Name: Kath's review of Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Item: Yellowface
Rating: 3
Author: Kath

R. F. Kuang

What’s the harm in a pseudonym? New York Times bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R. F. Kuang in the vein of White Ivy and The Other Black Girl.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody 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 to the British and French war efforts 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 takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

Yellowface

smile??

Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to other lands. Writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much. To stop writing would kill me.

But isn't that what ghosts do? Howl, moan, make themselves into spectacles? That's the whole point of a ghost, is it not? Anything to remind you that they're still there. Anything to keep you from forgetting.

Madelaine Jarcew

I don’t have yellow fever. … I’m not obsessed with stealing Asian culture—I mean, before 

, I had no interest in modern Chinese history whatsoever.

He gives my hand one last squeeze and tells me something in Chinese, but of course I don’t understand a word.

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 pretences.

no comment, except for the fact that this paragraph sets the premise for this entire book perfectly. perfectly.

We also softened some of the white characters. No, it’s not as bad as you think. Athena’s original text is almost embarrassingly biased; the French and British soldiers are cartoonishly racist. I guess she’s trying to make a point about discrimination within the Allied front, but these scenes are so hackneyed that they defy belief. it throws the reader out of the story. Instead, we switched one of the white bullies to a Chinese character, and one of the more vocal Chinese labourers to a sympathetic white farmer. This adds the complexity, the humanistic nuance that perhaps Athena was too close to the project to see.

the concept of saying the editor is calling Athena’s writing style out while just in the previous chapter claimed that Athena had really only written the outline and bits and pieces but it was June that brought it all together and wrote big parts… the mental gymnastics, the cognitive dissonance

Finally someone’s calling Athena out on her bullshit, on her deliberately confusing sentence structures and cultural illusions. Athena likes to make her audience “work for it.”

IVE HAD THIS EXACT FEELING OMG. this is so true

I once went to a talk by a successful fantasy writer where she claimed her fail-safe for getting over writers block was to read a hundred or so pages of very good prose. “It makes my fingers itch to see a good sentence,” she’d said. “It makes me want to imitate the same.”

the way this immediately sets up the dynamic between june and athena. perfect.

I used to think this act was a ploy for attention, but she’s also like this when it’s only the two of us. She gets so vulnerable. She starts sounding like she’s going to burst into tears, or like she’s bravely revealing secrets she’s told no one else before. It’s hard to watch. There’s something desperate about it, and I don’t know what frightens me more—that she’s manipulative enough to pull off such an act, or that everything she’s saying might be true.

elly

Keep your eyes on your own paper, they say. But that’s hard to do when everyone else’s papers are flapping constantly in your face.

franz

What more can we want as writers than such immortality? Don't ghosts just want to be remembered?

Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to other lands. Writing gives you the power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much. To stop writing would kill me. 

Lindy

How does someone go from being a real person, someone you actually knew, to a set of marketing and publicity points, consumed and lauded by fans who think they know them, but don't really, but understand this also, and celebrate them regardless? 

I want the world to wait with bated breath for what I will say next. I want my words to last forever. I want to be eternal, permanent; when I'm gone, I want to leave behind a mountain of pages that scream, Juniper Song was here, and she told us what was on her mind. 

i swear im not “june” hayward, im better than her

lovelorn

The new version is a universally relatable story, a story that anyone can see themselves in.

kari <33

The living can't appear and disappear at will. The living can't haunt you at every turn. Athena's ghost has wormed its way into my every waking moment. Only the dead can be so constantly present.

Roman

Lilly 

Wir nicken alle und trinken einen Schluck Wein, erleichtert, dass wir nicht zur bedauernswerten Masse gehören.

The truth is fluid. There is always another way to spin the story, another wrench to throw into the narrative. I have learned this now, if nothing else.

sina (she/her) 

My story isn't remarkable. It is, in fact, utterly mundane. Not every girl has a rape story. But almost every girl has an "I'm not sure, I didn't like it, but I can't quite call it rape" story.

i kinda root for candice honestly… june is pissing me off soo baadd!!!

One star. The Last Front has received its first one-star review, from a user named CandiceLee. 

the most annoying symptom of anxiety is refusing to believe the obvious and rational explanation.

“Imagine,“ she kept murmuring. “AII those lives lost. All that suffering for a cause that they didn't even know if they believed in, just because their government was convinced domino theory was true. My God."

THE BEST WAY TO HIDE A LIE IS IN PLAIN SIGHT.

I felt, as Kanye put it, harder, better, faster, and stronger. I felt like the kind of person who now listened to Kanye.

Irdha C

At this point, I want to see what's inside R.F. Kuang's mind. Another page-turner book from her, but I'm giving it 3 stars due to the second-hand embarrassment I felt while reading 🤭

No character development from the main character at all.  June Hayward is such a delusional and narcissist.

Kath

At this point, I want to see what's inside R.F. Kuang's mind. Another page-turner book from her, but I'm giving it 3 stars due to the second-hand embarrassment I felt while reading 🤭

No character development from the main character at all.  June Hayward is such a delusional and narcissist.

Gives a great insight to the publishing world for aspiring writers/novelists. For the story it self, it lacks a gripping power to hold the reader. The main reedeming quality of the book is the relatable protagonist.

hardly ever

This was such a shocking read. I had seen it around social media but it took me by surprise about what it was actually about. It was such an honest and bold writing that im still stunned. The .5 I took off was because the main character is so well written that I genuinely hated her. Can't wait to read more of her works! 

Tsu 💙

a great insight into the racially-driven rat race of the writing industry. written with intentional deadpan humour, kuang does an impressive job in keeping the reader's attention through the perspective of an exploitative white woman.

one small notable thing though, book started off amazing but mellowed out towards the end eventually.

aemouh

a great insight into the racially-driven rat race of the writing industry. written with intentional deadpan humour, kuang does an impressive job in keeping the reader's attention through the perspective of an exploitative white woman.
one small notable thing though, book started off amazing but mellowed out towards the end eventually.

Finally got to this book and understand the acclaim and buzz around it since it was published. By inviting readers to perceive the narrator as insufferable, we’re made to confront the question of right and wrong, and the irony of capitalism in the publishing industry. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and I appreciated how the author cleverly flipped the ending around to show the hypocritical nature of profiting off unfortunate situations. Overall, 10/10 insufferable narrator, 11/10 cleverly written.

Xi Hui Teo

The new book from the no. 1 New York Times and no. 2 Sunday Times bestselling author R.F. Kuang One of TIME's most anticipated books of 2023 'Razor-sharp' TIME Athena Liu is a literary darling. Juniper Hayward is literally nobody. White lies When Athena dies in a freak accident, Juniper steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name June Song. Dark humour But as evidence threatens Juniper's stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves. Deadly consequences... What happens next is entirely everyone else's fault.

I have never hated a main character more this book but reading the train wreck that unfolded was honestly one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in a very long time. 

The absolute cringe and utter disbelief at the actions of June made this such a compelling read and the lives of all the characters around her just drew you in. 

Jasmine Lawrence

I have never hated a main character more this book but reading the train wreck that unfolded was honestly one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in a very long time. 

The absolute cringe and utter disbelief at the actions of June made this such a compelling read and the lives of all the characters around her just drew you in. 

 as a “zippy, ridiculous thriller meant to imitate the roiling schadenfreude of watching a twitter meltdown” which sums it up pretty well

- the biggest jump away from kuang's other works, more snappy and stressful, like a social media car chase instead of the academic / cultural meltdowns you find in her other books

- i inhaled this in maybe 2-3 sittings worth of reading and that's how this really should be read (ideally even less)

- kuang herself describes yellowface as a “zippy, ridiculous thriller meant to imitate the roiling schadenfreude of watching a twitter meltdown” which sums it up pretty well

- the biggest jump away from kuang's other works, more snappy and stressful, like a social media car chase instead of the academic / cultural meltdowns you find in her other books

- i inhaled this in maybe 2-3 sittings worth of reading and that's how this really should be read (ideally even less)

- 8/10

Lili

even if the protagonist pissed me off, i finished this really fast. great read! :) 

Interesting story, compulsively readable, well written. I did hate the main character, how much I had to live in her head, and had extreme second hand anxiety, which is the point, but brought my experience of a good book down enough for 3 stars. Would still recommend as a study of literary rivalry and the weaponization/self-justification of racism.

Emily McMeans

if it werent for those damn pandan pancakes!!

sofia mae

Excruciating. Hated every character? Kind of boring? Do not get the hype on this at all.

Milly Schmidt

Confused in between giving this book 3.5/4 stars, but here you go my not-so long review. 

Ini pertama kalinya aku membaca buku karya R. F. Kuang dan sejauh yang aku pikir, narasinya sangat mudah dipahami. Namun di beberapa bagian masih sedikit terasa membosankan. Ntah mungkin aku yang tidak sabar saat membacanya atau barangkali kalimatnya sedikit bertele-tele. 

Yellowface berhasil membuat aku merasa marah dan jijik melalui pemikiran dan isi hati Juniper Song. She successfully made me felt so annoyed like hell. Karakter wanita berkulit putih dengan penggambaran dirinya terlihat begitu rasis, rasa cemburu, iri dan dengkinya pada satu-satunya sahabat yang ia punya, sukses membuat diriku ingin menampar June.

Di sisi lain, yang menarik dari cerita ini adalah R. F. Kuang berhasil menggambarkan bagaimana situasi di dunia penerbitan. Penulis yang haus akan popularitas, persaingan sehat hingga tidak sehat, sikut-menyikut untuk merebutkan posisi bestseller sepanjang masa. Juga tekanan dari sosial media yang menuntut para penulis mengikuti ekspektasi pembaca. The pressure is definitely pressuring.

Ending buku ini nggak terlalu masuk ke aku tapi karena aku pikir ini seperti never-ending jadi yah.. Masih sedikit memuaskan. 

The book isn't really good, but it's not that bad too. Kalau mau mencari buku tentang dunia penerbitan dan ingin tau bagaimana posisi menjadi seorang penulis, buku ini sangat oke untuk dibaca! 

Lelyanna

Confused in between giving this book 3.5/4 stars, but here you go my not-so long review. 

Ini pertama kalinya aku membaca buku karya R. F. Kuang dan sejauh yang aku pikir, narasinya sangat mudah dipahami. Namun di beberapa bagian masih sedikit terasa membosankan. Ntah mungkin aku yang tidak sabar saat membacanya atau barangkali kalimatnya sedikit bertele-tele. 

Yellowface berhasil membuat aku merasa marah dan jijik melalui pemikiran dan isi hati Juniper Song. She successfully made me felt so annoyed like hell. Karakter wanita berkulit putih dengan penggambaran dirinya terlihat begitu rasis, rasa cemburu, iri dan dengkinya pada satu-satunya sahabat yang ia punya, sukses membuat diriku ingin menampar June.

Di sisi lain, yang menarik dari cerita ini adalah R. F. Kuang berhasil menggambarkan bagaimana situasi di dunia penerbitan. Penulis yang haus akan popularitas, persaingan sehat hingga tidak sehat, sikut-menyikut untuk merebutkan posisi bestseller sepanjang masa. Juga tekanan dari sosial media yang menuntut para penulis mengikuti ekspektasi pembaca. The pressure is definitely pressuring.

Ending buku ini nggak terlalu masuk ke aku tapi karena aku pikir ini seperti never-ending jadi yah.. Masih sedikit memuaskan. 

The book isn't really good, but it's not that bad too. Kalau mau mencari buku tentang dunia penerbitan dan ingin tau bagaimana posisi menjadi seorang penulis, buku ini sangat oke untuk dibaca! 

A very intense look at ambition, human psychology, friendship, trauma and grief, the world of publishing, and life as an artist in capitalism. 

You both identify with and hate the main character as she’s a victim and a villain. Kuang really ripped my mind apart with this one. 😮‍💨

Liv Wukasch

A very intense look at ambition, human psychology, friendship, trauma and grief, the world of publishing, and life as an artist in capitalism. 

You both identify with and hate the main character as she’s a victim and a villain. Kuang really ripped my mind apart with this one. 😮‍💨

Mindf*ck of a book, it was so good even though you knew it was wrong and you were rooting for June’s downfall the whole time. 

soph 

what an interesting read! kuang’s writing made me feel rage often throughout this book, and that’s how i know it’s been well written. she took the perspective of someone’s envy and loneliness and how that envy cut SO deep for juniper.

we want to root for june at the beginning with her narratives, but by the end, i was just shocked at how willing she was to keep doubling down on her actions, decisions, and behavior. her envy tied with her racism was deeply rooted in her. she genuinely did not understand how her white privilege made her successful after stealing an asian author’s work. it was baffling.

i was hooked and this book made me feel things. and even by the end, june still couldn’t recognize her wrongdoings. it was like her guilt ate her alive yet she was still trying to justify her actions. 

Tara Bounkeovisane

what an interesting read! kuang’s writing made me feel rage often throughout this book, and that’s how i know it’s been well written. she took the perspective of someone’s envy and loneliness and how that envy cut SO deep for juniper.

we want to root for june at the beginning with her narratives, but by the end, i was just shocked at how willing she was to keep doubling down on her actions, decisions, and behavior. her envy tied with her racism was deeply rooted in her. she genuinely did not understand how her white privilege made her successful after stealing an asian author’s work. it was baffling.

i was hooked and this book made me feel things. and even by the end, june still couldn’t recognize her wrongdoings. it was like her guilt ate her alive yet she was still trying to justify her actions. 

Enjoyed sinking my teeth into this one, with an interesting protagonist and storyline. Predictable ending but a fun and thought provoking story nonetheless! 

Melodie

I honestly don't like all the characters, but the plot is interesting. Idk how to say it, but this book is too much for me(?) I expected more from this book. I mean.. I guess it's not my cup of tea lol. However, I gotta admit that it's such a page-turner and I lowkey enjoying it.

I've never wanted out of someone's head so badly but I couldn't put it down

Treyden Talbot

I loved the way the book was executed! it kept me so invested in the story at all times, trying to understand the mind of the narrator that I really did not like but could sometimes empathize with. The people are realistic and not idealized versions of what they should be, adding a level of realism.

4 estrellas por que solo lo tradujeron a español España.

Julieta

I loved the way the book was executed! it kept me so invested in the story at all times, trying to understand the mind of the narrator that I really did not like but could sometimes empathize with. The people are realistic and not idealized versions of what they should be, adding a level of realism.

4 estrellas por que solo lo tradujeron a español España.

Also, I feel like the actual plot for this book isn’t that interesting, the book has no business holding attention as well as it does. But Kuang gets the reader so invested in the mundane, she brings you into the character and makes you feel like you’re experiencing the issues in real time 

Kalista Dickson

I love a fucked up protagonist. 

Also, I feel like the actual plot for this book isn’t that interesting, the book has no business holding attention as well as it does. But Kuang gets the reader so invested in the mundane, she brings you into the character and makes you feel like you’re experiencing the issues in real time 

imagine the biggest crash out over being a racist. this is that👍🏾

ariana :)

I will always love an RF Kuang book and this was no exception! Such a good premise and I loved the POV. June is so unlikeable a lot of the time (which I find so interesting as a main character) and yet you do find yourself rooting for her occasionally. This book really does promt so many conversations around these topics and makes you reconsider stances on plagiarism and the writing industry. Would definitely read!

Irdha C &
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

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