Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Yellowface Reviews

• 
  ✨ A ✨

  At this point I'd read Rebecca's grocery lists
  
  Release Date: 16 May 2023
• 
  Jananie (thisstoryaintover)

  haha i can't wait for this to come out and for y'all to lose your minds. if you had doubts about preordering, don't. you're going to want to read this one—satire at its f**king finest
• 
  ishika

  2.5/5
  
  i feel weird writing this review. for one, Yellowface isn’t out until next year. two, the book is very meta about twitter and book reviews—ratings on goodreads even make up several important plot points. i feel like me and the book are engaging in some inside joke.
  
  i’ve decided not to include any quotes from the book and talk in general terms with minor details to avoid spoilers (not anything that’s not in the premise, anyway), but i’m still talking about how i felt about different parts of the book, including the middle and end, even though I won’t be talking about what happens in them. so if you want to go in blind, beware. i know this runs the risk of me describing something one way, but then you going and reading it and interpreting a different way, but until it actually comes out and i can drop the ‘extended’ (and hopefully more sophisticated) review, this will have to do.
  
  yellowface is meant to be drama and dark satire. it’s honestly a bit hilariously grim and grimly hilarious to anyone who’s ever needed to close booktwt and touch grass, but also interesting to anyone moderately familiar with books, writing or publishing. the prose isn’t babel, where i was stopping every page to savour the writing style, but it is fast-paced and fairly easy to get through. and i’m kind of torn about yellowface, but the worst part is that i can’t figure out whether it’s in a “this didn't work for me, personally” way, or a more objective “this is a Critique” way.
  
  my problem with yellowface comes down to the fact that i cannot separate the narrative voice from rfk’s voice at all. a lot of the experiences of a certain character lines up very much with what i know is rfk’s own, and that is on purpose and not necessarily bad—she’s an author who’s always been very open about putting a lot of herself into her books and it’s one of the things that can add to their emotional depth. however, when the characters start to receive criticisms that are very similar to criticisms rfk has faced, but represented somewhat flatly, i cock my head a bit. see: problematic representation of Taiwanese indigenous people (a criticism in isolation that depnding on the book may be valid, but in yellowface is shown to be made by people who are just jealous of the author and don’t actually know what they’re talking about), privately-educated, rich western diaspora writing about traumatic histories of working classes from the homelands they’ve only visited a few times (a criticism in isolation that depending on the author may be valid, but in yellowface is made from the perspective of the racist white woman using it to justify her horrible actions), etc.
  
  this may not bother other readers, but i can’t help but side-eye it. she gets around it by having these criticisms be made by mouthpieces—that’s another thing about yellowface, by the way. so many mouthpieces. i don’t think this is a book where readers will get very attached to the characters, not just because the mc is an unreliable narrator, but because yellowface is more of a book where characters are tools that represent different things and perspectives and are meant to be grimly watched, observed and laughed at from above. which is mostly fun, until you start to distinguish between rfk’s mouthpieces a bit: which ones she represents more flatly and more caricatured, and the one she gives more nuanced paragraphs to, from under which i think I can make out the haze of her opinions. and i’m not sure if i’m fond of them all the time.
  
  as always, it’s certainly interesting, but the middle of the book is basically all twitter discourse. it had me wondering if i could just scroll through my timeline and get the same experience instead. it’s veryyy meta—sometimes in a fun way, sometimes obnoxious. maybe it’s too ‘high concept’ for me, sorry, or maybe it's heavy-handed. and it makes my job writing this difficult, because how much can i attribute to the unreliable narrator, satirical style or rfk herself? where does one end and the other begin, if they do so at all?
  
  (which was a big thing that irked me with tpw. people would make criticisms of rfk's narrative choices and plot points and the response would be ‘well, rin is an unreliable narrator!’ yes, but there is such thing as framing and context which are important things to consider when trying to figure out what an author actually is saying, intentionally or not. but anyways.)
  
  speaking of slightly more well-written unreliable narrators, juniper song is… a character. more of an awful ball of jealous, racist, liberal misery who you get to follow the very entertaining downward spiral of throughout the book than a person. at least, when she's not hindered by rfk's blunt writing style striking her on the head. the commentary and discussion yellowface wants to have about publishing and racism is genuinely interesting and important, but I enjoyed yellowface most when it doing less back-and-forth with its own themes and more about the fucked up relationship between athena liu and juniper song/june hayward/athena liu. ie, when it was more about actual people than rfk's comemntary. despite athena dying at the very start of the story, she haunts the narrative, sometimes through flashbacks, sometimes through other people’s experiences, sometimes literally. and the narrative is juniper. i love me a good fucked up friendship/rivalry/impersonation?/whatever the fuck this is. whenever it had the spotlight, i couldn’t put yellowface down.
  
  which is why i was really loving the third act, in which a lot of my criticisms seemed to fall away and the mess of the premise was really coming to a head. i was reading it late at night and, even though it’s not a horror, i got actually creeped out by several parts. to be honest, if yellowface had stuck the landing, it could have been four stars.
  
  and that’s my final problem with yellowface. it has a decent plot, interesting cast of characters, interesting themes and discussions, but my only feeling on the ending was, ‘…that’s it?’ i know i said i wouldn’t do quotes, but im making an exception for the bit where our narrator says, ‘I’ve written myself into a corner. The first two thirds of the book were a breeze to compose, but what do i do with the ending? Where do I leave my protagonist, now that there’s no clear resolution?’ Which is very meta, because based off the ending, i feel that’s the position rfk was in at that exact point. i can somewhat tell she struggled with where to take the ending and i have more thoughts on why i felt underwhelmed by it, but i guess that’ll be for 2023, for when it's no doubt on all the 'Very Important Books of the Year' lists. for now, i can see myself rereading babel and parts of tpw, but i don’t see myself rereading yellowface.
  
  trigger warnings for this book: racism, c slur, suicidal ideation, sexual assault
• 
  idiomatic

  lmao.
  
  the frustration, as always, is that rf kuang is an intelligent and steady-handed writer. she is ahead of many of her peers in craft as much as sales: she writes a page-turner, she crafts a strong perspective, she is horror-writer good at making the reader feel gut-churning revulsion (whether or not she earns the strong emotion she likes to pull out is another question), and in this book she's capable of being funny. like here's a perfect paragraph, in which our pernicious white heroine works with her editor to chop and change the manuscript she stole:
  
  

  The hardest part is keeping track of all the characters. We change almost a dozen names to reduce confusion. Two different characters have the last name Zhang, and four have the last name Li. Athena differentiates them by giving them different first names, which she only occasionally uses, and other names that I assume are nicknames (A Geng, A Zhu; unless A is a last name and I’m missing something), or Da Liu and Xiao Liu, which throws me for a loop because I thought Liu was a last name, so what are Da and Xiao doing there? Why are so many of the female characters named Xiao as well? And if they’re family names, does that mean everyone is related? Is this a novel about incest? But the easy fix is to give them all distinct monikers, and I spend hours scrolling through pages on Chinese history and baby name sites to find names that will be culturally appropriate.

  
  
  like it's absolutely executing all of its tricks as it should: the blinkers of a close first person perspective, the legible different reality underneath. it's not subtle but when done in satire it's not AS hamhanded as kuang's dramatic instincts, per other books. readers who know chinese will scream, readers who don't will still feel their brain itch. the authorial hand is capable.
  
  the author is capable... of more than she writes. the problem with kuang is that, despite a reputation for in-depth research, she refuses to interrogate beyond her scope. in previous books that meant that the sense of history was strong and the rest of the work of writing fiction—character work, plot, tone, anything reliant on the imagination—was comparatively weak. here there's no research to hold it up, just kuang's own posting habits and career success. the step down from jstor to twitter is a violent stumble.
  
  kuang is an accomplished academic but a deeply incurious writer. that is on sharp display here, in a book that is meant to depict success and failure in the literary-commercial circuit—something that kuang knows little about. kuang is a genre writer who achieved crossover commercial success after blowing up on tiktok. her debut was promising and lauded but not uniquely vaunted; she received genre award noms (not wins) but her books blew up on tiktok after the fact and she launched an incredibly successful book this year in the genre space, off the back of her tiktok fame. everything she knows about succeeding she knows about inside her particular bubble, and also, because she has been succeeding since she was an undergrad baby, has been told—and genuinely believes—that she has hit the summit of success. this leaves her totally inequipped to write about what literary success looks like when engineered by the house. r.f. kuang has no belief that there is a form of publishing greatness beyond that which has been bestowed upon r.f. kuang, and a wilful desire not to google further.
  
  the 'publishing details' on display are... well, they all exist IN publishing, curate a FORM of commercial success, and are familiar to kuang, but they don't match the book as described here (a lit-commercial wwii doorstopper, written by a chinese-american author and butchered into commercial sentimentality by a white author and editor, think the bulletproof success of american dirt even in the thick of its cancellation). mainstream literary successes don't come up through pitchwars. mainstream commercial novels don't come up in most book box deals because there is a form of literary success that is not reliant on superfans buying multiple copies apiece. there's a part where our heroine lists the major american literary awards her major literary-commercial war novel is up for and starts with: the goodreads choice awards. posting FROM this bad website: please be serious. it's fitting that the cover looks more like a designed arc than like a book.
  
  there's a note in the babel prologue that i think about all the time with kuang's work, where she says that she was so dazzled by the sight of an oyster tower at a particular oxford party that she put it in the book even though oysters in victorian england were trash food for peasants—she didn't want to capture the dazzle or the waste so much as she wanted to write down her experience beat for beat, and could not conceive of an emotional reality that she did not personally live. this is an oyster tower book. this is embarrassing and technically inaccurate mimesis all the way down, solely interested in kuang's own interests. wow your heroines live in dc? and you lived in dc? they met at yale? you go to yale? omigod rebecca that's so crazy. there was a shorthand term back in the sporking days (i know, i hate my withered hag fingers for typing this too) on LIVEJOURNAL (HAG FINGERS) called 'pepper jack cheese' that was like "hermione ate a sandwich with pepper jack cheese (a/n: that's my favorite cheese!)", the phenomenon where the author would gigglingly and obviously insert a few of their real-life favorite things into the story. kuang's pepper jack cheese is whistlepig whiskey, name-dropped bafflingly twice as a signifier for the nicest possible whiskey, and also every single detail.
  
  it is like. skin-crawlingly secondhand embarrassing to watch an author write their own life beat for beat and also be like 'everyone hated her because she was TOO pretty and TOO smart'. every critique that has ever been leveled against kuang goes into the mouth of her proxy's haters, including the pernicious and grasping white heroine. the belief that her haters are racist comes in a distant second to the belief that her haters are jealous—of her success, of her telegenic prettiness, of her comfortable life. maybe baby but look at the material: there's room for improvement. it is disappointing to watch someone technically skilled grind their intellectual curiosity down to a nub via posting and self-obsession, and it's humiliating to watch an oxbridge-ivy phd student say 'talk to the hand! and DON'T tell me to log off' for three hundo pages. is this the best she can do? does SHE think this is the best she can do? i'm worried that she does.
• 
  Hilly

  HOLY SHIT.
  I bet any other author could have tried with a premise like this and would have inevitably failed. No one writes morally grey like R.F. Kuang and I'm saying this because my anxiety skyrocketed the more I read + I'm still haunted by these characters days later. It basically was like a trainwreck from beginning to end, where you know things are only getting worse but you're still so weirdly fascinated with it you can't stop looking.
  
  I'm positive I've never read something so meta in my entire life. This one is for the publishing industry nerds, and honestly I foresee this being very difficult to market outside of such a niche community. It was so in-depth into the industry it made my heart sing and despare at the same time (as a publishing post-graduate first and then as a compulsive reader part of the online community). It managed to highlight a slew of things that make publishing not such a great place to be at in very few pages and I'm amazed. To me this book kind of felt like a very long article but with twists and turns. Now I know why they released arcs so early (looking at you, HarperCollins 👀). Book twitter will have a field day with this one...
  
  What a choice to have the main narrative voice be the plagiarizer (and in first person at that). Both Athena and June are awful people, and I love that neither of them is a saint, but reading the entire thing from June's pov? Insane. She's a frustrating character, not gonna lie, but she's also deliciously realistic as a two-faced, self-absorbed and dishonest manipulator that always has an excuse ready. She goes out of her way to say to the reader that she wants to do something for poc every chance she gets, but the reality is that she's a bitch trying to profit from it all in an industry that lets her do it. Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's not too difficult to miss her slipping into a plain wrong mentality and lol, basic whiteness. You think you're safe as the external reader? Not a chance. I'm not proud to say I fell straight into R.F. Kuang's trap, because was I seriously rooting for such a cheater the entire time? This book brainwashed me into supporting someone who stole a whole manuscript immediately after witnessing the author's death and reaching stardom by publishing it as her own. I got to the point where I was scared she was going to get caught and hoped she would get out of it unscathed. My brain ignored all the red flags and procedeed to scam me until the very end. I mean, of course I ended up wishing she would kill someone to shut them up. Of course I got second-hand anxiety from her messing up with her publishing team and at her events. Of course I cared about her mental health. Am I okay or what? Is it time for me to get theraphy too?
  
  On the other hand, Athena is harder to grasp. You really need to have the whole picture with her, which you only get by reading the book till the end. I loved the way RFK slowly built her character. You only read about her from June's perpective when she's already dead and still she comes through as the main character, not less because June is literally obsessed with her. Well-written toxic friendships are my bread and butter and the one in here was one of my favorites. The way it was dealt with: nothing less of spectacular. I found June's morality to be the most interesting aspect of this book, but the relationship between her and Athena comes in second for sure.
  
  Much care went into the secondary characters too. Even when they only fully appeared once or twice, they always had a well-rounded story behind them. I can apply that specifically to the publishing team and Geoff. From that last one it's again apparent and so on-the-nose how me and RFK's morally grey characters just work together. What can I say? I'm fascinated with them. Geoff reminded me of so many white male authors on twitter but he just had a pull. I loved that he was so pathetic, that I never knew what he was going to do and then, when I least expected it and as naturally as possible, he showed a completely different side to himself.
  
  There are a couple of things I didn't completely enjoy, mainly the pop culture references (way too many, half of them were necessary, the others not so much), and the ending. Overall the ending itself wasn't bad, I loved how it wrapped up, but that final showdown bordered on cartoonish and because of that it was hard to take it seriously. I also feel like the final chapter is missing, although I understand what this novel is actually supposed to be (have I said meta already?).
  
  In conclusion, an amazing foray into general fiction by R.F. Kuang. I swear this woman can do no wrong. Give her whatever topic to write about and I bet she can create something incredible out of the most boring premise. I think it's impressive how she took these modern controversies and wrote them into a twisty unputdownable story. It seems to me like it's a new experiment from her but at the same time a really smart jab at publishing too.
  I wouldn't say it's a perfect book and I'm unsure if I would reread it like The Poppy War trilogy; however I can't exclude it won't live in my mind rent free as I still catch myself heavily thinking about it.
• 
  ash

  i'm being generous already when i say that it is OK, because i personally do not like these kinds of books. while i appreciate the social commentary and the look inside the publishing industry, i found the tone and execution quite heavy-handed.
  
  it's certainly well-written, but personally i didn't like the writing style or the narrative voice. i know rfk intended the characters to be unlikeable, but i did not root for them at any point of the book. i was irritated most of the time, so i can't really say that i enjoyed reading this. i've read my fair share of books peopled with unlikeable characters, but this one here is just unbearable and repetitive. it got so boring the last third of the book that i had to take a nap before continuing.
  
  i think my main problem is that the author's personal voice bleeds through the text and does not give the reader much room to think. rfk frames the story in a way that clearly shows the readers what she thinks and, in a way, she's telling us what to think. in tpw i excused it as a debut author's mistake, while in babel i found her passion about the themes charming— but here in yellowface i realize that rfk is unfortunately incapable of separating her own voice from the text, which is very grating to my brain. i won't get into the specifics, but it's just SO irritating to read. it's satirical and supposed to be "darkly funny" but i guess i just did not understand the jokes (wherever they may be). i also think that i would have appreciated the book more had it cut back on the pop culture references (which i do not think will age well btw). i would have liked this more had it been written with more finesse and subtlety.
  
  anyway, i don't think rfk is cut out to write in this genre.
  
  ARC received in exchange for an honest review
• 
  emma

  this book is already polarizing and its release date is 6 months away. so yeah i want to read it
• 
  Ana

  I will be honest up front: this review is entirely plagiarized.
  
  Was I not meant to admit that? Should I have, instead, gone on long, rambling, and yet tersely flat paragraphs about how ironic it is that I am negatively critiquing a book about plagiarism by using the same points as everyone else? Should I call this satire—granted that there is nothing humorous and that I am not particularly strongly exaggerating anything—as I amateurly write prose so unabashedly written in my own voice that it would be impossible to separate any idea from my own? Because that appears to be the direction this book has gone in.
  
  I am not the first to say that this reads like RFK's notes app consciousness, nor will I be the last. While I will not get into specifics, as this is an incredibly early copy of the book, I will say that anyone who even remotely knows anything about the author will see the similarities between them and...certain things. Now, I have no issue with an author writing from experience. 'Write what you know' is both an incredibly popular and successful piece of advice given to wannabee-writers. But fuck, at some point one has to wonder about the motivation behind it.
  
  Simply put, because there is no other way to put it, this book felt like a circle-jerk. I should have expected such a thing from a 'satire' on the publishing industry written by a prominent figure within it. It is typical—of course they will ridicule things like social media and how the masses view them. Of course they will glower at criticisms and mock fellow authors. Is that not the purpose of satire? But this feels like so much more than that. Instead, I feel as if RFK is speaking to me in a jest. Like she is pointing toward the book community, head cocked to the side, cheekily winking in our shared knowledge of their ridiculousness. Her eyes say, look at them—look at their silliness and their worries and their jealousy. See how they behave like animals, that group of people outside of our circle. Like she'll laugh right after, content in her knowledge that she lives in an absurd space, and that only we understand its absurdity.
  
  My first tip-off—no, not my first, though perhaps the most obscene—is how she uses our untrustworthy protagonist. RFK is, without a doubt, excellent at writing bad people. I have never argued against this, and I rather think I never will. But in this way, I feel almost uncomfortable when her unlikable characters serve the role of real people. She mocks criticism she has received in the past for her very real, non-fictitious books, through these characters. It feels, once again, like a terrible inside joke I have been privy to. As if the reader is meant to read these and think, these ridiculous characters! To say such things as this! And yet when one is aware of the author's actual past, it becomes...awkward. That is, she is not an author of subtlety. The satire could not work because it was not sufficiently...anything! I did not find it funny, nor was it so exaggerated as to be comical.
  
  The writing in general did not work for me. Babel, for all of its long-winded sentences and unending paragraphs of description, felt like a declaration of loyalty to words. This book, instead, felt like it was made by someone who could not care less for such things. This is, I understand, literary fiction. RFK has gone out of her normal bubble of fantasy to try something new, and I truly commend her for it. But I must question if this is the right genre for her. She is blunt and uncouth, neither of which are particularly bad—nor do I even dislike it—but which are painfully obvious throughout this. I felt like I was reading one of those High School creative writing class exercises (something which I actually do on a daily basis) where the young, inexperienced creator feels the need to say things like "but you'll never guess what happens next" and "this is something that'll come up later" in their first point of view narrative as if the reader is not skillful enough to gradually realize such things later on. Its modernist setting equally paid a part in this. There are only so many times you can name-drop an author or celebrity or, God-be-damned, fucking Harry Potter before realizing you have written something that will age at the speed of milk. No, the narration did not work for me, nor did I think that any of it ultimately paid off in its strange and wholly random ending I can only describe as, "really?"
  
  I struggle to find the words to end this. I'm afraid I have run out of other people's thoughts to steal as I reword them into my own. This book felt like the worst possible self-awareness. The type shared over grins and knowing smiles, wherein both parties are partaking in the mockery of a group of people they think themselves entirely separated from. This is a book that both ridicules authors while falling to its knees, proclaiming its undying devotion to them. Funny enough, I praised Babel for a much similar sentiment. But where in that book I enjoyed the constant switch between criticizing the power and history of words to being mesmerized over them, Yellowface felt more like a sledgehammer. Love me, it says like I love you—all of us—the sophisticated and knowledgeable professionals. Those of us who do not care for the social media mob, for we are above it. Those of us willfully scornful of such things, for if we pretend to each other long enough that we are all on the same page against the absurdist, laughable masses, we might start to believe it.
  
  arc received for an honest review
• 
  anna

  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’s trying to be litfic 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 litfic 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.
  
  arc received in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  CC

  I'm intrigued by the existence of this book.
  The Poppy War managed to offend me--I found it ironic that a Chinese-American author would decide to write a book that is so clearly intended for a western audience, that makes Chinese readers (like me) feel marginalized with all our history and cultural references being used so lazily and cheaply. But here's a book touching on almost that precise topic? I might actually be interested.
• 
  richa

  What would you steal for successes:
  
  her face?
  
  her name?
  
  her skin?
  
  Athena Liu is a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody.
  
  Who wants stories by basic white girls anyway?
  
  But now Athena is dead. And June has her unfinished manuscript…
  
  When I started this book I had no knowledge of how anxiety ridden, edge of the seat, modern and meta it will be. It's strange to see the author who I admire talk about BTS, Untamed, Twitter and Tiktok in a single book. A thriller masked as a literary fiction, this book seems like a social commentary on the world of authors and the writing industry. This book brings the readers, publishers, authors, struggling writers and reviewers together and collectively observes them.
  It made me very reminiscent of Stargazer by Laurie Petrou where we can see how envy in young girls can take an ugly form, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - someone's past haunting your future and keeping you in the wake of it and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid- how social media can play a big part in making or breaking someone's life. Adding in the vast expanse of the publishing world- i had no idea it was such a hectic world and the importance of good literary agents.
  
  I still feel like this was an experiment conducted by RFK to observe our reactions on this. She is probably sitting in her cozy chair observing the reviewers leaving their tiny yellow starred reviews on Goodreads and reading them. So different from her previous works which were heavily fantasy based.
  
  Right off the bat I HATED Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu; such snobby, privileged, entitled, frustrating and flawed characters that star as the main leads. Athena is a successful author and Juniper is a struggling author trying to make her ends meet. An opportunity strikes when Juniper decides to make her friend's work as hers. It's a great idea especially since Athena is no where around and doesn't really have that many people. This leads to a crazy journey with a mountain of lies, betrayals and crime (not on the paper, ofcourse 😉).
  
  A book that was a window into the world of authors. I had assumed that as an author writing takes up most of their works but I realised it go beyond- cultural background, social media presence, promotions, hashtag worlds, critics and agencies. All in all, I have a newfound respect for authors after this.
  
  It's been two days since I finished and this book still pops up in my mind when I'm on twitter or scrolling through my insta feed. Thinking about it, makes me panic for Juniper. She set up her own trap and she just couldn't stop herself from being her own worst enemy. I empathise with her but goddamn she was sooo frustarting to read. I had various instances where she would be being her despicable self and had to stop myself from rolling my eyes and exclaiming “stop crying and work, girl”. Athena is another case, but I would refrain before I spill anything spoiler-ish.
  
  Overall, I think this is a 4 or 4.2 ✨ for me. A short thriller/lit fic that one can read in few sittings.
  
  Thank you to Netgalley, HarperCollins UK and HarperFiction for the arc.
  
  ////
  
  Brilliant and relevant in the current times. Kuang proves she is here to stay- be it writing literary fiction, historical fiction or fantasy.
  
  ////
  Take all my money, Kuang. 💰💳 I will read anything written by her.
• 
  lisa (lewis hamilton's version)

  the way i have seen about three east asian reviewers on social media getting ARCs of this when it is literally about the erasure of east asians in history like ????
• 
  Ashleigh (a frolic through fiction)

  I received an early copy of this book via NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of the book.
  
  This is...an interesting one. I'm in two minds about it.
  
  Yellowface is unlike any of R.F. Kuang's previous books, and I think it's important for established fans to know that going in. Where Kuang's previous books are known for their intensity, Yellowface is a book that reads incredibly contemporary in comparison, with an easy writing style and clear satirical take on modern conversations. This is a book taking us on a tour of all that can be deemed problematic in the publishing world as well as the online book community, designed to be read in one sitting and received like a drama-spill session.
  
  In many ways - especially as an online book reviewer myself - it was satisfying to see all laid bare. The topic of cancel culture is always one that seems fraught, and Kuang effortlessly navigates the racism arguments and their reception in the industry. Many will find it interesting to see just how much is at stake when it comes to social media and its effect on the industry, and it's sure to have people wondering if this is a positive or negative thing.
  
  As entertainment however, it took me awhile to read this one purely for how tiresome it felt to be in Juniper's head during it all. The plot cycled through circles of the same issue in various forms, three or four times in the space of a few hundred pages. While I can understand the urge to show it as a relentless cycle of events, it almost felt blasé to rattle through said events without much insight into June's emotions and thoughts. Maybe it was just not the aim of this book with all its satire, but after knowing Kuang is capable of portraying an intensity of emotion and not seeing that translate across to this book...I was kind of disappointed. It was hard to get behind Juniper's mindset through it all.
  
  I think many will love this one for its short, snappy look through the perils of twitter discourse and the publishing industry. Personally it felt tiresome - though maybe that's the point? Either way, I'd warn established fans to adjust their expectations somewhat, as this is unlike anything Kuang has published before.
• 
  Monte Price

  
  If you need to hear a person tell you to have this preordered, here's the vlog for you.
  
  At this point in my life it feels a little risky to have anticipated reads, it can feel like I'm setting myself up for the universe to play some sort of cruel joke on me. But this, happily, did not disappoint.
  
  As this book doesn't come out for months going into my usual spiel about the things in the narrative versus what didn't already feels like a little much; particularly when the pitch of the book seemingly already gives away much of what a book a little over 300 pages can tell. So yes, Juniper tries to pass off this book as her own, and if you knew that before good and if you didn't, I think that's all you really need to know.
  
  I would parrot that this book is compulsively readable in a fascinating way. It's joining a growing number of books I've read like this; books that could easily be used to in a classroom setting where you're eager to rip into the text and engage with Juniper's motivation while also being the perfect book to sit poolside and sip your beverage of choice as Junipers mind takes you on a journey you won't soon forget.
  
  It's a story about the lies people tell to rationalize their own behaviors, the myths they construct around themselves to be able to move through the world, and what a woman is willing to do to reinvent herself in her own eyes. It's a fascinating read, one that will stick with the reader. Honestly, as a contemporary girlie this book is a little special because it's a contemporary from Kuang, so I'm got to eat extra good in the reading experience of this one.
  
  
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• 
  Althea ☾

  i’ve been waiting for more than a year and i’m hyped they finally started promoting for this
  
  If it’s Kuang, I’m already interested
• 
  ash ✩‧₊˚

  on my knees for anything rf kuang writes <3
  
• 
  elhyza

  2.5☆ — i have so many thoughts i don't even know where to start to place them on this one and given that this was a very early advanced copy so rating may change. the themes kuang was able to highlight were so exacting, one being with the treatment asian americans, bipoc, and minorities get from the publishing industry on the expectations to pander to the 'american' audience and to sell their trauma stories. this being said, kuang is able to put into words how wrong it is for white authors to write bipoc history and culture especially the fact that they make profit from the history and trauma that is not their own or have a personal connection to. another general one in particular being how so many individuals, not just in the publishing industry, but in this workforce society have to give up something of who they are to cater to their job to put food on their table.
  
  june hayward made me angry like i've never been before when it comes to a character on paper, her entire existence summed up the white privilege in the industry which made it more horrible to see the things she did to sell her book on real traumatic history of chinese during the wars. her self-victimizing and absorbed behavior made it all the more seething with all her woe is me. athena liu, it was intriguing how kuang characterized her with other characters' thoughts on her flaws too that's all i can say for now. the entire dynamic and june and athena's character arcs had me hooked in honestly, turning the page needing to know what was to happen.
  
  in regards to the writing of this story, it seems too familiar for readers who know rfk's own stories and her social media voice that we can see similarities with her own stories lining up with some characters and how aapi are treated in the industry. like one can see the muddy thoughts at points through the story when it feels like its rfk's personal voice projected onto characters. another thing, in my own personal feelings i think not all may be able to get the satire completely. i mean yes it easy to comprehend but there's something about if one is either in publishing or deeply involved in online book spaces where there's constant reader and author discourse, then one will be able understand to another extent the overall inside joke of topics this book covers. i do have to say being a reader who avidly loves the poppy war trilogy and recently read babel, the writing in this work was a huge contrast to those fantasy works, something i never expected or was used to from kuang it all just comes down to a matter of personal preferences.
  i still feel like i have some things to cover so more thoughts to come when its closer to release date possibly.
  
  Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an copy in advance in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  maggie (rin’s version)

  words cannot describe my excitement for this book🫶
• 
  Zoulfa Katouh

  from the first few sentences, i knew this book was going to be a five-star read for me.
  
  i think, at least for me, that this book will be appreciated more by people in publishing than those who aren't. i think those on the outside will get a glimpse of the beast that is publishing. everything she wrote, i felt. there were no punches pulled.
  
  i finished it at 2 a.m (haven't done that in ages) and i lay in bed with my thoughts that just became more and more thoughts and when i dreamt, it was about this book.
  
  rebecca's range is unparalleled from the poppy war to babel and now this and hopefully, in the future the story of the rivals who go to literal hell for a grade or something? man, am i glad that i am not two years old and therefore would not be able to read her stories because i am two years old and can't read.
• 
  Bilqees

  My sincerest thanks to NetGalley, HarperFiction, HarperCollins UK, and The Borough Press for a copy of Yellowface in exchange for an honest review!
  
  Updated from 3.5 to 4 stars, because I was being a wee bit too harsh.
  
  It feels very strange writing this review, I won’t lie. In a book that continuously mocks and pokes fun at book reviewers and the discourse surrounding new books, I’m pretty sure RF Kuang is actively expecting reviews that sound exactly like this one to start circulating. But, I digress. Yellowface was great but incredibly… strange.
  
  Yellowface by RF Kuang is about Juniper Hayward who’s a white author whose debut novel has flopped. June secretly believes that the reason she isn’t successful as an author is because she’s a “basic white girl”, and that the success of her POC counterparts is due to their marketable “diversity” in the publishing industry. She’s incredibly jealous of Athena Liu, her Chinese author friend from Yale who’s globally renowned as a writing prodigy and who’s incredibly successful, who’s just “perfect”. Athena dies in a silly freak accident one night and Juniper steals her unfinished manuscript and publishes it as her own book under a pseudonym. What happens for the rest of the novel is the psychological and social fall-out from this plagiarism for June as a writer.
  
  Let’s begin with all the conventional positive comments I can make about the story and the writing. The prose is breathless and just flows seamlessly– it will be quite easy for readers to devour this book in a day. The narrative voice of our main character Juniper Hayward, Iced Latte With an Extra Pump of Caramel Pinterest White Girl Extraordinaire, is easy to just eat up. This novel completely foregoes to dense and layered writing of Kuang’s Babel for this story to read like a mere internal monologue, which is super effective.
  
  This story is also ultimately necessary: it examines the whiteness of the Western publishing industry, the tokenization of marginalized writers, and the profiting of white people off the hard work of people of colour. The story takes a deep dive into the publishing process and the role of the media and discourse in our contemporary perceptions of authors and their bestsellers. We’re also given a villain protagonist that readers will love to hate– June is intensely relatable and her characterization feels natural. The plot is also linear and grounded in our times - none of the ambitious storytelling techniques we associate with Kuang from The Poppy War or Babel. When the typos (there were so, so many of them in this ARC) are corrected, I anticipate this book will generally bode well with readers. Yellowface is sarcastic and trendy and just very readable for all audiences– it’s not “too academic” like Babel and not “gruesome and heartbreaking” like The Poppy War. The novel does a great job of unveiling how publishing is quite literally whitewashed, how POC are stolen from and are naturally disadvantaged in the writing world, and how far white tears can take you in America’s publishing industry.
  
  My issue with this novel, and the reason I took out some stars when others may very well give this book 5 stars, is to do with some of the artistic choices that Kuang makes. That is, this book is perhaps entirely just RF Kuang projecting herself onto the story. The wronged East Asian author whose work is stolen by Juniper, Athena Liu, is undoubtedly RF Kuang’s very transparent self-insert. In fact, the book is borderline uncomfortable because it feels, even if it’s not, it feels as if RF Kuang cannot separate herself and her own experiences, background, and personality from that of Athena. In an insanely political book where the main internal justifications for Juniper’s plagiarism of Athena are based on the real-life criticisms that we readers may have of Kuang and of her works, Yellowface feels like an exercise in self-victimization.
  
  The story airs out all of the grievances that many readers have with Kuang or her current works but puts them in the mouth of the villain whose downfall we’re praying on. In essence, Kuang is bulletproofing herself against any criticisms by putting these opinions in the mind of a morally despicable (and talentless) main character. Let’s see if this rings a bell: an Asian American writer who’s been privately educated in prestigious institutions her entire life, who wrote her first novel after finishing her undergraduate degree then jumped straight into fully-funded master’s degrees, who writes scenes that are ball-by-ball remakes of actual historical accounts (looking at Golyn Niis here), who writes grand war epics and militaristic history books, and who is often criticized for speaking over mainland Chinese persons. An author who writes radical stories that show marginalized rage, who straddles the line between speculative and commercial fiction (looking at Babel here), gets criticized for sounding too academic and self-righteous and making her white characters the villain all the time, and who rolls in a tight-knit circle that comprises other successful authors. Her favorite book is The Idiot by Elif Batuman, her typical narrative voice can sound sanctimonious or vaguely like a history textbook (see: Babel). I’m talking about the main character of Yellowface, Athena Liu. But if you know anything about RF Kuang, you’d realize this is exactly the image we have of her own life.
  
  In a book that’s supposed to be social commentary and satirical political discourse, I find that the self-insert character of Athena misses the mark. The story reads as way too personal to be refined, way too close to home to be proper literary fiction. I mean, self-insert characters are FINE; they’re nothing new. Heck, Oscar Wilde did it. But this book does itself a disservice when the main themes being covered are author plagiarism and cancel culture and… the role of Twitter discourse in publishing (and there is so much Twitter slang and so many pop culture references in here, I’m quite concerned as to how the language in this novel will be perceived in five years). The subtext of Yellowface is saying “Hah, you readers! You thought you had me there! But know that I’m always two steps ahead!” I can’t take it seriously when the book feels like a personal very gripe with the publishing industry more than a work of literature.
  
  So overall, an excellent read, sure. But if you know anything about Kuang, this novel may come across as whiny in some parts, as bitter at other times. This book is even less subtle than Babel. It’s way too loud and in the “opening a TikTok in the subway without headphones” kinda way. Kuang herself is rooted in every word of Yellowface, but this time, I don’t think that was necessarily a good choice.
• 
  Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer

  The novel is told in a rather breathless present tense first person by June Hayward (named by her hippy mother Juniper Song Hayward) a whiter American novelist whose career already seems to be largely over after an underwhelming response to her first novel (her dreams of literary stardom after securing an agent and book deal rapidly quashed) but who remains friends with Chinese-descended Athena Liu who by contrast is something of a novelist superstar with her sales only matched by her literary acclaim.
  
  The set up is simple: June is on her first visit to Athena’s luxury flat, after a night of drinking, when Athena chokes on a pancake – June fails to carry out even a part-functioning Heimlich maneuver but when later leaving the death scene does manage to carry out a part-finished historical-fiction manuscript: Athena’s next novel which she has been writing in almost total secrecy, about the WWI Chinese Labour Corps. What starts as a writing exercise – filling out and polishing Athena’s incomplete draft turns into a fully fledged completion of the novel-in-progress and then an impulsive decision to submit the novel as her own.
  
  From there – and especially after a publishing decision to face up to appropriation claims by playing up June’s nomadic childhood and for her to publish under her quirky and ethnically ambiguous first and second names, the literary stardom that June craves (and at times implies was denied to her due her lack of diversity) arrives at a breathtaking speed matched only by the pacing and immediacy of the novel’s writing
  
  This is then inevitably accompanied by a backlash featuring, among others, a junior editorial assistant (who publishes the first negative Goodreads review), a LARB reviewer who specialises in taking down the latest literary darlings, barbed Goodreads reviews and comments, You Tube critiques, online activists, awkward event panels and Twitter storms. Despite her fear of detection, June decides to double down on both her claims and on her literary borrowing – partly supported by a culture-war backlash against the backlash.
  
  Of course meta-fictional conceit’s abound: the book is of course written by a Chinese-American author pretending to be a white author pretending to be a Chinese-American author, as well as by an author writing something very different to her usual (fantasy) fare. From the Goodreads reviews I have read (although I would not put in past the book for some of these to be fake or sock-puppet accounts – and the author herself does seem strangely fond for a cult author of 5* reviewing her own books) some of the criticisms which are aimed at Athena’s writing have been aimed at the author.
  
  The author even manages some cultural appropriation by taking my own name for the rooftop bar where the novel’s opening scene is set – and I only too aware of my own “Goldenface” attempts to hide behind an Avatar.
  
  Overall I think this is a novel with a simple if clever premise, and with entertaining if simple execution. Very much a novel I found easy to read in a day it will I think appeal to anyone interested in the book industry – and particularly those who enjoy debates in the comments section of Goodreads, book event panels, literary controversies and the resulting Twitter spats – which is I think many keen readers.
  
  My thanks to The Borough Press, Harper Collins UK for an ARC via NetGalley
• 
  Shruti

  *I received an arc in exchange for an honest review, all opinions and inferences are my own*
  
  This book enraptured me. I was sucked in from the get go and knew it would be a 6 star (yes it deserves this special rating as an all time fav) the moment I read the first page. This is an edge of your seat, fast paced, literary thriller filled with atmospheric tension and anxiety. The story details the inside outs of the publishing industry in a fascinating manner, exposing its dark underbelly and exploring issues of race in a literary context. I felt like I was reading my soul and my deepest concerns surrounding racism as a POC were being broadcast to me.
  
  The writing style was phenomenal and so gripping. There was never a dull moment, with twists and turns at every corner. The story is in 1st person, and it was really exciting to see Kuang experiment with this pov and satirical narrative tone which felt so vastly different to her other works. There were only a few similarities in the writing to her other books- distinct ‘acts’ in the story, being in the pov of a morally grey fmc who craves validation (June is reminiscent of Rin in that way), the inclusion of a model genius archetype character who isn't as perfect as they seem (Athena loosely reminds me of Altan in The Poppy War), and of course, the little Babel Easter egg.
  
  I loved the commentary on the trendiness of 'diverse' lit and the fashionability of POC cultures in today's society. The hypocrisy is that these cultures have to be distilled down to cater to the white majority, or it won't be accepted and appreciated. Kuang directly shows that when writing about racism, its painful bleak realities have to be stripped away and literally sterilised to become palatable media for white audiences. These themes are something I deeply resonate with and were a subtle thread that I connected to in Kuang's debut trilogy, The Poppy War. Reading this felt like an expansion on what I so deeply enjoyed in The Burning God. The way Kuang unflinchingly narrates these brutal truths is utterly captivating. I massively enjoyed the small details put into emphasising the careful balance between exotic but 'whitewashed' that many POCs feel forced to adopt in order to assimilate.
  Athena Liu is, simply put, so fucking cool. Even her name–Athena Ling En Liu– is cool; well done Mr. and Mrs . Liu, to choose a perfect combination of the classical and exotic. Born in Hong Kong, raised between Sydney and New York, educated in British boarding schools that gave her a posh, unplaceable foreign accent
  
  Kuang does a magnificent job at highlighting many sinister aspects of the publishing industry, including the need for more POCs in publishing companies and the lack of support many young debut authors receive which often sets them up for failure. I loved how she illustrated the dangers of having white people write the struggles of marginalised communities on their behalf. I was disgusted and horrified at the way June treated Athena's work and the casual, self-justified manner in which she went about it- not even realising how she was ravaging the voice of a poc and diminishing her people's suffering in order to sell a story. Her white saviour complex made her feel entitled. Every vivid detail was harrowing to read. It was honestly gut wrenching at times, I wanted to cry.
  I do think we’ve made the book better, more accessible, more streamlined. The original draft made you feel dumb, alienated at times, and frustrated with the self-righteousness of it all. It stank of all the most annoying things about Athena. The new version is a universally relatable story, a story that anyone can see themselves in.
  It made me angry. A minority people's struggles and trauma are NOT meant to be 'universally relatable'. It felt so unjust, I wanted to scream. The small details Kuang used to show how June altered the manuscript to suit white sensibilities, thereby showing her inherent racist perspective were powerful.
  
  It was unsettling to be in the pov of an indirect and casual racist, but immensely intriguing. I loved the morally grey characterisation of June, it was undoubtedly my favourite part of the story. I really enjoyed seeing her greedy and mildly sociopathic thought processes. Every instance where she deviously outsmarted someone was thrilling. Kuang is so skilled at writing unlikeable characters in a way that is humanising and endlessly entertaining. They don't feel like evil caricatures- they feel real and are compelling. June is fake, childish and doesn't accept responsibility. Her inferiority complex, narcissism, preoccupation with what people think of her and propensity for wallowing in self pity are her biggest character flaws. She's unhinged, delusional and often depressing to watch, but in the best way possible. She is ruthless and cunning. If anyone can make a racist character seem nuanced and enthralling to read about, it's R.F. Kuang. I also appreciated how Kuang inserted small details about her character to set up and foreshadow her downward spiral.
  But that’s what I need right now; a child’s blind faith that the world is so simple, and that if I didn’t mean to do a bad thing, then none of this is my fault.
  
  Another one of my favourite parts of the story was the relationship between June and Athena. It was disturbing, obsessive and messed up in the most intriguing way. Theirs is a surface level friendship born out of mutual convenience with June's insidious, jealous rivalry boiling underneath. To the reader, Athena's true character is a mystery due to the unreliability of June as a spiteful narrator. She is so insecure from comparing herself to Athena; the only way she can achieve literary success is to cannibalise Athena's work through impersonation. I found this dynamic absolutely fascinating. I know that perhaps all of us can relate to enviously admiring someone else's success, being unable to fathom their lifestyle and the dedication it took for them to achieve it. We have all felt a sense of inferiority and a desperate desire for acceptance from our peers; we want to be seen as impressive and important. Reading this book felt both like a cautionary tale and an indulgent romp into the biggest fantasy one has- finally being able to understand what makes a successful person so 'special' and living their experience. I love the trope of breaking down a successful and well admired character to their bare bones, examining their hidden flaws and realising that they are not as perfect as they seem (major Altan vibes, it's why I love him as a character so much). Kuang did an amazing job of this in The Poppy War and I was similarly intrigued by Athena like I was obsessed with Altan.
  
  The queer subtext in June and Athena’s relationship added another layer of complexity that was fascinating. You know the saying- you don't love them you want to be them? In June's case it's the opposite. She desperately wants to be Athena, but her obsession is so perverse that it almost seems *to me* that she wants her too (that's just my interpretation though). The power imbalance Athena had, their mutual need for validation from each other and the world- I adored it. I have a penchant for reading about twisted relationships, so I relished the moments of the narrative that focused on them together.
  
  June as an unreliable narrator was captivating. I love this trope so much and it was executed really well. As the reader, we are left to speculate about Athena's personality. There are hints here and there of her own insecurities and flaws, but we can't be certain unless our theories are confirmed by an outside perspective to June's. Kuang does an amazing job of creating these subtle hints through June’s vitriol and confirming them by introducing other people's opinions in the narrative (e.g book bloggers, mutual acquaintances). I loved the commentary on Highlander syndrome, and Athena's potential internalised racism. It is a sad reality that women, particularly those of marginalised communities, are pitted against eachother to fight for the same spot. Those who have achieved success like Athena refuse to pave the way for others in their community and become resentful. Kuang wonderfully explores how westernised POC can view their own culture from a white perspective, which is damaging to the community. Wealthy, well educated western diaspora writing about traumatic histories of working classes from homelands they've barely visited is a potential issue. This book raises so many difficult, complex questions on writing diverse characters. “Who has the right to write suffering?”
  Should white people be criticised for not writing diverse characters? Is it right for white people to write about the traumas of war and colonialism from the perspective of marginalised communities? At what point does including representation change from respectful appreciation to exploitative appropriation? Do the privileged POC who have no more experience with suffering than white people have more of a right to write these stories? There are no easy answers. It reminded me of the criticism surrounding The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (withcindy on YouTube has an amazing video on this). The story is criticised for it's white centric narrative. Addie spends 300 years alive but there are hardly any POC. The story completely disregards them- but V.E. Schwab is white. Should she be criticised for not writing characters she may not be able to do justice to? Surely it's better to ignore diversity than to misrepresent these cultures? Should white authors be obligated to represent marginalised communities through careful research? Is it ok to let them off the hook because they don't know any better? What standards should we hold these white authors to?
  
  The choice to include consistent pop culture references felt purposeful. It helped cement the story in reality, emphasising the unsettling atmosphere in the book- it is as if this story could happen in real life at this very moment. I feel that it also highlights the fleeting nature of success during an age of cancel culture and the damage social media can cause on careers- pop culture references are similarly short lived but memorable.
  
  The exploration of the effects of social media on authors’ careers was brilliant. Kuang portrayed the relentless pack mentality of cancel culture with complexity and detail through exploring Twitter discourse, Tiktoks and YouTube videos. The second act is a rapid rabbit-hole of online bullying and criticism spiralling out of control. It was intense and incredible and I felt so stressed. I honestly empathised with June, despite hating her actions. I felt anxious and guilty, as if I was the plagiarist.
  
  As a whole, this book is rich with the numerous themes it explores.
  Perhaps that’s the price of professional success– isolation from jealous peers.
  Plagiarism is obviously a significant theme. A running thread throughout the story is how writers borrow from and inspire eachother, which can be a necessary part of the process. Writing is an exercise of collecting treasured moments rather than creating. Nothing is truly original, ideas are built upon and shaped.
  On another note, an unexpected theme that I thoroughly enjoyed was of tense mother-daughter relationships, and I wish it were explored more in the narrative.
  
  The last act of the story was bizarrely terrifying to read. It all felt very meta and definitely gave me Scooby Doo vibes.
  The first two thirds of the book were a breeze to compose, but what do I do with the ending? Where do I leave my protagonist, now that there’s a hungry ghost in the mix, and no clear resolution?
  I felt that the ending was perfect in how ridiculous and fitting it was.
  
  I was surprised at some of the negative reviews on Goodreads (yes it felt very ironic and meta when I read them). The reviews often criticised the didactic viewpoint and unsubtle exploration of the themes. I think the general consensus from readers of literary fiction is that they don't want to be spoon fed the messages they should take away. As a fantasy author, R.F. Kuang revolutionises the genre with her insightful examination on themes of racism and imperialism. In Babel, her lack of subtlety in discussing these themes feels raw and visceral. In a piece of literary fiction however, perhaps the same persistent voice doesn't fit the same way. I however, personally really enjoyed it, but I also feel the criticism is valid.
  
  In conclusion, I truly believe this is a masterpiece. Kuang critiques the publishing industry for its inherent nature of comparison, envy and desire for upward social mobility. She comments on how the childlike, wondrous pleasure of writing is often removed due to the ruthless nature of the industry- from the potential lack of support for young writers to the malicious nature of internet trolls picking you apart as a person, not just your craft. She portrays issues of racism in the industry with brutal clarity. It is clear how Kuang's passion for writing shines through. Ironically, this book made me want to work in publishing, or to start writing; I want to experience the same magic of being able to tell a story.
• 
  skylar

  2.5 stars
  i have no problem with authors writing out of their comfort zone and trying new genres but how did rfk went from writing complex historical fantasy to booktwt discourse
• 
  Fanna

  Read this in a single sitting and highly recommend it. It's meta, it's mighty, and it's merciless. This dark satire is a mirror of publishing, plagiarism, and pessimism polished with desperation & dreams—driven by social media and sad realism. rtc.
• 
  Tammie

  Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
  
  This is a difficult title for me to review, and I won't be giving this a rating. I also want to preface this review by saying that I'm not sure this book should be marketed as literary fiction. I know that the lines between literary and contemporary/general/commercial fiction are extremely blurry, and even for myself, it really just comes to a certain vibe that I can't really explain very well. But I think selling this book as litfic does it a disservice, and will create certain expectations that I'm not sure the book necessarily lives up to. But I also think book genres are largely arbitrary so my concern here is less about the book itself and more of a worry about how this book will be received based on the litfic categorization.
  
  For all intents and purposes, I'll say that I enjoyed this book. Like with Kuang's other books, this is extremely compulsively readable. I think that Juniper is such a train wreck of a character that you can't help but want to keep reading her story despite hating her, and this book ultimately explores the way people go through the wildest mental gymnastics to justify actions they do or should reasonably know is wrong.
  
  I think that at this point, I have certain things that I expect from Kuang's writing, and she absolutely delivers on every single one of those - smart and cutting social commentary, addictive prose, and characters that feel real and nuanced. I think if you're looking for these things, you won't be disappointed with this book. Similarly with her previous books, the characters in this book are not likeable - in fact, they're quite reprehensible. If you're someone who doesn't like reading from the POV of an unlikeable character, perhaps this book won't be for you. However, I can't say that I didn't enjoy the experience of being in Juniper's annoying, racist head. It was oddly cathartic to read this book as someone who is very online and tuned in to the bookish community, and constantly seeing and being very frustrated at other (mostly white) reviewers prop up books about Asian history and culture by white authors.
  
  Where I'm unsure about this book and why I can't exactly rate it is that I think this book is, at least in part, a self-insert for Kuang's own experiences in the publishing industry. I went into the book knowing this, and I actually was pleasantly surprised at how for the most part, it didn't feel overly self-insert-ey, but at the same time, as someone who has consumed a LOT of Kuang's interviews over the last few years, there were definitely some moments throughout the book that felt like direct quotes from past interviews/talks, and they took me out of the story. I realize this won't be an issue for most readers, but it was something that did affected my reading experience, and is also something that makes me uncomfortable about slapping a rating on this since it does feel so personal to the author (similarly to how I don't like to rate memoirs).
  
  Ultimately, I think it is a great contemporary debut for Kuang. It's thought-provoking enough, yet strangely fun and compulsively readable, and I think that it will be an extremely divisive title. There will be people who will absolutely love the ride that Kuang is taking them on in Yellowface, there will be people who will deliberately interpret this book in the most facetious way possible, and there will be people who will unironically misinterpret the messaging in this book. And quite frankly, I think all that just goes to prove the point of this book, and I cannot wait to see what kind of chaos this book will bring once it's out in the world.
• 
  hamna

  i decided to sit with this book for a few days to make up my mind about whatever i thought about it, and 2 days later, all i've realized is i have a shit memory and can't remember anything now. this has been a psa: this review/rant will probably be a bit haywire.
  so (and i’ll just get to it) - a book about a white woman who steals a (dead) asian woman's last work, publishes it under her own name, and then spends the rest of the book in an ongoing spiral of panic attacks, anxiety, and intermittent threats. there's quite a bit of an insight into publishing here; how things work, and how books get picked up and promoted. it was something of an eye-opener, which is one of the first, few things i liked.
  the writing is very fast-paced and effortless to read. it flows by, in a way, which was nice considering how the plot worked contrarily to drag and prove itself unbelievably dense, if not downright shouty. i do feel a little subtlety here could’ve gone a long way - a lot of the content was very opaque, in that i could feel rfk's own thought process filtering through the narrative and the storyline. maybe this won't be such a problem for newer readers, but as someone who has been following the author for years, it got very, very grating to read. it's not even strictly speaking a "bad thing" - on the contrary, anyone can argue how almost every author somehow, always, gets distilled in their work—the issue here was just how much of it there was. this book felt like an exercise in rfk's assertions and opinions, a conscious subconscious if you will, and a very heavy-handed one at that. i don't doubt that it was important, at the bone of the matter, but also that it felt too suffocating and handheld to me, being told the same thing over and over; being told how to think as if the author couldn’t take the risk to let readers decide on things themselves.
  a secondary issue i had reading this was how i couldn't stand, like, or root for anyone in the book. i felt very removed from the entire plot because none of the characters felt very poignant; instead, came off as placeholders for whatever debate the author wanted to spark. it led to a very, sort of clinical reading which might've worked had the effect not been so abrasive. juniper song, in a word, is unbearable. she's racist, but she self-monologues herself into righteousness; she's jealous, she's a narcissist, she's one hundred percent a rotten person who can't write and refuses to take that into account. the saveface of the book is that i got to see her go down so much hell, so much of it self-inflicted, seeing her never give up, even as it only promises more misery. i do think her dynamics with athena liu were interesting; and the only thing i truly liked in the book were the flashback scenes of athena, in whatever capacity.
  
  social media plays a very big part in yellowface, nearly exclusively on a loop of twitter and goodreads feedback. this was a part i originally felt slightly deterred by, as "pop" occurrences in books is not something i've ever been a fan of. however, yellowface plays into it very well; the anxiety and the compulsion of knowing when checking up on “criticism” is “bad” for you, but falling into it anyway. the pseudo antagonism of people who will hold you accountable, the caustic decision to deride them because it’s “online” - the lengths people will go to to preserve themselves in their minds, even when faced with it, albeit digitally. and that too, proliferated by a fragile secret that can potentially break you. it was interesting to see how all of it came into play, the reactions and the grit it takes to shove down morals in the name of esteem.
  the apex was the highest point for me, because if there's one thing rfk never fails at: it's the build-up. on the other hand, the one thing i'm afraid rfk always fails at: following through. i won't go into details here, but the plot twist at the penultimate set was the most disappointing arc i've read lately, especially with how it was set up. that one thing, more than any other, dropped the book entirely and made it irredeemable to me. this, conjoined with rfk’s personal and almost berserkly in-my-face commentary, made the novel one of the more disappointing books i’ve read this year. after everything, i never could have imagined this from her, if yellowface didn’t have her footprints all over it.
  
  2/5 stars, averaging, because i don’t like or loathe this book: it’s just something i will not be looking back on, fondly, ever.
• 
  Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell

  This sounds fascinating.
• 
  Chelsea Humphrey

  
  Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution was one of my Top 3 reads of 2022, and I am manifesting that
  Yellowface will Top my 2023 list!
  
  
  
  *Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.
• 
  cherelle

  not june 2022 granting me not one but two arcs of books by my favourite author. 😭
  
  //
  
  another r.f. kuang book??
  
  we've been blessed by heaven itself. 😌
• 
  prutha

  r.f kuang blessing us with books every year is adding to my reasons to continue living.