Yellowface – R.F. Kuang

Title: Yellowface
Author: R.F. Kuang
Year Published: 2023
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Age Range: Adult
Content Warnings: x
Rating: 5 stars

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.

“Every writer I know feels this way about someone else. Writing is such a solitary activity. You have no assurance that what you’re creating has any value, and any indication that you’re behind in the rat race sends you spiraling into the pits of despair. 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.”

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I’ve adored R.F. Kuang’s books ever since I read the Poppy War trilogy last year so Yellowface was easily my most anticipated release of 2023. I’m generally not someone who waits for new releases but everything I had heard about Yellowface had me intrigued.

The Plot

June and Athena are two author frenemies. Athena is a highly successful young Asian author while June is a jealous white unsuccessful author. When Athena dies unexpectedly in front of June, June takes advantage of the situation by stealing Athena’s latest manuscript.

Yellowface is essentially a satire that calls out the racism and performative allyship within the publishing industry. Kuang being an Asian author writing this novel from the perspective of the white thief is a fantastic choice that really allows the reader to see the racism from the white perspective. We are shown how the publisher wants to be seen as diverse but to them that just means having a single successful Asian author, a single successful queer author etc.

Yellowface reminded me a lot of Caroline Kepnes’ You, not in content but in the feelings the book brought out in me. In You, we are hearing the story from the perspective of a stalker who does awful things but to him they are entirely rational and justifiable. It was the same with this novel. I knew June was a thief and a racist but I kept finding myself empathising with her and having to catch myself when I realised. I think it really shows how easily people can be manipulated when hearing only one side of a story. Kuang did an amazing job with this.

The other exploration I found interesting in this book was the look at internet cancel culture. I’m not getting into the debate on whether cancel culture exists or whether it is good or bad, but Kuang portrayed perfectly how people on social media love a good dogpile. For those of us who use social media and follow book community drama, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. That author who complained about book piracy and shit all over poor people? She got (rightfully) dragged. The guy who recently stated that bloggers are ethically terrible if they don’t review an arc. He was also dragged all over Twitter. Regardless of what side of the debate you are on, its difficult to argue that people online don’t love to join a bandwagon even if they otherwise wouldn’t really have cared about the thing they are arguing about.

The Writing

I feel like it is no surprise that I thought the writing was engaging, and at times beautiful. The prose is full of metaphors and imagery but didn’t feel over the top. The pacing is excellent and the gradual slip into mystery worked very well in my opinion.

The racist elements of both the publishing industry and June’s thoughts were subtle enough that it wouldn’t surprise me if I missed some of it. I think it really emphasises how prevalent casual racism still is in 2023.

The Characters

June and Athena are the main characters in Yellowface. The novel is told from June’s perspective so the story is definitely her reality as opposed to how most people perceive her: correctly as a thief profiting off a dead Asian woman’s hard work.

Athena may be dead for the vast majority of the novel but she is absolutely still a main character. Her character is very fleshed out and seen in a largely negative light but it is hard to tell what can be trusted in regards to her due to June’s negative feelings. Athena is also a great character at recognising how non-white people in the publishing industry are held to a higher standard than white people. A white author can slip up and apologise but a non-white author will be dragged through the mud if they say something controversial.

All in all, Yellowface is a clever eye-opening contemporary novel from an already established author. I expected nothing less from Kuang who has rapidly climbed to the top of my favourite authors. I’m curious about whether she will return to her fantasy roots or explore realistic fiction more. Either way, I’ll be there waiting. I cannot recommend Yellowface enough.

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