I don't even really know where to begin with this book, there is so much that could be said. In short, I loved it. Yellowface was like a train wreck that I just could not look away from.

Yellowface is the story of a white author who capitalizes on the death of an Asian-American author (and "friend") by publishing the late author's unfinished work about Chinese laborers in WWI. What is brilliant about R.F. Kuang's storytelling here, is that she really forces the reader to come to their own conclusions regarding the morality of the situation. On one hand, you have June who is clearly capitalizing off the work of an AAPI author, both socially and monetarily. On the other hand, Kuang paints Athena to be just as bad of a person in many ways. I absolutely LOVE an unreliable narrator, and having the story narrated through June, the plagiarizer, was genius. Allowing June the space to console herself for her own crimes made Yellowface all the juicier. June prides herself on never technically lying to anyone about what has occurred, but the world we live in is full of nuances that ultimately led

Spoiler

to June's downfall

I am typically pretty anti-contemporary fiction. There is something about reading a novel that takes place in present day that really takes me out of a story, and it often reads as cringy pandering. I did not feel that way about Yellowface. Kuang's employment of social media as a means to drive the story was riveting and so well done that it was like watching an online controversy in real life.

Reading as a white woman, it was so intriguing to me to see the ways June, despite efforts to appear culturally sensitive/inclusive, always reverted back to her whiteness in times of discomfort. Her brand is supposed to be this sociopolitically in-tune author who takes on larger issues and gives a voice to the marginalized, but we see her discomfort in that space any time she comes under threat. One such example is when June complains that she had to write about Chinese people because her work is not diverse enough, and the publishing industry only wants "their" stories, to the point where she now feels she is suffering the same marginalization as POC authors. She's delulu. She becomes the victim. June is a great example of whiteness even outside of the publishing world. June claims she wants to do as much as she can for the AAPI community, but only when she herself is doing well (again, socially/monetarily). This is exemplary of a larger issue, of white people with any social, political, financial, or cultural power saying they want to lift up marginalized voices and advocate for equality, but only as long as they themselves are still at the top of the food chain, so to speak.

My one qualm with the novel which relegated it to 4-stars instead of 5-stars, was the ending. For me, the Candice debacle was not carried enough throughout the entire book for the ending to feel authentic. June thinking she was being haunted by Athena's ghost just simply felt too gimmicky for me and I feel like there could have been an ending that was better suited for the novel.

Many reviewers are faulting Kuang for using "too much of her own voice" in this novel and I can't help but disagree here. Kuang does an excellent job of utilizing (what may be) her real life experiences, but through the lens of someone like June. This novel following The Poppy War series and Babel, just highlight's Kuang's incredible range. I am excited to see what she comes out with next!