Yellowface

              

Title: Yellowface

Author: R.F. Kuang

Published: William Morrow, May 16, 2023

Pages: 329

Genre: Suspense

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable. 

Let me start by saying that I am very unsure about how best to convey my thoughts about this book. I need to start with saying that I don't know much about R.F. Kuang beyond her author bio. I have read quite a few reviews of this book. Not to filter my thoughts through the opinions of others, but to gain some perspective on the cultural response.

What a response. I certainly can't say that I'm surprised that this book seems to be polarizing. That's one of the main drives of satire, right? To make people uncomfortable. To take relevant social topics and present a caricature that will entertain and hopefully make people think. This book did that job very well, in my opinion.

It definitely made me uncomfortable. But in a time when there are actual laws being written to silence the critical race theory conversation, I think this book is important. At times it felt like I was walking through the hall of mirrors in a fun house. Where your reflection gets distorted and sometimes it's so exaggerated that the differences are obvious and hilarious. But sometimes it is just a regular mirror or the distortion is so small as to be nearly imperceptible. Like June would start rationalizing something. It would start off recognizable. But then she would twist it and turn it into something rotten.

Ratings

Stars: 5/5