Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

 

I'm not the biggest fan of R.F. Kuang's work but I was so drawn into the premise of YELLOWFACE, which asks the question, "What would happen if a white woman literally stole an Asian woman's work and then published it as her own and sort of got away with it (maybe)?" It's a daring and troubling question that splits open the way the publishing industry works (and doesn't work), while also showing the desperation and bottomless need for approval that some authors feel while milling away in an industry that moves at a pace far faster than most authors are capable of writing at.

June Hayward is an interesting character. She's racist (but doesn't think she is), privileged (again), and incredibly narcissistic, but in her story, she is the tragic heroine fighting against the odds. I think it's always a challenge writing an unlikable character who still feels chillingly human and relatable, and reading YELLOWFACE actually gave me the same high I felt while watching House of Usher. There's something very Faustian and self-damning about June that feels like it could have come right out of a story by Poe.

I liked the ending but it wasn't quite the ending I was hoping for. I think it fits, though. And I think the discussions around this novel, because of the subject matter and also because of who wrote it, are interesting. The writing style is so beautiful and it's clear how much Kuang has grown from THE POPPY WAR, which also had a female antiheroine championing An Agenda. Unlike TPW, however, this feels like a very nuanced work.

4.5 to 5 out of 5 stars