Title: Yellowface
Series: N/A
Author: Rebecca F. Kuang
Genres: Literary, Thriller
Publishing Date: 25 May 2023
Original Language: English
Pages: ~336
CW: Racism, Death, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, War
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Read if you’re looking for:
- A jealousy-induced downward spiral of lies & scandal
- Commentary on the structural racism in the publishing industry, & America in general
- Plagiarism & appropriation: a white writer stealing the work of an Asian-American writer
- An expert depiction of how we can justify our own actions to ourselves & refuse to take accountability, even when caught
This was the first book I’ve read from Rebecca F. Kuang, and I thought it was very expertly written! We follow Juniper “Song,” a white woman who has, so far, seen mediocre success as a writer. She has a beautiful and enigmatic friend, Athena, who has been making it big in the industry and is a celebrated young author. She also happens to be Asian-American. Juniper holds Athena up on a pedestal, while also harboring a pernicious jealousy of her. When Athena dies accidentally one night while she and Juniper are hanging out, Juniper takes the opportunity to remove Athena’s latest work-in-progress, a story about the unacknowledged Chinese workers in WWI, from her apartment. Juniper decides that she will rework Athena’s manuscript and finish it up. What could be the harm? When Juniper publishes the book in her own name and gains critical acclaim, she starts a downward spiral of lies upon lies, trying to keep ahead of the scandal, and psychologically deteriorates as she digs herself deeper with every move.
The story investigates the darker side of the publishing industry, and the rampant, institutionalized racism that still exists there. It also interrogates our online culture, and how scandals can blow up very quickly, with everyone piling on to the hate mob (for those who may deserve it and those who don’t).
The writing style was very readable, written in the first person, with Juniper telling it to us as if she’s recounting what happened in conversation. There is a lot of suspense and the stakes are high, so it keeps you very engaged the whole way through. The pacing was great and I felt that the ending was perfect for the story that Kuang was portraying. We are in Juniper’s head the whole time, so we get a very deep understanding of her character and motivations throughout. Kuang did a masterful job of showing how Juniper is able to justify her actions to herself, convincing herself that what she’s doing is okay, and that she deserves the accolades and the success.
This book was fairly stressful for me to read. Although I read a lot of horror and other objectively unpleasant things, this kept me stressed the entire time, perhaps because it seemed so real-to-life, and reminded me of many of the recent scandals in the online book community. When someone is doing something wrong and worrying about hiding it the whole time, that can be emotionally difficult for me to read for an entire book. There isn’t really a hero in this story, everyone is depicted as flawed, even Athena. Don’t take me wrong, this book did exactly what it set out to do, and did it very effectively. I’m glad that I read it, however, it wasn’t an enjoyable reading experience for me. But, it probably wasn’t meant to be. I can’t think of many comp titles, but I would recommend this book anyone who is interested in the workings of the publishing industry, structural racism in America, or those who enjoy a taut thriller.
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