Before I get to the YellowFace book review, I have to say, I had to push myself to pick this one up since I had just recently read A Likely Story which broadly had a similar premise. And that being, plagiarism or publishing someone else’s work as yours. In both the books, we have the protagonist stumbling upon their dead relative/friend’s manuscript. They work upon it to make it their own, and they publish it as their own. But strikingly different is the handling & the routes that the stories take from there on. And so, I am more than happy I read this one which is surely a crisp, pacey & unputdownable read.
I have read people dissect the book in conjunction with Kuang’s background and such. But honestly, I have no clue of Kuang’s life, background or previous work. So my review here is purely of how I found the book and nothing else.
YellowFace got me hooked from the start. It was an interesting narrative and I liked how the story seamlessly keeps progressing. Athena Liu and Juniper Song (Hayward) – the two prime characters are quite nicely written with their distinct personalities quite clearly visible. But what truly gets you is the startling scene of Athena’s death. It was a blunt narration of a horrendous event with the author not leaving much to imagination!
R.F. Kuang’s book brings forth the behind the scenes of publishing. It says a lot about what it really takes to have a book published – far from just a good story or writing. It was an eye opener of sorts as to how Bestsellers and Ratings are actually manufactured, having little to do with the author’s efforts. Though, I really am not sure how much of it to trust, for I still believe in the simplicity of this world! But granted, it does have an element of truth in it.
I enjoyed the progression of the story where one event keeps leading to the next. Athena’s death – June discovering the manuscript and publishing it – suspicions arising over the authorship – the trolling – zeroing in upon Geoff – and then the next novel, yet again borrowing from Athena. This is a story that doesn’t allow your interest to dwindle at any point, despite an overdose of Chinese myth, culture and of course, racism!
There is something about June’s character that seems very off. I can understand her publishing the first book without any intention to steal credit. But really, the way she keeps repeating her mistakes is irritating hah! There is an effort to balance out the wrongdoings, by also giving Athena’s character shades of grey. How she stole the others’ feelings & atrocities for her stories. I thought there was no need of doing so.
In YellowFace, I feel Kuang somewhat overemphasized the importance of Goodreads Reviews, Twitter & Instagram. While it does have relevance and are reflective of a book’s performance, the author makes it look like a thing to live and die for. The be all and end all. This could have been toned down a bit. With rigged awards, rigged bestsellers, rigged publishing process – it has been made to look like a dirty stinky world that this whole book writing is.
There are aspects of this book that I liked a lot. I liked the parts where the author reflects upon how writing (or for that matter any art) which was earlier a pleasure, becomes a frustration under the pressures of professionalism, competition, marketing and the expectations of your audience. Also was somewhat saddening when June is left all alone and has no one to tell that all is not well with her.
As the story progresses, we have someone gaslighting June and a recurring appearance of Athena’s Ghost. This along with a repeated hint towards some underlying secrets of Athena’s family keep an element of suspense and intrigue all the way through. That said, the climax fell short of doing justice to this eerie atmosphere that was so wonderfully being built.
The whole hoopla about Racism & Who Can Write A Book
I found the entire fuss about racism a bit overdone as well. June’s stealing Athena’s work is given a racial angle of a white trying to rob credit off an Asian. Also pivotal to the story is – who can write a certain sort of book. While this should not be racially guided, I feel that it makes sense to an extent that a person of a particular origin is more adept at writing about something intrinsic to it. Though this should not be a limiting factor. For instance, if we have Andy Weir writing about Indian mythology, I would in all probability pick one by Ashwin Sanghi over him? Simple? I would trust Andy Weir with science fiction unquestioned! Another example is one of my favorite reads for 2023 – Ward D . Freida McFadden comes up with something called “iced dirty chai tea latte”. While on one hand, it fills me with pride to find mentions of my native cuisine on the international scene, on the other it leaves me partly irritated & partly laughing at the naivety in interpretation & understanding of them. I was laughing at the tautological mention of “chai tea” and add to it “latte” hah! So yes, that’s pretty much about it!
Conclusion
YellowFace is an engrossing book with a continuous flowing storyline that makes for an extremely interesting read. The plot is engaging and manages to pique your curiosity beginning to end. The climax for me was a let down as I was expecting so much more to happen (see the spoilers below for more on it). But nothing to take away from the fact that it still is a compelling story. It is worth a read, and you can get it here -> YellowFace
YellowFace Ending Explained; Questions Answered (Spoilers Below!)