Face

Product Information

I’ll be honest, I read this book in a single sitting. I could not look away, and Kuang’s writing sweeps you up in it’s conversational cadance. While I’ve enjoyed Kuang’s writing previously, Yellowface feels very polished and matured, the novel reading with the ease and eagerness of a tell-all memoir, which is the framing of the story. As a fictional memoir, it drops a lot of pop culture references to key into a specific time. Kuang’s choice of perspective through June—who rebrands at the request of her publisher as Juniper Song, Song being her middle-name but also nudges readers to think she may have Chinese heritage—is brilliant as it allows us to feel the floor-dropping-out discomfort of becoming the focus of internet rage as well as navigate a vigorous criticism of the publishing industry. Kuang is able to cover issues without moralizing, making the reader sift through alternating opinions that are likely to expose their own assumptions and discomforts, and we must always remember the telling is often guiding us away from judging her and towards everyone else. With a big confession at the center, June can manipulate the reader on smaller issues and in a way it becomes a rather metafictional approach to the way storytelling is just that: fictionalizing stories. 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 found this issue of plagiarism particularly ironic because Yellowface didn't strike me as very original, essentially a mashup of The Plot by Jean Hanoff Korelitz and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum. Furthermore, RF Kuang had a scene in The Poppy War (published 2018) where the main character was training by carrying a pig up a mountain. However, people create retellings all the time. There are lots of familiar and time-tested tropes and plots. At what point is it plagiarism? This would have been a great book for a book club. The main character is a depiction of mild mannered racist individuals who shroud themselves in acceptance as long as it doesn't affect them and balk at the idea of racism until directly faced with equality and the loss of superiority it gives them.

It all boils down to self-interest…If publishing is rigged, you might as well make sure it's rigged in your favor.’ Remarkably, I found myself attached to a book despite disliking the main character. At times, I wished I could physically enter the story and confront June Hayward/ Juniper Song, who committed the ultimate crime: stealing her late friend Athena Liu's unpublished book. The reasons behind this act of creative theft are complex and include jealousy, thirst for power, honoring her friend's work in the best way possible, and seeking personal gain. It is a tale that explores unfairness, harbored resentment, and a thirst for karmic justice. One of the standout aspects of the book is the author's astute commentary on the perils faced by writers, such as internet trolls who use their freedom of speech rights to berate and belittle their creations. The story skillfully examines the commodification of writers, where their looks, personality, color of their skin and online presence become as important as their writing itself. There are books with characters that have issues, and issue books that have characters. This is the former, so it totally worked for me. and to be clear, this isn't a blanket response to everyone who disagrees with me (i've had interesting conversations with people who do)--just to some people who are determined to take the most uncharitable opinion possible of a frankly lukewarm review.This book truly blew my mind. I was unable to put it down, yet also needed to take breaks due to the chaotic and anxiety-inducing experience of living within Juniper's mind. The character evokes strong emotions, including frustration towards her misogyny, blind ambition, and obnoxious justifications for her actions. Sounds a bit fake, but I genuinely think R. F. Kuang was the right person to tell this story. No matter how many times she REINVENTS herself, the story always feels like it was made just and only for her. I can't wait to read the Poppy War trilogy. But, overall, this is absolutely worth your time. Please read this. It is a shining gem in the 2023 literary world.

Let’s be clear: June is not a character that you will feel empathy for. She will not be redeemed, rooted for, or endeared by the end; however, watching her downfall is oddly satisfying in a way that I cannot quite explain. The insight into the process of releasing a book with a Big Five publisher is compelling and intriguing, and it’s, sadly, easy to see how something like this story could transpire. The beauty of this tale is no one is safe from criticism; Kuang makes it clear that there are various forms of privilege that transpire across lines of race, class, gender, etc., and every single character really has something to answer for. This is not an unfamiliar premise. So, what makes this story different? June’s voice. She’s funny, snarky, and totally without morals. She’s a literary psychopathic Jane Doe/Joe (thriller readers , you know who I’m talking about!) who can justify anything she does. She's unlikable, which is the author's intent. BABEL Yeah, it's not one of those 'if you like this you'll like that' situations. This book is different in every aspect, if I hadn't known I wouldn't think it was written by the same person. BUT IT'S EQUALLY AS BRILLIANT. Doesn't that really picture the talent and originality of this writer?If you are looking for something grounded in reality which manages to perfectly balance issues around discrimination and prejudice towards appearance, race, culture, and personal interest, then this is a MUST read. The ensuing story is told in such an unreliable, insidious way that it creeps under your skin. What’s so scary is that it’s 100% believable. You can follow June’s descent into worse and worse offenses (though she started out pretty damn bad), while at every step the reader is trapped in her head as she justifies why she is the one in the right, the victim.