God, I loved Yellowface.

As someone in publishing, so much of this rings true - the microaggressions, the painfully and painstakingly hidden racism, the seething pools of jealousy, the lure of twitter fame. I really enjoy imperfect protagonists and June goes out and beyond that into someone who is truly awful, but who you're still invested in even as you delight in her downfall. Kuang is incredible at delving into complicated emotions, the horrible sort that squirm away from the bright light she shines on them, but she's also just genuinely funny. The satire here is knife-edge sharp and pitch black, but it's hilarious.

Having said this, I do wonder if Yellowface will appeal as much to people who don't move in the book world. So much of the plot revolves around Goodreads, deckled edges, and publishing details that probably won't mean much if you're not spending your life in that world. If you're willing to immerse yourself in it though, the toxic waters of Kuang's work will swallow you up.

This isn't going to be for everyone, as it's basically Book Twitter Discourse: The Novel, but I really enjoyed it. It's a good discussion of many of the issues in publishing today, but has enough thriller/mystery bones to stay interesting beyond that. Still, I can see it being a divisive read and not one if you're sick of books about books. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang 💛

I was delighted to receive this ARC from Netgalley and HarperCollinsUK 📚

Yellowface centred around Junie, a young writer who is struggling after her first novel flopped. Junie’s much more successful friend Athena dies (not a spoiler, it happens on the first page) and Junie sees an opportunity to take what is not hers.

I enjoyed the insights into the writing and publishing industries throughout the book. Yellowface addresses racism in publishing, and in the media.

The book had a good flow up until the last third, when the plot descended into absolute chaos. I didn’t really know where this was going. I found the ghost stories disturbing and didn’t feel that they were in keeping with the tone of the book.

Junie was so unlikeable that I didn’t really care if things worked out for her. She reminded me a little of Grace from How to Kill Your Family, except I had to admire Grace for being smart. Junie was neither smart nor likeable. She made appalling decision after appalling decision. In fact, I think this whole book could have been avoided if Junie had sought therapy after Athena’s death😬

All that being said, I still found the book quite compelling and I read it in a couple of days.

This was a NetGalley arc, with thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! 💛 this book will be published on 25/5/23💛

#bookstagram #books #summerreads #irishbookstagram #booktok #beachreads #yellowface #netgalley #arc #currentread

This was really twisty, compelling and impeccably observed, and I just want other people to read it too so we can talk about it!

Interesting story - almost fully made up of unpleasant characters, apart from Athena's mother. The protagonist, Juniper Song, is a complex character, and the whole story is haunted by her dead friend Athena. The story started strong, went on a meandering journey and picked up again in the 30%. Didn't find any humor in this book, dark or otherwise but it did depressingly highlight the darkness surrounding social media and associated commentaries of keyboard warriors. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy.

This is my first time reading a book by R. F. Kuang. I kept putting this book for so long but when I finally Started it, I was done in 2 days.

This is a very messy and twisted book which follows a story of a Juniper Hayward who steals her best friend Athena's upcoming book's manuscript when the latter dies and there are numerous consequences.
Juniper Song Hayward is a ‘novelist,’ serial plagiarizer, and flaming racist. I hated her so much yet I was rooting for her!?
This book gives some very harsh truths of the publishing industry and social media.
I found the ending a bit underwhelming because I was expecting much more after the climax like that.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving eARC of this book in exchange of honest review.

This book spun me out - in a good way.
It’s so meta and messy and magnificent.
I was utterly drawn to the protagonist and it’s a testament of the author that I found myself rooting for this thief and plagiariser as one lie spirals into another and another.
I loved reading from her POV as she navigates the world of publishing and Twitter and goodreads etc.
What a great book - unlike anything I’ve read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

I think Yellowface left me more confused and baffled than anything else. I genuinely do not know where I stand on it.

Firstly, I would read RFK's grocery list. I would read three words jotted down on a napkin, so long as they were hers. I would read her middle school poetry and do it happily. When I read The Poppy War, I went so entirely feral I accidentally drew blood in my arm-flailing, mind-losing reaction. When I read Yellowface, I was just confused.

The book, as it's been pointed out a million times already, is over the top meta. Probably heavy-handedly meta. It references The Untamed and TikTok and specific pitch events on Twitter. And by God, does it talk about Twitter a lot. I understand there's a large book community on Twitter, but the entire middle section just going on and on about Twitter for pages at a time was the point where I almost put the book down entirely.

But RFK also does some really interesting things. The subject matter, for one, is deeply, incredibly interesting. I've never read about a character having a negative experience within the publishing industry, and I could see how this book might make waves among her colleagues and potentially (apparently) directly point at experiences she's had. RFK is also the master of morally grey (and purposefully unlikeable) protagonists. June and Athena were SO unlikeable! I disliked both of them mere pages in, and by the time they were calling slam poets not "real" poets, I was ready to crucify both of them - but that's somewhere RFK excels. She can write an unlikeable character who's still relatable, who you still find yourself rooting for nonetheless.

And I commend her for trying something outside her wheelhouse. I just don't know if it landed right or if I, as a white reader, am not going to get all of the complexities of this narrative. Was it too heavy-handed or am I just lacking awareness? I have no idea.

In all, I think it was fine. It wasn't what I was expecting and I would not, by any means, call it funny - but I think it did exactly what RFK wanted it to. She's written a book that makes me feel like I'm taking part on some weird, meta level, for writing a Goodreads review. I love the premise, I enjoyed the ending (although the climax felt almost cartoonish), and I wish the unravelling had been brought in stronger, earlier, but otherwise, it's fine. It's okay. It's good.

I think I'll stick to her fantasy stories in future, though.

Yellowface is a novel about literary plagarism, diversity, and the cutthroat world of publishing, as a white woman steals the unfinished manuscript of her dead friend. Juniper 'June' Hayward is a struggling writer jealous of the success of her sometime friend Athena Liu, who she went to college with. Athena is the next big thing, with a Netflix deal and hype for whatever she writes next, but she's very secretive. When June is there when Athena dies after showing her the manuscript of her next novel, June takes the book and makes it her own. But when she finds runaway success, she is plagued by people questioning if she should have written that story and if it is even her book in the first place.

From the summary, you immediately know this is going to be a book about literary drama, and as the book at points highlights, this will particularly appeal to the minority who do spend a lot of time on Twitter caring about said drama. The book is from June's perspective, which is a clever way to give the reader a perspective that is often unlikeable, and Kuang builds up an almost parodic portrait of her, with a whole host of "red flags" that give the reader insight into June's attitudes about things. This means that the book is really not for people who want a likeable voice or character in a novel, and the satirical tone makes it not really about real characters at all, but figures that can stand in for ideas and viewpoints.

The plot is as you'd expect: success, and then things get complicated and messy. There's lots about both the realities of publishing (snide comments about book boxes and giveaways) and then about book Twitter drama and how a lot of this drama doesn't have any proof (even if, like in the book, it is actually true). The ending was a little inconclusive and lacked a hard-hitting final image that would underline the satirical point, but I did like that it kept things messy.

The whole book feels full of reality, but also is painted as an exaggerated version of what it is attacking (presumably most authors called out for things haven't actually stolen whole manuscripts off dead people), and I liked the outrageousness of it and how meta it felt, though it will be interesting to see if that works for people who aren't interested in internet drama about books. I've seen reviews pointing out that it is too close to the author and real drama, but as I've not read any of Kuang's other books or have seen this drama, I can't comment on that. It's always going to be a book that perhaps hits differently for people depending on whether you know much about book drama or not and if you know much about Kuang's own online persona and other books, and that may bring different readings of it.

Yellowface takes the world of online book drama and turns it into a darkly comic satire that reflects a lot of reality. It will probably divide people, particularly as it is full of in-jokes and unlikeable characters, but it is a fun rollercoaster of a book.

June is an unsuccessful author who is bitterly living in the shadow of her old college friend Athena Liu. She is pretty much everything June wishes she could be careerwise.
After celebratory drinks with June, Athena suffers a terrible fatal accident in her apartment. While waiting for paramedics, June does the unthinkable and steals Athenas latest work. After a few tweaks June passes it off as her own.

What follows is a long anxiety inducing journey of June being pretty racist and just a terrible person, the people on her team being generally not very nice, some awful twitter encounters, and just a pretty negative portrayal of the literary world.

I personally found the whole thing very uncomfortable because you knew there's no way she'd get away with it, it will always be exposed. So I just felt really on edge until it finally happens.

June is just not a very likeable person. She is very defensive and unapologetic. Even when she can see that the things she does are totally wrong, she still justifies it to herself and feel very sorry for herself. Even to the very end. This, however, made her quite an interesting character to read about.

It was overall enjoyable and memorable.

(posted on goodreads and bookstagram)

Wow.

I've not read anything of Kuang before, so perhaps this is why I loved the book even if it is not of her 'typical' style of writing - this is a fantastically written novel with a very intriguing subject matter. One that is very delicate, and I appreciate how well the author handled it.

The narrative perspective is one that I'm noticing more and more in books around me, one that is cynical and spiteful, and one that comes from an unhappy woman who will do anything to gain validation (in whatever form). I found it impossible to like June Hayward and I don't think she's meant to be likeable, but you do see where her vulnerabilities come from. I enjoyed how Kuang put a lot of effort into understanding the headspace of someone like June, who is a type of racist that is difficult to pinpoint because their racism is covert, well hidden behind a 'woke' front, and that heavily stems from a type of envy towards East Asian women. I have noticed this type of racism from white women toward east Asian women online, such as through 'Asian fishing' aesthetics; it is fetishistic in branding EA women as 'natually' more attractive and desireable, and being envious of that and feeling like they are at a disadvantage for being white. It's not like the stereotypical racist who yells slurs and doesn't want racial groups to mix, but it is still racism. It is the same with people who are against employment schemes for BAME groups because they feel that their whiteness has denied them something.

Athena herself is not perfect, and I was obsessed with the dynamic between her and June. Both writers, one significantly more successful, and with a lot of jealously between them. But they are more similar than you would think since Athena also struggled with finding original ideas due to her tendency to take stories from other people, like June's kind-of-rape incident in college. It added a degree of sympathy for June, almost making you forget how terrible she is.

Lastly, I loved the commentary on the publishing industry. How bestsellers are not born from the author's talent but an experienced team of editors and marketers; how 'woke' books are put out to grab an audience even when there are ethical issues behind those works; how difficult it is for authors with a shitty debut to make end's meet - all of it.

Overall, a very self-reflexive novel and one that I enjoyed a lot.

I’m an Asian woman, and I work in publishing. I don’t know how I can be expected to give Yellowface anything less than a glowing, 5-star review.

Fresh off the high of finishing Babel, I think I was suitably primed to feel every emotion Kuang was trying to evoke. While Babel brewed rage, Yellowface incited a glee that I almost (almost!) feel guilty about. It was bold, it was meta, it was a book that only RFK could have pulled off. As another reviewer said, I felt like I was joining in on an inside joke.

While Yellowface and Babel both explore strong themes around race, culture, and colonialism. Babel is clear and direct - you can point to the bad guys and empathise with protagonists. You know what side you’re on, which is helped by the historical setting. But Yellowface, oh god, it makes you work for it. Yellowface really challenged the way I think about race and political correctness when it comes to cultural appropriation. I think we’re all used to a certain narrative, about who can and can’t say what, and anything beyond this melts into a pool of grey that nobody wants to touch with a ten foot pole. Kuang took that pole, and mixed the grey goop into a tasty, discursive soup that I took great joy in dipping bits of toasted bread into.

I’ve never wanted to witness the downfall of a protagonist as much as I craved the moment everything would unravel for June. I was hungry for it. I turned every page hoping the sudden, catastrophic violence I consider signature to Kuang’s work was right around the corner. I do admit to a slight twinge of disappointment about how the book ended. But of course, no spoilers. You’ll have to read the book.

I’m very, very morbidly excited to read the reviews after Yellowface is published.

Absolutely fantastic read. A great idea for a story and so well written. Really struggled to put it down at any point, found myself sneaking away at work to read more of it!

Spoilers Ahead!

Juniper is such a well crafted main character. I seem to switch continuously between sympathising and hating her. Just as she herself seems to switch between feeling sorry for herself and hating herself for her actions. She continuously tries to justify her actions and her behaviour to herself and to the reader, but you can tell that deep down she knows she is in the wrong. However she keeps spiralling downwards and finds herself far too deep in to see any way out rather than doubling and tripling down.

The way the story approaches racism in media is really well done, outside of the obvious overall premise of the story, there are smaller nods to it too. The meeting with a production company that does it's best to try and whitewash the book for it's movie adaptation, the intentional decisions by Juniper to use an Asian sounding pen name and take ethnically ambiguous author photos, and the pigeon holing of ethnic minorities all being key examples.

I also really enjoy all of the nods to the publishing industry in general, the talks of book tours, signings, readings, and panels. Special book box editions with sprayed edges, book clubs, Goodreads reviews and Buzzfeed lists. The social media hype and buzz when things are going well, and the destruction and tearing apart that occurs when things are going badly!

The book also takes a look at the modern obsession with social media and popularity. The need for likes and interactions to provide a daily dose of serotonin, and not being able to face a future without it once it has been experienced. The hatred that people can spew from anonymous profiles sat behind a screen without any regard for the damage it can do to a real life human being on the receiving end of it. Social media can be a tool for good, it can bring the world closer together. However it can also bring out the very worst in people as seen here. Whether Juniper was in the wrong is not up for debate, however the treatment she receives does make you sit back and think about how we all use social media.

R F Kuang is a phenomenal writer and is as close to a 'must read' author as there is in my opinion. I don't want to say it is impossible to not enjoy her writing, but it is highly improbable! I have been highly anticipating the release of her next novel Babel for a long time now, but at this point I think I would real just about anything she puts out!

Okay, okay…

From the moment I read Kuang’s The Poppy War trilogy, I knew she was a special author. I knew that she crafts her stories so cleverly that those feel so gigantic in ambition. I think R.F. Kuang is the kind of author that just does it. Yellowface is a satire book about an industry filled with sabotages and lies.

To really start off, let me give a brief summary about this book. Yellowface is about two friends, Athena and June. Both were at the same college, both became authors but one of them succeeded and the other one failed miserably. Athena is a half American half Chinese author whose books have been adored by the readers, she IS the moment. June is a white author who can’t even have a proper release of her paperback. One night while the girls are together, Athena dies by a freak accident and June finds herself stealing Athena’s manuscript and later publishing this masterpiece under her own name. And then the story takes off into critiquing many bad things in the industry of publishing. So y’all, this plot was soooo meta. I’ve never read a novel focussing so much on writing, reading and reviewing like this. It felt almost as if I was falling into this dimension of meta that I literally wouldn’t have been shocked if I saw my name on the page. That meta aspect was done immaculately, I loved reading about reviewers reading and reviewing. But there is one thing that overachieves the meta aspect and that is simply the writing. This plot is so dramatic, scandalous and satiric and so was the writing. If you’ve read my reviews about The Poppy War trilogy then you know that I really enjoyed Kuang’s writing as I found it simplistic and not trying to be too colourful. That happened with Yellowface as well but add in the taste of dramatic dialogue and funny satiric descriptions. It was such a good mix, I was flying through the pages while appreciating every single word used. And here comes a little problem I had; I couldn’t for the life of me separate June’s voice (this book is written in June’s pov) from Kuang’s. It felt sometimes as if Kuang was forgetting herself and letting too much of her drip in the pages of the book. Even some words used in the dialogue were getting used many times by the author herself in interviews. And that is not necessarily a problem, but I just wanted to see the complete June and her thoughts and be able to separate her from the author.

When it comes to the plot I found it sometimes really good and engaging but some other times boring and too slow. The pace was definitely not consistent on this one. It was like sitting in a train and waiting for that one sprint but the train kept on slowing down and then that one moment when all you want is for the train not to sprint, you hit your head so hard against the windows by how fast the train sprinted. And that definitely affected the plot for me, it was at times interesting and so so good but at times nothing was happening and I was trying to skip parts. Had it not been for the good writing, I would’ve definitely have skipped some paragraphs. By the way what was it with those big plot holes? This book was filled with many plot holes that I found to be irritating (uhm uhm looking at you Patricia Liu). I was waiting for something to happen to give those holes some clarity but nothing. Those were just plot holes and I had to just accept it but I couldn’t. Those holes were big and I couldn’t just ignore them, so that definitely weakened this plot for me.

But the biggest problem I had was the ending. Don’t worry I will give no spoilers. When I had read The Poppy War trilogy, I adored that ending, so good and professional. But this ending was not it. It was so underwhelming, boring and weak. I expected so much from the ending after reading ‘the climax’ which also felt weak and cartoonish, especially the dialogue which was not on the same level as the plot before that climax. I had thought so much is happening, this is bad, surely Kuang will blow me out with a perfect ending. I guess I was blown out … by disappointment. Such a plot should have a gut punching ending that leaves the readers shocked and wanting to know more, but after reading that ending I genuinely don’t want to know more.

Let’s look at other positives; June as a character was actually nicely written. Apart from not being to separate her voice from Kuang’s, I was hating June more and more. She is sick in the head, she wines and wines, she would find an excuse for her faults within two seconds. Yet I found myself wanting her to be safe?! Whenever she would be almost revealed to be a selfish sick thief, I would be hoping for her to find a way out. Why?! Maybe because I wanted this book to go on and on or maybe because Kuang has done an excellent job at making me root for a character that was exactly what I would hate at the book industry. June is definitely a character I would not forget easily. And then there is the beloved Athena Liu. I have no idea who Athena really was. The book is written in June’s pov and she is weirdly jealous of Athena so we shouldn’t believe any word she says about her, right?

As a last note I would love to read the books written in Yellowface as they all sound fun and interesting. After reading and thinking about this book for a long time, I’ll give it three stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I would love to thank NetGalley and Harper Voyagers for granting me this e-arc. So thanks!

It’s very well written and definitely worth a read. Wow!!! Started this book and could not stop reading it until I'd finished!! Every time I thought I had things sussed, along came another surprise!! So rare for a story to catch me out, so well done to the author.

YELLOWFACE is a tense, taut and merciless thriller.

When Juniper’s talented, successful frenemy Athena Liu dies in front of her one night right after showing Junie her new manuscript, Junie does the most logical thing she can think of: she steals the only copy and passes Athena’s work off as her own. What could possibly go wrong?

I read YELLOWFACE over the course of a day, squirming – and occasionally, actually shrieking out loud – at some of the things Juniper said and did (no spoilers, but the micro aggressions are strong in this one). Kuang has expert control over every single syllable in this book. There are no caricatures of villains, only the real truth of the story in contrast with what Juniper believes is true. I urge fellow white people in publishing (and white people in general) to read this one: not only is it just brilliant, but it is a mirror to the white privilege that permeates the entire book industry.

Thank you to @harpercollinsuk for this Netgalley ARC!

[social media post link to come]

Thank you Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for honest review!
Yellowface was a book that pulled me in from the first page and I couldn’t stop thinking about until the very last. And then for a few more days. It was also my first read of Kuang’s books, and I’m very excited to see how different style the rest will be, and after looking at other reviews I think this might be why I liked the book so much.
I see a lot of comments how this book is basically twitter drama and they could as well open their TL, but… isn’t that the point? Yellowface feels fresh, feels on time, feels real. This book isn’t for everyone, because not everyone will like how deep into industry and everyday-writer issues it reaches, but I loved all the details of it. The characters might not be going through some deep changes or complicated arcs, but it just brings them closer to reality.
From the first chapter I knew that this will be one of my new favourites and as soon as it comes out, it will have to land on my shelf.

Was really excited to read this because I'd seen some fantastic early reviews. I also love books set in the publishing world as I have friends working in Publishing so always think it gives me a different perspective and things to quiz them on if it's really like that.

I raced through this book finishing it in a day, it was just so addictive to know what's going to happen next! I loved and hated the characters and thought that was so cleverly done.

Another reason I adored this book was because it reminded me so much of Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne who is one of my all time favorite authors! Adored it.

This book has a very interesting premise and was a quick read. There were no likeable characters and the character arcs were very flat but I felt that lent itself to the storytelling. This was quite an uncomfortable read highlighting issues with tokenism in the publishing industry and the lengths people will go to to try and convince themselves and others their poor actions are acceptable. I didn’t mind the mid section being mostly repetitive twitter discourse, I think it was necessary to highlight the cyclical nature of internet drama that snowballs from one small action but inevitably doesn’t change the root problem. Overall I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of RFK’s work.

'Yellowface' is a scathing look at the publishing industry, and how easily art can be commodified and misused. The plot follows Juniper Song, as she publishes- and faces the consequences of- her dead "friend's" book.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel- it was gripping and hooking. I read the whole thing in a single sitting. There's no doubt that the book is engaging, and RFK's discussions of race, rights and representation shines through, as it does in most of her novels.

However, I do feel that the writing style is extremely different from what I expect of this author (which is likely due to the change in genre). The style is by no means bad, but I would argue the writing style here lacks the originality that characterises most of RFK's work. I also think some of the structure is jarring, but that's likely due to the fact I've read a fairly early ARC.

Despite my qualms with these aspects, I overall thoroughly enjoyed reading it (and certainly found it much quicker to get through than her other novels). The characterisation for main characters is strong and I feel her characters as a whole serve as vessels for the message she intends them to. The plot is hooking, and her social commentary largely convincing. A very good read!