Book Review: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Genre: Fiction

Medium Consumed: Audiobook

Rating: 6/10

Synopsis: This book is a satirical depiction of a writer’s world gone wrong. When white author June Hayward witnesses her frenemy Chinese American author Athena Liu die a dramatic accidental death in front of her, she steals her manuscript and goes on to pass it off as her own. This book is told in the first person giving you an intimate view inside June’s every thought and rationalization while navigating this complex hoax.

My Take: This book plops you right into the inner dialogue of June Hayward, a self-conscious Yale grad fighting to find her spot in the publishing world after a flop of a debut novel. She is petty, self-loathing and cringey, but as expected this all makes for an intoxicating satirical dialogue. It takes you on a journey of loss, guilt, shame, deception all while touching on racism, minorities and Chinese history. I listened to this book on audio which may have altered by reading experience and skewed my rating for this novel. I rated it a 6/10 because while I felt the book was very well written, and the author clearly had done a lot of research on Chinese history and made sure to weave that well through the plot, I did not like the first-person narration of this story. This is a personal preference because I like to get lost in a book for the sake of escaping reality and transporting my mind somewhere else. I either want to be learning about something, or trying to solve a mystery, and this book transported me directly into the mind of the villain and left no room for my imagination to run away and try to piece things together. Instead, listening to this first-person narration on audio left me steering the ship with a voice in my ear reading out the inner thoughts of June Hayward - and it made me so uncomfortable. Now, of course, I had to finish it because I hate leaving things unfinished, but I really could have left the book about 3/4thsof the way through. I am curious to read another one of R.F. Kuang’s book now because I have since learned that this is not her typical writing style. She is in fact a Chinese American Yale Grad herself, and all of her previous works are fantasy novels. Based on the pace of turmoil in the book, I can see that style reflecting well in a fantasy genre.

Recommendation: If you are comfortable being uncomfortable and having someone reach inside your psyche and niggle at your own inner dialogue and insecurities this is for you.

Link to Amazon