3.5 stars

I’m honestly not sure how to feel about this one. Part of me wants to approach this from the satire angle, which helps me to not take this story so seriously and thereby enables me to tamp down my frustration and anger at the plethora of “problematic” actions and behaviors of all the characters in the story. The other part wants to approach this from the angle of a necessary commentary on the dark and ruthless underbelly of the publishing industry, the toxicity of social media, the rise of online book communities, and of course, the most front and center hot button topic in recent years — racism and social justice. Regardless of which angle though, one thing I do need to make clear is that I’m approaching this book from the position of not having read any of R.F. Kuang’s previous works and also not having much knowledge of her background or history as an author. I feel this is an important distinction to make because, just glancing through the mixed bag of reviews and ratings on Goodreads, it’s pretty obvious that this book is going to provoke strong reactions in readers that will vary greatly depending on each person’s background, experiences, and also familiarity with the author and/or her works. (As a side note, it seems that most of the negative reviews of this book on Goodreads seem to focus on the “meta” aspect of the story as it pertains to Kuang’s own background and interactions related to her previous works — while these observations may be completely valid, this was an angle that did not concern me given my lack of familiarity with the author, so it won’t be a focus of this review).

Kuang actually covers a lot of ground with this book in terms of topics — in addition to the commentary on hot button issues mentioned earlier, the story also explores cultural appropriation, colonialism, systemic racism, cyber bullying, the current political environment, censorship, toxic friendships, recent debates about who should be allowed to tell which stories, etc. While so many of these topics are important and should be brought up for discussion, I have to admit that it felt like too much all at once, to the point that, at times, I felt I was being bombarded with one issue after another after another, making it difficult to process my thoughts (which, to me, was necessary given how “heavy” so many of the topics were). I honestly think that the story would’ve been a less overwhelming experience (and hence a more powerful and effective story) if it had focused less on trying to cover all bases and instead, focused on only a few topics to explore more in depth.

Aside from the subject matter, the other thing that made this book a difficult read, at least for me, was the fact that all of the characters in the story were hugely unlikable, with the main protagonist June Hayward (aka Juniper Song) being particularly loathsome and pathetic (it also didn’t help that the entire story was narrated from June’s first person point of view, so we were stuck listening to her endless excuses and whining the whole time). It’s honestly hard to enjoy a story when you hate the main character and have no one else to root for because all the supporting characters were also annoying.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a provocative story with so many topics that could actually be debated ad nauseam and probably we would never be able to come to an agreement on anything. One of the central issues that the story dives into — and the one most resonant for me — is the idea of who gets to tell what story. In theory, I don’t have a problem with an author “going outside their lane” so to speak — in this instance, a white author writing an Asian story — as long as it’s done correctly, which in my book means doing so respectfully and as authentically as possible (though yes, there is also the argument about how this takes the opportunity away from a marginalized author to tell the same story, which I also agree with, but that’s a whole separate debate altogether and not really the focus of this story). But I think what happens in Yellowface actually goes beyond this (who should get to tell the story) — technically, it’s not about whether June, who is white, should be allowed to tell a story about Chinese history and culture, as the fact of the matter is that the original story was written by her friend Athena Liu (who is Chinese). The real issue here is that, when Athena dies unexpectedly, June “takes” the manuscript and publishes it as her own. Sure, June makes a lot of edits to the manuscript and even “rewrites” large chunks of it, since Athena’s version was unfinished (this is important because June clings to this throughout the story as her main “justification” for why the story belongs to her and hence she did nothing wrong). Even so, June had the choice to go down the proper path with this — that is, to credit Athena for coming up with the story and writing majority of it, and to attach herself as collaborator in finishing and editing it (there is a scene where June actually considers doing this). But she deliberately chooses not to and that, friends, is the crux of the problem. To me, once June made that choice, nothing else mattered — I no longer cared what excuses or justifications she gave (believe me, she gave PLENTY), or what “factually” happened or didn’t happen (i.e.: “I didn’t mean to take it, I was just curious” or “I never ‘pretended’ to be Chinese so it’s not cultural appropriation” or “Athena is a bad person because she stole from me first”, etc). At that point, it was hard not to view June in a negative light for the rest of the story.

Of course, it probably also doesn’t help June’s case that I’m Chinese myself and am intimately familiar with the language and culture, which means that I understood most of the nuances in Athena’s manuscript, so June’s actions come across as even more egregious in my view. There was one passage in particular that got me seething mad (yes, THAT passage in which June’s complete ignorance of Chinese culture is put on full display) — thinking about it now though, it strikes me that perhaps this may have been intentional on the author’s part, as there is no way that anyone with even a passing knowledge of Chinese language and culture wouldn’t be triggered by the “edits” that June makes to the script. Speaking of which, the other thing that really bothered me was June’s attitude — specifically the utter delight and glee with which she “changed” Athena’s creation. The entire section that details June’s “editing sessions” was honestly very painful to read — not just from the perspective of someone who knows the culture, but also from the perspective of a writer who has spent countless hours on a project, only to see someone else come in and happily “butcher” it. And then, to add further insult to injury, there’s this passage, where June’s editor Daniella tells her at the end of the sessions: “You are so wonderfully easy to work with. Most authors are pickier about killing their darlings” to which June’s immediate reaction is “This makes me beam. I want my editor to like me. I want her to think I’m easy to work with, that I’m not a stubborn diva, that I’m capable of making any changes she asks for. It’ll make her more likely to sign me on for future projects.” Needless to say, I wanted to punch June’s lights out by that point (and this was only at the 15% mark in the story, unfortunately).

Overall, in terms of literary merit, I feel that this book is definitely worth reading (and to some extent, it’s actually a necessary read from the social commentary aspect), but like I said earlier, what the reading experience is going to be like will depend on how close you are to the subject matter. Given my background, reading this book was obviously not a pleasant experience for me (hence why I rated this the way I did), but that does not mean others will feel the same way. With that said, I do think that, with this book in particular, given so many triggering elements to it, the best course of action might be to check out as many reviews as possible (both positive and negative) before making the decision whether to pick it up. I had heard that this book is actually a departure from R.F. Kuang’s usual style and while I can’t comment on that, I will say that the unpleasant experience with this one hasn’t discouraged me from wanting to read her previous works. I have both Babel and The Poppy Wars trilogy on my shelves and I do intend to read both at some point down the line.

Received ARC from William Morrow via NetGalley.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of yellowface by r. f. Kuang. this was a fantastic story of the horrible ideal of if i stole this will i can make it my own. this spiraling story of the guilt over her friends death and the backlash after getting called out of racism, theft, and even murder at some points. this was a fantastic story about the unlikely and what would happen if you took advantage of a situation such as this.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this, even tho I didn't love it. There was not a single likeable character in this book, I wasn't rooting for anyone. The social commentary was very heavy handed and almost insulting in some instances. Honestly, at a loss for how to even really review this right now, maybe I will have better words after digesting this for a bit. #netgalley #yellowface

What in the world did I just read?

Yellowface is my first Kuang novel and boy is it a doozy. I have a feeling that this book is going to be very polarizing and readers are going to feel very strongly one way or the other.

Love it or hate it, Yellowface is one compulsive read oozing satire and shock value about topics such as cultural appropriation, cancel culture, racism, diversity, the inner workings of the publishing industry, and more.

If you're looking for something to blow your mind, be it good or bad, then get your hands on this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow, and the author for this advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Yellowface is an amazing satire where I love to hate every single character.

On the night of Athena Liu's death, June steals Athena's final manuscript and proceeds to publish it as her own using a racially ambiguous name. But as speculations of her misdeads come to light, June suspects she is haunted by Athena's ghost.

This book is very character driven and a commentary of publishing at every aspect along the way. Every person in the novel is a characterization of all the worst parts of the publishing and book industry. It highlights the discrepencies between treatment of white and cis-het authors as compared to their marginalized counterparts. It showcases how publishing can be an author's greatest ally or their greatest frenemy. It picks apart everything that is hypocritical about the industry of books.

I really enjoyed that Kuang drew on real life people and events for her inspiration of her characters and plots. While everything is a satire, it is far from fictitious. But by putting the worst of everything on the page, it makes the readers question what is right and wrong and if certain discussions, such as plagiarism, authenticity, and cancel culture, can be easily seen as black and white.

This was another book I had a hard time rating. R.F. Kuang is one of my favorite authors, and I am a massive fan of The Poppy War trilogy and Babel.

I enjoyed this overall and believe the social commentary is spot on and super important. I also think Kuang was brilliant in choosing to narrate from June’s perspective. However, it just lacked that “wow” factor for me. It held my attention enough and it’s a quick and easy read, but I wasn’t enthralled by it like I had been by her previous work.

As her first thriller novel, it’s solid. But I wasn’t crazy about how the plot unraveled; the climax felt a bit rushed.

I could be being overly critical since I know what she’s capable of, but I just can’t stack this next to her other works and say I REALLY liked it. A+ for social commentary, but I’d give it a B for plot. I would still recommend though given the important conversation she contributes to so well

First of all thank you so so so so much to William Morrow for the ARC of Yellowface. I dropped everything to listen to this!
I think Kuang nailed the satire and I loved how meta this book got. It's possible that my knowledge about book social media and (to a lesser extent) the publishing industry made me appreciate this book more.
With the story itself, I thought Kuang presented the mood of the unreliable narrator really well. The novel felt claustrophobic sometimes (in a good way), and there was a lot of cringing.
For the audio narration, I loved the narrator and thought she captured the tone of the novel really well.
Overall I found this one to be quite entertaining and engaging and now I'm curious to read anything extra on how Kuang came to this idea.

I ADORED this book. Such a fascinating, funny look at the publishing industry. Who gets to decide which stories get told, and by whom? A super timely & important discussion. I devoured this!

Yellowface is a brilliant work of metafiction that resists any easy answers. Kuang does not default to the easy platitudes of "the capitalistic nature of the publishing industry is bad for everyone", which ignores how the industry is much more hostile to BIPOC authors, or "cancel culture is good/bad actually", which ignores how Twitter drama can both speak truth to power and cannibalize its own, or even "all writers steal!" which ignores the context of colonization, exoticization, and appropriation when that theft targets BIPOC voices. The narrator is deeply and intentionally unlikeable, cringeworthy and painfully realistic in her mental gymnastics to justify unjustifiable actions. This is a book for writers and readers especially, anyone familiar with the compulsion writers feel to write and the pitfalls of reality when art, identity, and consumption intersect.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go. This book is a ruthless look at the many problems in the publishing industry and online book community wrapped up in a page-turning story that I couldn't put down. R.F. Kuang continues to showcase her whip-smart and engaging story-building. Her writing is intelligent, and engaging, and she does not shy away from tough topics. The book is full of intriguing characters you love to hate. Watching June Hayward's character arc is like watching a train wreck you can't look away from in the best way possible. I highly recommend this book (and all of R.F. Kuang's books).

R.F. Kuang. R.F. Kuang’s forthcoming latest, out May 16, tackles cultural appropriation in the publishing industry and beyond when author June Hayward steals a manuscript from the recently deceased Athena Liu, an Asian American writer and college friend of Hayward. “Kuang provides a sharp analysis of publishing’s blind spots and guides the plot toward a thrilling faceoff between June and Athena’s ‘ghost,’” read a starred Publishers Weekly review. “This is not to be missed.” In this vein, also see Mithu Sanyal’s “Identitti.” Translated by Alta L. Price, the life of blogger and doctoral student Nivedita (aka Identitti) is upended when she discovers her favorite and awe-inspiring South Asian professor, Saraswati, is white.

Wow, I didn't know what to expect going into this book. I've loved everything I've read by R.F. Kuang but contemporary fiction isn't my typical genre and I literally couldn't care less about publishing. I'm one of those readers who has never had any interest in writing a book or getting published. If this were written by almost anyone else I probably wouldn't have even bothered picking it up. But it's so much more than what I thought. There's definitely a bit of a thrilling aspect to this book and it was so interesting to just read about our MC slowly becoming more and more unhinged. There's obviously really great commentary within this book as well especially about race within publishing. It is extremely frustrating to read and know that even though it's a work of fiction, a lot of it probably isn't entirely off base. I'd highly recommend picking this one up, even if you're like me and don't always enjoy contemporary books. This was fantastic and I couldn't put it down.

This book had me screaming. I also think I figured out some references from past and current dramas in the book world. I loved everything about this book. I've got a copy on order for the bookmobile and I'm going to tell my coworkers to buy and READ this book. I'll also be purchasing my own personal copy. R F Kuang is an amazing writer!

I am a fan of Kuang's previous work, and knew I would be reading Yellowface as soon as it was announced. Kuang successfully tries on new genres and voices with each project, and I am eager to see what comes next. Yellowface is realistic fiction, in which failing writer June Hayward witnesses the death of her wildly successful frenemy and decides to steal her latest manuscript. And publish it as her own. With a new vaguely asian name and ambiguous author photo.
Though many are calling this a satire, there are frighteningly few exaggerations here. Kuang plays, masterfully, with the idea that some (white) people simply do not know when to stop.

Once again, as in Babel, R. F. Kuang demonstrates her prowess at writing terrible-but-intriguing characters. The satire about the publishing industry and Book Twitter is clearly self-referential and is not subtle, but it doesn't need to be; I cackled at many of June's ludicrous, racist inner thoughts--which I won't quote here, since the book isn't published, but which I did highlight in my eARC--and watching her eventual self-destruction felt like observing a horrific event from which I couldn't turn away. There's a mysterious cyberbullying thread that genuinely horrified me in a way that I didn't expect.

The ending feels lazy and lackluster compared to the rest of the book, unfortunately, but I tore through this in one day because I abandoned the other books I have to finish this week...so, that should tell you something about how compelling it is, depending on your interests.

I am honestly baffled. I don’t know what I expected, but what I got was certainly Not That. After reading Babel and absolutely loving it, I had a level of confidence that Yellowface would also be an enticing read. Sad to say it didn’t turn out so. I Loved the premise of the book; it sounded absolutely amazing and I was excited to see Kuang bring it to life.

Instead of a gripping narrative exploring many sinister aspects of the publishing industry, Yellowface turned out to be an impressively unsubtle, lackluster story with a ridiculous emphasis on online book communities that are trying to be literary fiction and satire and failing at both.

Yellowface features all of R. F. Kuang’s writing weaknesses and somehow heightens them to a whole new level. While I enjoyed the lack of subtlety in themes in Babel(I genuinely believe they fit there and they are written beautifully), here it became downright unbearable. Kuang doesn’t give the reader a chance to ponder on anything, instead Yellowface, with a Very insistent and loud voice dictates what to think and how to react to the narrative. Relevant, interesting, and important ideas are brought up and discussed, but the narrative voice frames it all in such an in-your-face light that after about the tenth such occasion it gets really Really annoying.
Yellowface starts off promising, and it is incredibly easy to read. It is exciting, fun, and entertaining. It is grim and funny and absurd and that’s the appeal. The relationship between Athena and Juniper is fucked up and fascinating and so interesting to explore. I’d say the best parts of the novel are the ones concentrating on their dynamic. Unfortunately, as the first act of the novel ends, the narrative goes downhill fast.

My biggest problem with this novel is its second act. It could literally be renamed Book Twitter Discourse: the Book. A huge chunk of the book is just the protagonist recounting how Book Twitter is reacting to the drama around her book and it comes off as terminally online. Countless threads and hashtags and discourse and it takes up so much of the book I was genuinely questioning why is it even in the book. At some point, it feels like this book was an opportunity for the author to address every criticism her other books have received with a “well, actually!”. It irritated me immensely. I won’t go into detail here, since the publication of the book is still far away, but certain parts genuinely bother me the more I think about them.

On a very subjective note—I’m really not a fan of books packed with pop culture references. In my opinion, it dates the book greatly; and while I can forgive them when it comes to YA contemporary novels, this isn’t the case. Every other page is Filled with very specific references, which quickly started to irritate me.
This book isn’t subtle enough to be literary fiction and isn’t funny enough to be satire. Yellowface frustrated me immensely; throughout the reading process, I constantly had a question in my mind if I was missing something. I was neither compelled by any idea discussed in the book nor entertained for the vast majority of the novel. I’m still not certain what the goal of the author was, but it definitely didn’t work for me. Perhaps this book simply isn’t for me.

“But the living are burdened with bodies. They make shadows, footprints...only the dead can be so present.”

This passage struck me because Athena does permeate the pages and feels like a living breathing character, though her death occurs quickly within the narrative.

R.F. Kuang is coming for NECKS in this one, y’all. Juniper is a character I hated, loathed, and abhorred — which is the point. Juniper, a white woman, espouses so many different Asian stereotypes while being convinced of her own virtue, my head was spinning. (Her protest of “I voted for Biden!” Oh, please. I screamed.) she is racist, xenophobic, resentful of diverse voices, and despises being told not to write lived experiences other than her own. She balks at suggestion to get a sensitivity writer - which is prevalent among today’s white, cis, and heterosexual authors today. This book highlights the insincere inclusive rhetoric that veils the same racism, tokenism, and xenophobia in the publishing industry. With Yellowface, R.F. Kuang is saying the quiet part out loud.

Brilliant. Though there is no moral ambiguity for Juniper, she does not portray Athena in an altogether flattering light which i felt required a deft hand. The ambiguity and nuance for that character is handled beautifully. Justice for Athena.

This book is absolutely insane. I binge read the last two thirds of the book in one sitting! I was slow going with the beginning of the book but it very quickly picked up and took me for an absolutely wild ride.

I honestly can devour an unlikeable female main character - and this book nailed it. Everyone basically is terrible in this from racial insensitivities from the in world publishing industry, to the female MC to the ghost of the dead author they’re all utterly unlikeable (some more than others) and it’s all incredibly exciting.

The commentary on tokenism and who should be telling diverse stories is splattered all over the place and it’s fantastic. The strongest message for me was the one that wasn’t at the forefront of the narrative. Even amongst minority groups who’s allowed to tell the stories? What matters if you are by blood connected to certain groups if culturally you were never invested?

I personally enjoy books about the book industry it gives the general public a peek into a world we don’t know about and Kuang’s tellings about the conversations that happen behind closed doors feels raw and earnest. The descriptions of online mobs felt too real for comfort and flashes a mirror to the court of public opinion that often shoots first and asks questions later.

This book feels like the novel version of midsommar in that many people will walk away from this thinking “good for her” when in fact they have missed the entire point of the project. Female MC Juniper is deeply flawed and spends the whole book justifying herself and making the reader feel sympathetic for her struggles and it’s so good it almost gets you, but you have to remind yourself how crazy bonkers this all is and you snap out of your pity.

This book was fantastic and I’d strongly recommend to any bookish person I know. Solid 4.5 ⭐️ and I will be talking about this for AWHILE.

Thank you NetGalley/William Morrow for the E-ARC!

Sharp, darkly funny satire taking down the entirety of the publishing industry and our very online intelligentsia.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Thanks Netgalley for this DRC! Look man I really couldn’t put this down. It’s satire and social commentary, yeah, but it’s also just a really engaging story. This will be a popular book club choice, for sure. June’s inner monologue is painful and embarrassing to experience at times, which is clearly by design. R.F. Kuang is an exceptional writer and does a brilliant job keeping the pacing of the story while injecting commentary about racism and stereotyping in the publishing industry and the world at large. I couldn’t look away.