CATEGORIES: BOOK BLOG POSTS, BOOK REVIEWS, LITERARY FICTION
ABOUT THE BOOK
AUTHOR: r.f. kuang
GENRES: literary fiction
PUBLISHER: william morrow
PUBLISHING DATE: 5/16/2023
FORMAT: hardcover
PAGE COUNT: 336 PAGES
GOODREADS SUMMARY
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing.
But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song–complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
MY THOUGHTS:
I had come across this book cover with a minimalist design and a thought-provoking title, “Yellowface,” multiple times. Seeing such a provocative title, I initially decided to avoid it as I was seeking light and fluffy reads to get me through the day. However, I eventually gave in to this book club favorite pick and embarked on an emotional rollercoaster crafted by the talented author, R.F. Kuang.
Now, where should I begin? Perhaps with the psyche of the main character, June Hayward. Is she a sociopath? After all, she stole her supposed friend’s manuscript before her corpse even got cold.
She resorted to lying, manipulation, and betrayal of her colleagues to reach the top. Despite how much June’s character frustrated me, the answer is clear. No, she is not a sociopath. If she were, this novel would have ended after just five chapters.
Sociopaths wouldn’t fret over whether they have done something wrong, but June did. Extensively.
“She’s using the pen name Juniper Song to pretend to be Chinese American. She’s taken new author photos to look more tan and ethnic, but she’s as white as they come. June Hayward, you are a thief and a liar. You’ve stolen my legacy, and now you spit on my grave.”
Her fretting makes up a good portion of the book. She frets whether she should change her name to a more Chinese-sounding name, she frets about whether her colleagues respect her, she frets over her Goodreads review, her Twitter feeds, on whether or not she will be called out as a fraud, and on and on it goes.
Many writers, including myself, suffer from a condition known as Imposter’s Syndrome. We live in constant fear that we are failures and our work will never measure up. We live in fear that someone will eventually call out our BS. In June’s case, since she actually stole a manuscript and passed it off as her own, the syndrome was malignant.
Kuang masterfully portrayed a woman loosing her grasp of reality as she lets her insecurities run amuck. Readers will feel the anxiety as June looks around every corner hoping someone doesn’t call her out.
I never really knew how to feel about June, at times I thoroughly sympathized with her insecurities of being a struggling writer, and at other times, I want to reach inside the book and slap her. I could not stand her constant need to play the victim.
“For the first time since I submitted the manuscript, I feel a deep wash of shame. This isn’t my history, my heritage. This isn’t my community. I am an outsider, basking in their love under false pretenses. It should be Athena sitting here, smiling with these people, signing books and listening to the stories of her elders.”
Even in moments of self-reflection, moments where she acknowledges wrongness of her actions, she never let those moments direct her actions.
The plot is driven by a mysterious internet troller who threatens to expose June. It is also driven by the potential for June to finally redeem herself.
Does she ever have a redeeming moment? You’ll have to read and see for yourself.
This book, Yellowface, is nothing short of perfection. R.F. Kuang’s writing style is tight, witty, and captivating. I rarely give five-star ratings, yet I couldn’t find a single flaw in this novel.
While it may be repetitive at times, particularly when June expresses her fears, it only contributes to the escalating anxiety. This book truly takes anxiety to the maximum level—I am legitimately afraid of Twitter now.
I must admit, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, not even a little, but I found them compelling and realistic. This is the type of literature that resonates with me. The author doesn’t spoon-feed us a desired perspective or instruct us on how to feel about the characters; instead, she presents a realistic portrayal of a white female writer grappling with her insecurities.
The complexities of tokenism, white privilege, and writer rivalry are explored, offering aspiring minority authors like myself plenty to contemplate.
This is one of those novels that lingers in your thoughts long after you’ve finished reading it, and I believe that’s precisely what epic literary fiction is meant to accomplish.
Run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore and embark on this wonderful reading experience. Or click on the button below to obtain your copy from Amazon. Don’t forget to leave a comment and share your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
I’m not a big reader of these sort of books. But this review just make me wanna.
I was in the same boat, Im more of a fantasy or romance pick-me-up sort of book. This is not a feel-good book, but it’s a very good book.
This isn’t the sort of book I would normally go for at all but the 5 star rating you gave has made me think twice!
I hope you give it a try. June is a train wreck!
Definitely going to check this book out!
Awesome ?? I’d love to hear your take on it.