Book Review: Yellowface by R.F Kuang

“The cultural constructions are clear: so many Chinese ghosts are hungry, angry, voiceless women. In taking Athena’s legacy, I’ve added one to their ranks.”

June and Athena are frenemies. They are both writers that have known each other since college. Since then, Athena has become a successful writer while June is still waiting for her big break. June thinks her whiteness is a hindrance since minorities are in high demand.

Athena signs a lucrative Netflix deal and they both go out to celebrate. The night ends in a way noone expected as June literally watches Athena choke to death. Right before her death, Athena has just shared her finished manuscript with June. June snatches that up, rewrites it and finally gets the breakthrough she has been looking for, but at what cost?

“For the first time since I submitted the manuscript, I feel a deep wash of shame. This isn’t my history, my heritage. This isn’t my community. I am an outsider, basking in their love under false pretenses. It should be Athena sitting here, smiling with these people, signing books and listening to the stories of her elders.”

I’ve been waiting for this book to be available at my library for a long time as it’s been in high demand and it was definitely worth the wait, as I finished this in two days. Once June steals the book I kept wondering where the book would be headed and it was such a ride. The book was just effing brilliant. It’s a book that is about so many things but Kuang manages to streamline them and even make unlikeable characters compelling.Kuang writes a book about the publishing industry. The racism and the tokenism involved but I think what she did best was how she wrote the book from June’s perspective and absolutely nails the voice of a white woman. The way she wrote June’s justifications was great.

‘The living are burdened with bodies. They make shadows, footprints.’

Don’t get me wrong, June absolutely stole the manuscript but Kuang makes us think deeper into a lot of nuances beyond “white woman steals Asian woman’s story about Chinese workers” and I like a book that makes me think. You get to ask yourself, who gets the rights to tell certain stories? Social media plays a great part in this story. The addiction, the scandals, the cancellation and even as a tool for publicity. In a world where it is a huge part of life, it made the story more relatable.

I think the ending/reveal was a little wonky and wasn’t sure why she went that route but honestly, the book was so great it didn’t matter. Finding out that Kuang is just 27 blew my mind. I also found out this is the first time she is stepping out of her usual genre. I definitely recommend this book and would love to hear thoughts on this.

Taynement