Yellowface

By: R.F. Kuang

Goodreads description:

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song–complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

Helen says: 🤓🤓🤓🤓

We chose yet another book about plagiarism, but this one seemed different from the start. June, the main character, was a total sociopath! She could talk herself into anything in order to justify things. I plowed through this book due to it’s speedy cadence. It was thought provoking in regards to cultural appropriation, reverse racism and victimhood. Kuang did a great job of not letting her opinions on the topics bleed through. The ending reminded me of a Chinese ghost story. I really enjoyed this one, but it won’t appeal to everyone. This would be a great book club choice! Lots to dissect and discuss.

Holly says:🤓🤓🤓🤓

Absolutely diabolical. No one is nice here, but the story is totally compelling. Some parts of the book are very reminiscent of Who is Maud Dixon, but on a psychopathic level. Lots of interesting insight into the world of publishing. I couldn’t stop turning the pages on this one.

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