias. She was willing to do anything to feel that she has achieved greatness in her field. Being so completely self absorbed was always going to end in tears. The fact that we dislike her so much make us want to continue to see her reckoning.

This was a clever pacy rollicking contemporary mystery thriller that will surely appeal to many. Think The Devil wears Prada but in the publishing world. I'll certainly be checking out more of RF Kuang's work.

Thank you to NetGalley and to HarperCollins, who gave me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Pub Date 25th May 2023

man, rf kuang doesn't know how to miss. i'm loving her standalone era, i think it results in much tighter storytelling compared to that in her poppy war series, though it also could be her improving her craft. punchy and direct and confident as hell

Thank you to NetGalley and to HarperCollins, who gave me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In support of the strikes, this will be the last review I do for a book by HarperCollins until issues are resolved. I stand with the Union.

-

Actual rating: 3.5 stars.

-

"Athena, the dead muse. And I, the grieving friend, haunted by her spirit, unable to write without invoking her voice.
See, who ever said I wasn't a good storyteller?"


Yellowface is the first book I’ve read by R.F. Kuang. I went into it thinking it was literary fiction, and I think this might have affected my opinion a bit as I learned halfway through the novel that it is actually meant to be a satire? I wish I knew that in the beginning but that’s my bad.

It follows Juniper “June” Hayward, a struggling white author who feels she is in the shadow of her friend/acquaintance/enemy (depending on June’s mood): Athena Liu, a bestselling Asian American author who has become publishing’s new superstar. Within the first few chapters, Athena dies in a tragic accident, June has the only copy of Athena’s next book, and she decides to rework it and publish it as her own work. And so begins a messy downfall for our protagonist.

Let’s start by stating the obvious: June is a horrible person. She is manipulative, racist, and a compulsive liar. She does awful things to the people around her and tries to justify them to herself and the reader in increasingly infuriating ways. She treats Athena horribly in life and in death because of her own jealousy, and does not think that what she has done is truly awful until the consequences start to catch up with her. I think this is why going into this thinking it was literary fiction may have had an effect my opinion of the book. If I went into it differently, I think I would have enjoyed watching June ruin her career a lot more. I did enjoy it as is, because she absolutely deserved what she got, but dealing with her up until then was exhausting at points. Just accept you can’t write, June, you absolute pain.

We do get hints that Athena was also not the nicest person, but with how unreliable and biased a narrator June is, how can we trust her opinion on Athena? Or Candice? Or anyone? In the end it feels like she thinks everyone is a bad person unless they’re on her side so it’s hard to know.

I did like the insight into the publishing side of things, especially as a writer and a publishing masters student. The conversation about tokenism is one that needs to be had, as well as the politics behind the scenes in publishing houses. Kuang gives insight into everything from the author’s experience to the experience of the intern. It provides a transparency that I think we need more of in this industry.

Despite that, I found myself as a reader wanting more of a story about Athena and June’s friendship. June portrays Athena as someone who would have used anyone’s experiences to get a good fiction idea, but June is hardly better. The little snippets of insight into their lives in university were honestly my favourite parts to read. I think I would have liked more of that.

This is a good book, even if it was an infuriating read for me personally. I just found June to be uncomfortable and exhausting company. I know that’s the point but it needs to be said.

I think this is a book you should read if you like to read about messy characters doing horrible things and finally getting the comeuppance they deserve. It reminded me of Idol by Louise O’Neill, so if you liked that book you should definitely give this a go.

I was completely hooked by RF Kuang's first foray outside of fantasy! I read this in two sittings, desperate to see what would happen next.
'Yellowface' is a gripping, scathing satire of the (American) publishing industry and of "cancellation" that readers will devour. Every character in this book was, in their own way, absolutely awful, and I loved it. 'Yellowface' skewers the romanticisation of publishing that we often see in media to remind the reader that, at the end of the day, it is a business. And like any other business, there's a certain share of nonsense that happens.
I think it's worth noting here that I am, if anything, the opposite of a hater. What's more, I'm the opposite of a hater who works with books. And yet, even though this is a bleak take on the industry, I really enjoyed it and was compelled by Kuang's portrayal of the industry's faults. Do I reckon absolutely everything and everyone in publishing is like this? Not at all. But I do think 'Yellowface' speaks to a certain kind of bias and the approach to controversy in the industry. Think, for example, of the grace that (white) TERFs or racially insensitive writers sometimes get, and how they weaponise the powerful accusation of censorship. It's this particular type of controversy that 'Yellowface' dives into. At the end of the day, the reason that June feels that she can get away with passing Athena's work off as hers, her certainty that there will be a way to spin things in her favour, stems from the fact that she is white and American, and white American women, historically, are a group that tends to have the privilege of a world that wants to believe in their innocence.
June, our aforementioned narrator, is immensely unlikeable. She's supposed to be – she's a self-pitying manipulator completely consumed by her envy of Athena and of other successful writers. She alternates between mild cultural insensitivity at best and outright racism at worst, even though in theory she's a liberal and she literally states "I voted for Biden". BUT somehow, R.F. Kuang makes her fascinating. No matter how vilely she acts, she can find an excuse. Her narrative paints her as a victim of everyone and everything around her, and at times, you actually feel sorry for her (or at least, come close to it). Some awful things do happen to her, and you can see how they've scarred her.
Mostly, though, you just hate her, but you can't look away, especially as you see her trapping herself.
Athena is also fascinating, despite being dead for the vast majority of the novel. The narrative never paints her as a completely innocent victim – more of a mix of siren and vulture. Her exploitation of other people's pain for her writing is horrifying as it unfolds to its full extent. It's a great slow burn that makes you ponder throughout – what is and isn't fair game for inspiration?
The dynamic between June and Athena is captivating, particularly because neither understands the other as a person. Both are too wrapped up in asserting their superiority to one another, and their "friendship" exists mostly to affirm their egos. This is part of what makes the few scenes where they manage to truly connect so touching. They are mere glimpses of possibility, of what could have been.
I did miss the lyricism and more sympathetic cast that I've found in R.F. Kuang's previous novels, and I was a little thrown by the pacing, which is why I rated this 4 stars instead of 5, While 'Yellowface' still showcases her wit and skill, I definitely have fewer highlights from this one. Still, I think this is going to make a real splash when it comes out!

I sped through R. F. Kuang’s catalogue in the year of 2022 (and a few days into 2023) and I have no regrets. I am ready for more of her clever and poignant torture. Her previously published work has been fantasy, but this time it’s contemporary fiction.

At the center of this story is a low-level Ivy League friendship full of jealousy and resent, similar to the ones in *In My Dreams I Hold a Knife* with an intellectual property twist. The friendship reminded me of the central relationship in *These Violent Delights* (by Micah Nemerever, not the book of the same title by Chloe Gong), and the publishing setting gave it a dark academia flavor, even though it is not technically dark academia. We know from *Babel*, that R. F. Kuang nails the dark academia vibes, and this book was no different.

June has always been jealous of her friend Athena and resents her seemingly easy success, but when Athena suddenly dies, June sees an opportunity to grasp that success for herself by stealing Athena’s freshly finished manuscript off her desk as Athena’s newly-deceased body cools in the other room. Suddenly, the publishing industry loves her and promotes the book, but Athena’s legacy casts a shadow over June’s (now rebranded Juniper Song) success. The manuscript is about the Chinese Labor Corp in Canada during WWI and the harsh discrimination the laborers underwent.

The most compelling aspect of June’s story is her need to cling to a narrative where she is still a good person, despite having committed very serious plagiarism. She didn’t *****steal***** Athena’s work, she brought it the attention it deserved and the editing it “needs.” June jumps through high hoops to justify her behavior, even to herself. She has convinced herself that she has put just as much effort and research into the manuscript as Athena had, though she deliberately erases real history in order to make white characters in positions of power over the Chinese Labor Corps more sympathetic. June would almost be a relatable character if not for these clearly deranged mental gymnastics; maybe she still is relatable, given the kind of people I see when I go outside and look around.

In my book reviews, I have written often about characters that are unlikeable and therefore lackluster to me. June is an unlikeable character done correctly because she is compelling. I was hungry to read more of her march into moral turpitude and her justifications for her increasingly cruel actions gave me food for thought. I especially appreciate characters like this as they are a guide for what not to do.

### Step One: rethink all life choices

### Step Two: resist stealing your friend’s hard work

I think I can work with this framework.

*Yellowface* is a testament to the talent and versatility of Kuang: high fantasy, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction. Kuang now ranks solidly among my favorite authors.

When Juniper Song witnesses her rival Athena Liu's death, she does the unimaginable: she steals a manuscript about the contributions of Chinese labourers to the war efforts during World War I. She submits it to her agent as her own work. From there, June receives a career revival; she makes the lists her debut failed to reach, and she is invited to significant events that shunned her years before; Liu's story makes her a star. But how far can she go living in Liu's spotlight? Or will someone from their past drag her back into the shadows?

I genuinely commend R.F. Kuang for traversing into a genre that is not typical of her fantasy sphere, but I did not enjoy this as much as her previous releases, which is true heartbreak. Yellowface is dark and grim, a witty tale about the state of the publishing industry and the erasure of non-white voices. Kuang knows how to write messy people, and Juniper Song might be the greatest example of that. I thoroughly enjoyed how the story highlights several problems within the publishing industry.

Perhaps, in her way of being meta about publishing, it felt too much. At one point, I was just wondering if I was reading my Twitter timeline. Yellowface is undoubtedly well-written, but the narrative voice was perhaps unbearable and repetitive to the point where even at the end, where we see her antics reach their peak, I was glad to be done with her.

This book will be great for another reader, but for me, it just wasn't working. In an attempt to be satirical, Yellowface falls flat in a tale that I would call Book Twitter on a regular Monday.

I loved this book very much! A great read. It has a good mixture of humour and thrills. It is also very telling of the toxic sides of the publishing industry. I will definitely be recommending it.

As expected, this book was absolutely fantastic. I am a huge fan of Rebecca's writing, and I was so excited to delve into her first contemporary novel. This book highlighted some very real issues within publishing whilst having the main character and narrative voice BE one of those issues. It was so interesting to be in June's perspective and to see her reasoning behind everything, whilst you, the reader, and June know full well what she is doing is wrong. The novel was written in such an interesting way, reading almost like a stream of consciousness and it differs from Rebecca's usual fantasy prose, but I do feel that she pulls it off very well, and it really works for this particular novel. I thought this book was incredibly interesting, and I loved how Rebecca tried something new and absolutely knocked it out of the park. A definite must read and I cannot wait for it's release to get my physical copy.

This for me is really hard to review because I liked it but at the same time I didn’t, and I’m not sure why I didn’t like it. The story flowed really well and it kept you reading and interested in the story. The ending felt rushed and just ended abruptly. I liked learning about the publishing world and what it’s like for non white people in the industry and how hard it is. It’s very cancel culture which is a new thing for me I tend to stay away from all that as it’s quite stressful for me personally. This is my first book by this author and I will be reading her other books as I’d love too experience her other work that isn’t fiction,I do think when this book comes out it’s going to do very well.

I love Rebecca Kuang, and after reading this, I love her even more.
Athena and June met at college, both determined to be great authors. Athena becomes successful and June doesn’t. After a night out, Athena chokes to death and June steals her next completed novel that nobody knows about. When she publishes it under her own name, people are convinced she’s stolen Athena’s work.
As the pressure mounts for her to write another bestseller and she becomes addicted to social media, we watch her downfall.
Having despised her for stealing Athena’s book, I ended up feeling quite sorry for her!
Dark, witty and toxic, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book stressed me out and manipulated all the emotions. Like reading it caused me genuine anxiety. That said, I love Kuang’s prose and writing but this honestly took it all to a whole other level and I devoured this in a matter of hours. Just the writing and the pure exploration of issues such as racism, rape, suicide and more combined with the acknowledgement of the role that social media plays in modern society was simply *chef’s kiss* fantastic.

The use of first person POV in this story works perfectly in showing the changes in June’s monologue of thoughts for the decisions that she makes. Right from the start we ar thrown into the relationship between Athena and June and the foundation is set from chapter one that June will be an unreliable narrator. This is where the feels of manipulation came in! I shouldn’t have liked her… I shouldn’t have felt sorry for her… and yet I did and it just felt so wrong.

My only gripe with this story was the last fifth of the book, It it all happened so suddenly and it did feel like a lot of answers were left unresolved without it being left with the capability of a sequel. It really could have benefitted with another couple of chapters to tie up the consequences of the ending and given the enormity of the stories climax, it felt as if there wasn’t really any.

ARC provided by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.
Overall this book gets 4 stars for me. There are parts that I loved, and parts that I didn’t enjoy as much.

Let’s start with the positive:
- the writing is just phenomenal, and the way R. F Kaung was able to write the characters the way she did is just mind blowing to me.
- also connected to her writing, how she was able to portray an unreliable narrator/character that I cared about so much in the end. I could also write about these characters for hours, but I feel like it would spoil the book so I'm going to skip that part.
- it is very easy to read, unlike some other books (usually i need to be very focused when I read, but I could read this book literally anywhere).
- the literature and pop culture part of this book was very funny but also VERY important and had such a strong message , and I feel frequent readers are going to enjoy this book the best. it has so much funny literature and pop culture references that I thought were hilarious,but also it speaks about how rigged the publishing industry is and how hard it’s to break onto the scene, get deals, how unfair it’s and cancel culture that follows with it. cancel culture is a very big part of the book and I’m so glad that it is. it talk’s about twitter and internet cruelty and how it destroys your mental health. all people think being famous is easy, but don’t think about what comes with it.


Negative parts :
- some parts could have been cut or shortened. i found the first half and the middle part to be the best, but the part in the early ending of the book (75-80% into the book) I found not needed and was too long. it didn’t bring anything to the story in any certain way, and could have been just easily shortened.
- the ending is just SO incomplete in my opinion, that I actually hope the book isn’t complete and another part gets added. the reason why is we get a pretty much clear ending, but we didn’t see it getting played out. if she was able to write 20 more pages and tell us how the ending played out it would have been way better. and I know what you’re thinking : maybe she wants to make a sequel? but no, there’s no way this book has potential for a sequel, and it would be very dumb to make one.

Parts I felt 50/50 about :
- the mystery. the mystery in this book was good and I didn’t guess any of it, however there is not much of it. there are probably only 2 main mystery plots/plot twists. I wish there was more, and if there were, I know I would enjoy it much more than I did.

Yellowface is a fascinating insight into the (brutal!) world of publishing, well-written and captivating. All the characters (even minor ones) are masterfully drawn out and realistic. This is a real treat of a book, which I‘ll be recommending to anyone who appreciates good literature.

The premise drew me in -- an unsuccessful white author who blames her lack of success on being a basic white girl steals her Asian-American friend's novel RIGHT AFTER she dies, editing it a bit and then passing it off as her own. I really enjoyed feeling like a publishing industry insider. Kuang's thoughts and themes are presented in a heavy-handed manner at times, not exactly subtle, but the novel is enjoyable nonetheless.

The sheer audacity of this book deserves all the plaudits in the world. Kuang enters literary fiction with an assured voice that drips with satire delivered with razor-sharpness. I will read anything Kuang publishes now and I dare her to test those limits.

TW: racism, PTSD, anxiety attacks, death

A huge thanks to the publisher for this copy! This book is incredible and so so good.

June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be stars, but while Athena became a bestseller with her novels, June can't even get her paperback release. So when Athena dies choked by a pancake, June does the only thing she can think of: she steals Athena's new manuscript, edits it and publishes it as her own. A story about Chinese labour during World War I. Is a way to preserve Athena's legacy, right? It would be a shame not to publish this masterpiece, even though June is the only one earning from it. What's the wrong in it? So what if her publishers suggest she should change her name in Juniper Song to be more "exotic", even though she's not Asian American? Is this story deserving to be told?
But June can't escape Athena's shadow, mostly when emerging evidences threatens everything she's earned so far: money, fame, a bestselling status, a new life with a stolen manuscript. She will be ready to do anything to protect what she thinks it's hers.

Told by an immersive first person, Yellowface is an incredible novel about racism, cultural appropriation, diversity and the erasure of Asian-American voices and history in and by the Western white society. Yellowface takes on the complexities of the publishing industry, online fans and detractors, posing questions about rights and wrongs and skillfully written by the brilliant R.F. Kuang in an unforgettable novel.

The main character is June Hayward and I struggled to relate with her reasons and motives, to be honest. She's not a nice person, she's manipulative, hurt and obsessed and stubborn in doing everything she can to maintain the success she thinks she owned by the society. In a constant comparison, on the other side is Athena Liu, talented, brilliant and...dead, even though her ghost and shadow seems to haunt June's success and life since the very beginning.

There so much to say about Yellowface. With brutal honesty, the author wrote a novel about cultural appropriation, racism and how the Western society doesn't care or want to include other stories, erasing Asian-American history (and not only that). How the publishing industry privileges White voices and publishes Diverse ones only once in a while, claiming that's there isn't market or people interested. How the publishing industry would create a persona around the author to make them more appealing to the society. How some people can appeal more because more "exotic" and with a more interesting past to exploit.
And also, is a story deserving to be told even from someone who doesn't belong to that specific country or group? Are we talking about cultural appropriation? Can't this story be told even if that person did researches? Can a specific group of people only write about specific things and events? And also, how the online world, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and such, are ready to celebrate an author and rip them to shreds without evidence, or just following the flow, the next day. How success and cancellation can be dictated by a wrong word or an extrapolated quote. How, sometimes, being famous doesn't mean being good at writing, but it's also a matter of luck and support and good publishing and how, being a bad person, doesn't mean you will be cancelled. And there, Kuang hit hard on male authors, accused by heinous crimes, but not cancelled, because...well, male or white or both.

R.F. Kuang doesn't leave survivors. In Yellowface the dark satire is harsh and true, against racism in the Western history and society, in the publishing industry, examining, through June's voice and Athena's ghost, the complexities of this world, where, also, people are ready to lift you up and destroy you in the same days. It's also important to note how these characters are complex and layered. None of them is completely bad or good, following their instincts and what they think it's right or wrong for them. How in the public eyes, one can be seen as the good or the bad person, only depending on the narrative. How the narrative itself is important, depending on how is told and spun.

There are million of words to be said about Yellowface. About injustice and envy, about the complex relationship between June and Athena, the real Athena, June's world and struggles. It's really interesting to see how the personal life of June is intertwined with the author's critiques of publishing industry, racism, cultural appropriation and more, how, even though it's seen through a White character, the reader is able to see the hypocrisy, the complexity and injustice of the erasure of Asian-American world and identity. Curious and intriguing the idea of showing all of this through June's point of view and not Athena's.

In this dark satire, Kuang wrote a beautifully complex story, a genre-bending novel, almost a meta-novel, a story in the story. Incredibly good and totally recommended it.

This is an addictive little page turner, but be warned: if you’re an aspiring writer it will definitely put you off your dinner.
Juniper Song Hayward is a talented but unrecognised writer who lives in the shadow of the incredibly successful Athena Liu.
This story asks a number of questions:
* Who’s the biggest thief?
* Who’s the victim?
* Do the characters in this story get the fates they deserve?
* Is the publishing industry really this twisted?
June’s actions and choices set her on a rollercoaster ride, which she both relishes and dreads, but ultimately, it seems like the only way she knows how to live.
Packed with narcissistic characters, this isn’t a likeable story, but it is pretty unputdownable, and I was fascinated to find out how June’s story would end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.
Yellowface publishes in the U.K. on 25 May.

A bare-faced look into the privileges and workings of the publishing world, this is a bravely brutal account of one woman's calculated attempt to pass a dead 'friend's' novel off as her own. June Hayward is a mildly successful author driven by jealousy to steal the unpublished works of a dead supposed-friend, moments after watching her choke to death. The mental gymnastics that you see June go through to justify publishing under her own name (the mentality of 'I edited it, it's a completely different book') is both unbelievable and all too real, bare yellowface chalked up to blink and you'd miss them scenes easily justified by the characters so reflective of an industry where diversity is a real problem. I loved and hates this novel in equal measures but I am so, so glad to have read it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and not least becauseI am interested in writing and the publising industry!

The book provides an insight into a modern writer's life and the publishing industry as a whole. It also portrays a glimpse of what social media is like for anyone who is vaguely famous - pros and cons. It doesn't seem to take a side but just present the social media landscape as is. In a slightly less maybe obvious way it also deals with race politics and some moral questions that are often associated with race politics and representation and writing about race politics; for example can a white writer write about non-white identities or communities.

We share the journey that our protagonist - a novelist - goes through including highs like literary fame, lows such as writers block, social media criticism and acceptance and everything in between.

I really enjoyed Kuang's writing in this book because her prose is erudite, flows beautifully and the narration moves along seamlessly. She writes with a sharpness and honesty that comes across as bold on the pages. Really loved the narrative voice.

Most of the characters are flawed, living, breathing human beings who make mistakes - some major, some minor. No one character is thoroughly likeable. Although there are aspects of the main character that a lof people could identify with: struggling to get the success you think you deserve, paranoia, self-doubt, jealousy.
The book delves deep to a very delicate side of human psyche. We don't always readily accept that human beings are ultimately vehicles of duality, contradiction and hypocrisy. Especially in this age of social media judgement and validation, we often become one-dimensional and taken at face-vlaue without the scope to be considered as multi-dimensional, layered personalities that human beings are. We see the main chatacter legitimise her wrongdoings, her lies, whilst applying a kind of double standard.

Without offering any direct solution the book does a very good job of presenting some important socio-political themes: racial perceptions vs racial identity, relationship between creatives and their industries, impact of social media on mental health.

The ending is interesting in a very meta kind of way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Borough Press for the ARC. Opnions are my own.

4.5
A very interesting study on cancel culture, plagiarism, racism and how all of that is represented in the world of publishing.
I am not usually a fan of “antagonist” stories, those were the main character is the villain. This is because I find that a lot of the time they revel too much in this fact, when the main character knows they are the villain it loses the appeal. With June Hayward as the narrator and protagonist, however, I didn’t feel that way. I aboslutely adored seeing how twisted her perception of reality was, how hard she tried to convince herself she was the good guy, the victim even.
As with everything i’ve read from R. F. Kuang before, I was hooked from page one and never wanted to stop reading, but I must admit I enjoyed this more than her fantasy novels (the one’s that I have read so far).
A very solid novel full of commentary, intrigue and irony.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC!