Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Publish date:First published May 16, 2023
Genre: Contemporary fiction, LitFic
Content warnings:Racism, cultural appropriation, xenophobia, grief, microaggressions, plagiarism, gaslighting, online harassment, and discussions of the toxic side of social media
Short description: Yellowface follows June Hayward, a struggling white author who witnesses her more successful Asian American friend, Athena Liu, die in a freak accident. In the chaos, June steals Athena’s just-finished manuscript—a brilliant novel about Chinese laborers in World War I—edits it, and publishes it under a racially ambiguous name. What follows is a spiral of lies, moral gymnastics, and public scrutiny as June clings to her stolen success in the messy, cutthroat world of publishing.
Yellowface is bold, sharp, and addictive. It is also uncomfortable, predictable, the characters are annoying, but maybe that’s the point.
Kuang doesn’t hold your hand. She forces you to sit with messy truth slaps. I’m not in the publishing industry, but we all get it – the toxicity in the community in social media, the flawed and unreliable people around you and yes including yourself, the cycle of getting revenge, etc. They’re all #realtalk.
Why and how I picked this book, and my first impressions
I first discovered R.F. Kuang through The Poppy War, and since then, she’s been an “auto-buy” author for me. Everything she writes, I read, no questions asked. So with Yellowface, I didn’t just expect to like it, I already knew I’d love it.
I also knew Kuang wanted me to hate June, and I hated her indeed. She’s the kind of character you can’t stand but can’t stop reading about. The story and the characters are so perfectly written that even when it got uncomfortable, I couldn’t look away.
My reading experience
Reading Yellowface felt like being strapped into a roller coaster you didn’t exactly agree to ride, but now that you’re on it, you’re holding on for your dear life. I, for many times, wanted to throw it away because of June, but hey, I survived. The pacing is quick nice, there’s no slow build, no easing into the drama, kind of straightforward, if you ask me. Kuang throws you straight into the chaos, and from there, it’s a steady climb of tension. Every chapter left me wondering what fresh disaster June would bring upon herself. I mean, diba???
What made it so addictive was how deeply you get pulled into June’s head. You’re watching her mess up and you can’t do anything about it. It’s infuriating, but it’s also fascinating. Because I was like “Okay, Rebecca, I know this is our trick, but come on.” Many times I’d close the book thinking, “Okay, I need a break” and (an imaginary) five minutes later, I’d be back because I had to know how she was going dig herself deeper and how would I root for her villain.
Even though it’s fiction, it reads like it could easily be someone’s real-life downfall, which makes it hit harder. The entire time, I felt like I was reading both a scandalous tell-all and a slow-burn psychological thriller, all wrapped in one.
June is annoying. And that’s the point. But I liked that every other character are flawed which makes them feel real. No one is perfect here, even up to the end, and that’s the uncomfortable truth.
Themes & messages
Even if you’re not in publishing, the commentary lands:
- The toxic cycles of envy and revenge.
- The way social media builds you up just to tear you down.
- How cultural appropriation can be justified in a million wrong ways.
- The unreliable narratives we create about ourselves.
I didn’t cry, but I definitely had moments of wanting to throw the book at the wall. The frustration was real. It made me reflect on how quick we are to judge online, but also how easy it is to excuse our own bad behavior when we think no one’s watching.
View my vlog about Yellowface!
I am using the CAWPILE rating system, though please remember a reader’s taste may change from time to time, so I’m not sure if you can trust me here unless this was a recent read. Leaving my ratings anyways because this was totally how I felt the time I read this book. *winks*
Reading Yellowface by R.F. Kuang — and wow, it’s bold, sharp, and absolutely uncomfy in the best way. I went in knowing Kuang wanted me to hate June, and mission accomplished. This book is messy, addictive, and so real it almost hurts. Join me as I spiral right alongside her lies and paranoia.
Here are other reads if you liked or interested with Yellowface
Click the book covers to go to Goodreads.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.
For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .
Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?
The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith
It’s here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith’s five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a “sissy.” Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley’s fascination with Dickie’s debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie’s ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game.
“Sinister and strangely alluring,” (Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly) The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for self-invention is as unnerving—and unnervingly revealing of the American psyche—as ever.
Pageboy by Elliot Page
‘Can I kiss you?’ It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. The unthinkable. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back.
With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. He was forced to play the part of the glossy young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl, on and off set. The career that had been an escape out of his reality and into a world of imagination was suddenly a nightmare. As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent, unsure of what to do. Until enough was enough.
The Oscar-nominated star who captivated the world with his performance in Juno finally shares his story in a groundbreaking and inspiring memoir about love, family, fame – and stepping into who we truly are with strength, joy and connection.
You May Also Like
Strange Houses by Uketsu
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
