Finally, a book for the extremely online!!!

I read Yellowface in one evening with the same kind of manic masochism that comes from reading really good internet drama, the kind that is guaranteed to make you feel awful once you put the phone down. An absolutely addictive read to watch the rise and fall of our protagonist and the evolution of her jealousy into full deranged racist paranoia.

Girlies. This is a funny book. It made me laugh out loud. Truly a spot-on portrayal of internet Discourse and the never-ending rabbit burrows of information being withheld and lost and twisted. It’s so meta and on the nose and even self-referential to RFK’s other work. The blatant self-satirization and focus on the made up, realer-than-real world of literary twitter may seem self indulgent — and it is — but it is also so fucking funny. RFK has all the subtlety of a hammer but every single goddamn time it is so entertaining.

RFK’s protagonists love to spiral into abject misery and once again she has evoked that kind of close, emotional intimacy, dragging us into the head of her protagonist and spitting us out with a “hey that was SOOO fucked up huh?” Yes it was. Yes it was.

RFK’s critique of Whiteness, or maybe White Womaness, is scathing but also informed by illustrating that Juniper's vitriol has such a human element, and it is that human emotion that makes her development hatred so nasty. Because Juniper is an unreliable narrator, the emotional tangle of love, fear, and authorship between Juniper and Athena remains unsolved. We can’t ever really know how close Athena and Juniper were, if they really loved or hated one another, or if Juniper’s jealous fixation on Athena was something created all in her own head. RFK does a fantastic job of raising just enough doubt about Athena's own ethics on plagiarism and ownership to keep the reader "rooting" for Juniper — surely we can make it out with some consensus on who stole what from who?

Nope! Juniper disconnects from reality with layer upon layer of jealousy, insecurity, real grievance, money, race, and sheer obliviousness until it all builds up and Juniper goes fucking mad. The nuance has indeed made Juniper go insane because she’s rehashed Athena’s memory too many times, turned it into a villain of her own making. It's this perpetual uncertainty that elevates the story from on-the-nose satire into classic tragedy. Quite simply, Juniper never needed to do all that. The simple audacity of taking that manuscript in the first place. Insane white behavior, etc. It's that single thoughtless entitlement that dooms Juniper.

Yellowface tackles maybe the unique flavor of racism in ivy educated white liberal women, showing how bigotry can be so mundane and fucking deranged batshit at the same time. Juniper cast aside any and all of her political or moral persuasions in order to grab as much money and power as she can — to make herself feel good.

Anyway I loved the line re: Taylor Swift unwitting(?) Nazi mascot.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow!! This one is already everywhere and for great reason. It's extremely readable and propulsive (especially in the first half) yet still hits industry specifics about writing/publishing in a way that (IMO) both writers and non-writer readers will appreciate. This book is a great deep dive into professional jealousy, comparison to others, and writer rivalries. More importantly, it tackles appropriation, own voices, and plagiarism--whew! It's a great and smart read, and I'm certain everyone will be talking about this one when it's out.

I’m a little at a loss for words on this one. What is apparently going to be the most divisive book of 2023 has left me feeling kind of… middling. Maybe my expectations were too high after Babel was my favourite book of 2022, or maybe by expectations were too skewed after a complete genre shift from Poppy War. A lot of people have said that Kuang clearly had a hard time separating herself from her work, but I don’t spend any time on Twitter nor do I delve deep into the backgrounds of author’s lives, so I can’t comment on this. The bottom line for me is that where this book tried to be meta, it just made the reader sympathize with the MC (who is, unless I’m missing *the point*, the villain). And where it tried to be satirical, it was downright ridiculous. I thought I knew where the end was going (with a totally meta plot twist where the entire book itself is actually the final book Juniper writes, in order to address all her critics, of whom we don’t get to hear the final critiques or the outcome of the court of public opinion, because we are in fact just reading the book she wrote and not *a book*. Even trying to sentence that out felt too meta. But to me, it did seem like a clever way to conclude it). The conclusion, instead, went entirely left field, leaving no one to root for unless you want to root for the subtly racist, plagiarizing MC who you don’t know how to feel about anymore because you’ve just spent 300 pages completely inside of her head. The worst part is you’re more likely to root for the objectively terrible MC than you are for almost any of the Asian characters, who are also painted terribly. Long story short, I don’t know how to feel except that I know I’m supposed to feel something but I’m confused what that something is supposed to be. Is that how I’m supposed to feel? The only thing I know for sure is the publishing industry sucks — which is really poignant timing considering the publisher is literally facing a strike right now.

Short and simple review: literary obfuscation with no clear directive, but super engaging and easy to read.

I couldn’t put this book down!! Skipped meals, breaks and other urgent things to keep reading!! I did however call my daughter to tell her she should start reading Yellowface right away. A 5 star book where I learned so much inside scoop about the publishing world.

This book was totally entertaining. I read it in one day during a recent power outage and it was the perfect companion! I found myself hoping June/Juniper would be successful despite her deception, and watching her convince herself that her lies are true just made me hope she got away with it. even more.. The ending was a bit implausible, but played into her state of mind after years of getting away with her lies. This book also made me realize how important it is to the author to write reviews on ARCS. Great insight into the publishing world, if it was all true.

They say you should write the book that only you can write. Well, no one else but R.F. Kuang could have written YELLOWFACE. A brilliant and unflinching take on white perfomativity and publishing. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Kuang is one of the most important voices in publishing today.

I was gifted a digital edition of this book by Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review.

SUCH A GOOD BOOK! Overall, I would give it a 4.5/5. I devoured it in 24 hours because I couldn’t wait to know what happened next. It’s a bit didactic, but is not heavy handed. It covers so many topics like white supremacy, racism, privilege, and more in a way that’s really accessible for readers and lays out the facts clearly. It’s also just pure entertainment, with fantastic and (at times) shocking twists. Loved it.

I do wonder if the criticisms in the book are her own and if there’s any self inserting. It doesn’t take away from the plot at all, but I was curious as I was reading.

This is my first Kuang book, but definitely won’t be the last!

Wow. I don't think I've finished a book this fast since high school. It's one of those books you simply can't put down once you start. It's definitely divided away from RF Kuang's other works but I genuinely feel like no one else could have written this. It was such a scathing look at white fragility, white femininity, and white mediocrity while also being about the right to tell a story from specific perspectives. It also doesn't pull any punches against the publishing industry and it's insistence on being as racist as possible while trying to appear inclusive on the surface. It really paints a picture on the publishing world today and I hope it makes people uncomfortable. Really great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC.

This is a stressful read--at least for me--but also a compelling one, and I found myself yearning for June to lose everything while also feeling her terror at the possibility. The story is told in this very clinical, distant way, a sort of "this happened, and then this happened" style where it's impossible to get close to any particular character. I liked that about it, but I imagine it may alienate readers who have to connect with avatars within a story in order to enjoy it.

I did have some issues with the plot, though. The application of "Athena's ghost" as a device is super uneven; we see her at the book launch, and then never again until the end of the book. The climax at the very end descends into silly mainstream thriller territory, and it's a weird juxtaposition with the relatively quiet, indoor drama of the rest of the book.

I really enjoyed the first 80% of this book, even though the last 20% was too goofy for me. I don't know if folks outside of the book world/publishing-adjacent industries will find it interesting, but I liked the Jeanine-Cummins-meets-Bad-Art-Friend of it all, and I'm excited to hear what other people think when it comes out.

I adore Kuang's fantasy books and was thrilled to read something different by her. Unfortunately, I didn't love this. I still think Kuang is a genius (honestly I feel very unworthy leaving her writing anything other than an over-the-top in-love review), and there were some very funny/smart/sharp moments. However, as someone who works in the book world, perhaps this was a little too ripped-from-the-headlines for me, so I often didn't feel like I was reading anything novel. Also, perhaps it's because I read this all in one sitting (long plane read), but it felt repetitive. That being said, I am very excited to see the reception to this book when it comes out and listen to all the smart people talk about it. I think it's a great discussion book!

I dug this. Modern commentary on so many relevant topics today. I hated everyone in this, and usually that's a big turn off for me, but it didn't bother me here. The final third felt a little quick compared to the rest of the story and I'm still mulling over how I feel about the ending.

This book is absolutely sharp and pointed like a knife. I'm not sure if I'm quite the person to review it - I found the critique timely and effective, although I did think the pacing sagged a bit in the middle.

I loved Yellowface!
I found this to be a gripping narrative exploring the publishing industry and it's sinister underside. It is funny, and rather absurd and in some places a bit grim but wow, this is a great read. The self absorbed, dishonest, manipulative narrator of the story is deliciously deluded. I wanted to strangle her in one scene and felt myself pulling for her in another.

I could not put this story down, although the end was chaotic the character development was fantastic as even the minor characters have important back stories that make them three dimensional.

A totally fascinating inside look at the publishing business that I highly recommend.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Two words to describe this book: incendiary and maniacal. This literary thriller blew my socks off - I finished it in just a few days. With perfect pacing, and jaw-dropping twists and turns, I couldn't believe how the author stabbed just about everyone in the chest and then twisted the knife. Absolutely no one is spared: readers, publishers, editors, voyeuristic twitter book influencers, hell even Jenna's Book Club got a mention. Kuang has perfectly captured the toxic relationship that exists between authors and readers. Everyone is a villain in Yellowface; a perfect response to claim of moral superiority and clarity that seems omnipresent in the world of books and those who consume them.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

R.F. KUANG. This was absolutely unputdownable, I literally read it one sitting over dinner. There is nothing this woman cannot do, and I would like to redact from my brain the fact that she is younger than me.

This book is so interesting and layered and fascinating, and I definitely need to let it percolate in my brain a little bit. It's incisive and whip-smart and I saw one negative review saying this is a self-insert of R.F. Kuang and I'm like....and? That seems like a good thing to me, considering she is a fascinating and incredibly successful young author of colour CRUSHING it.

A must-read!!!

Whew, R.F. Kuang grabbed the publishing industry, book reviewer culture, Twitter discourse, and the literati by their throats and choked them all in here. I'm probably gonna need 100 years to full unpack this novel.

It feels pretty meta for me (or any of us) to write about a book that's centered on The Discourse. As such, it was interesting perusing some of the Very Online™ reviews of it, because they (often inadvertently) proved one of R.F. Kuang's main points: Just by being on a site like Goodreads or Netgalley and penning our missives, all of us are implicated in at least a few of the critiques posed by Yellowface to varying degrees. It's like a never-ending spiral on the virtues of and problems with reading and writing as well as being A Reader™ and A Writer™.

I honestly don't know where my thoughts are on this book. It was definetly a very fascinating and gripping read and as a bookseller I could definetly relate to those parts in the book and they genuinely made me laugh out loud. However I did feel like this book was the authors response to her own criticisms which is perfectly fine to write about but it did feel a little forced and heavyhanded at times. The ending was pretty dissatisfying and I was left feeling like something was missing but I did enjoy the morally grey characters and the criticisms posed on the publishing industry as a whole.

While I am extremely grateful to have received an ARC, I will be withholding my review until a fair contract agreement is made with the HarperCollins Union.

Full disclosure: I’ve included a rating because I can’t post this feedback without one. I just got approved and have not read this book yet.

Wow. I devoured this book in one day and I absolutely loved every second of it. As someone fascinated by the inner workings of the publishing world, Twitter take downs and Goodreads reviews, this book was so brilliant and relevant. The social commentary and pop culture references were spot on and I loved how they were perfectly weaved into her narrative. I think this will be one of my favorite books of 2023. Definitely one of the most fascinating and unexpected books I’ve read in quite some time. I can’t wait to read whatever R.F Kuang writes next. I loved Babel so much and this was wildly different. Her range is incredible! Thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy.

The voice in the novel was hard to discern from the writer’s own voice. Not what I wanted from an R.F. Kuang novel.