Lorelai's world

Just a normal world in an unnormal world

Book reviews

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Spending time on social media is bad for my bank account and my TBR.

Every time I see someone mentioning a book, I add it to my TBR. Same thing happened with Yellowface by R.F.Kuang.

I saw this book almost everywhere for weeks and decided to give it a change.

Here is my feedback on it. Please take it as a personal opinion and remember everyone has different taste and that is ok.

Summary:

Yellowface is about June’s story as a writer. She is an aspiring writer that dreams of fame but she feels that she is the shadow of her friend, Athena, all the time.

June and Athena meet in college and since then their relationship had ups and downs.

When Athena dies, June does something that is not ethical or correct but gets her the fame she dream about.

Little knows June that fame brings haters and people that will do anything to bring her down.

Yellowface describes the experience June has after she gets to be a famous author and what social media treats you.

From my point of view, the subject is an interesting one however the entire book felt flat.

There were places where I was rolling my eyes so hard because of the main character. Made me root for the villain toward the end.

Yellowface is supposed to be a Mystery, Thriller genre but for me it feels more like a drama.

I was waiting most of the time for that moment that will drag me along with the main character and feel her emotions.

Feel the suspense, the fear the main character was supposed to feel in key moments but this never happen for me.

Characters:

June Hayward or Juniper Song – is the main character. She takes advantage of her friends death to steal her manuscript that will publish as her own.

June is a white woman trying to make it as an author however her first debut novel is a fiasco.

She lies and tries to manipulate everyone to believe the stolen manuscript is her. When she has the opportunity to come clean, she decides to continue with the lies.

June is presented as a despicable and pitiable woman who finds justification for her actions just because her friend, Athena, was a successful Asian author.

She believes that her bad luck with her debut novel is due to the fact that she is being overlooked, marginalized because she is not exotic.

Theme:

One of the most striking elements of Yellowface is its deep dive into the publishing industry. Kuang’s insider knowledge offers readers a razor-sharp critique of the industry’s fetishization of diversity while exposing the hypocrisy and performative allyship that often goes unaddressed. The novel doesn’t shy away from interrogating how race, particularly Asian identity, is commodified in the literary world. June’s appropriation of Athena’s work is a stark symbol of this, reflecting larger societal dynamics where marginalized voices are co-opted or silenced by those in positions of privilege.

Conclusions:

For me, Yellowface is at best a 4 star book.

It kept me reading but not for the right reasons. I kept reading because I was hopping for the captive moment, the I am here with you moment but it never came.

The subject is interesting and maybe it is not something people talk too often. It is worth a read just because of this.

As readers, we are easy to judge and put someone under the spotlight on social media. The thing that Yellowface is highlighting very well is how fragile a carrier can be due to social media.

Authors that put hard work on their books, can be overlooked due to the publishing industry rules and/or social media.

Today you can be famous and tomorrow you can be a nobody as social media decided you are not worth the attention anymore.