Introduction
Published in 2023 by the beloved R.F. Kuang, Yellowface acts as her commentary on the nuances of the literary world, racism and plagiarism. Readers became fans overnight and it became a #1 Sunday Times Bestseller.
A Summary
June Hayward has spent years watching her rival Athena Liu rise higher and higher while her own career sinks quietly into the background. When June witnesses Athena’s sudden and shocking death, she is left standing in the silence that follows with a choice she never expected to face. In that moment, she reaches for the one thing Athena left behind. A finished manuscript that the world has not yet seen. Taking it feels like crossing a line she can never step back over. Yet once she begins, the momentum carries her forward. She edits the book. She presents it as her own. She steps into a spotlight that was never meant for her and tells herself she is only claiming what she has been denied. Success arrives quickly, but so does the pressure. Whispers begin to surface. Questions grow louder. Someone knows the truth, and they are waiting for the right moment to strike. As June’s carefully built world starts to shift beneath her, she clings to the belief that she is not the villain of this story.
Writing Style
The writing style moves with a sharp, restless energy. It speeds through the most chaotic moments and then slows just long enough for the weight of everything to settle, creating a rhythm that feels both satisfying and deeply unsettling. The entire story is told through a singular first person perspective, which traps you inside June’s mind and forces you to sit with every justification she clings to. There is a raw satirical edge running through the prose, exposing ambition, privilege and the publishing world with a kind of brutal clarity that makes the book feel like a controlled collision you cannot look away from.
My Thoughts
I feel quite stupid writing a review on Yellowface, considering reviews were some of the main plot points and this book made a lot of comments on how the literary world is shaped by negativity and hate. Of course, my reviews are always honest, but it does feel odd writing this time around.
Yellowface was my first read of R.F. Kuang since her debut novel series, and I could see the growth in her writing. It felt real, raw and satirical all at once, really immersing the reader into the story from the beginning. I adore a book that rewards its reader for paying close attention, which this does as the more you analyse what June is saying, the more you realise she isn’t making sense. The unreliable narration really shines through for me as being the best part, and from what I read, it’s underrated as well. I think the pacing was really well done for a novel where the entirety of the book is happening inside someone’s head as they spiral, but there definitely was a section in the middle-end of it that was extremely monologue heavy rather than plot enhancing.
I have mixed feelings about the ending because one part of me really liked the ambiguity and felt as if it fit the unreliability of the story, but I wanted more from it. It would have added a lot of emotional shock to have an ending that broke the narration we had so far and had June die, or something extreme and concrete to contrast the unreliability we have experienced throughout.
Overall, I do think her writing can be heavy handed with the themes she wants to portray, and often makes it too obvious. It feels like there is a fear of being misunderstood and it prevents her from writing what she truly desires to, but because the themes she discussed in Yellowface are so intriguing, it worked anyway.
Recommendation
I recommend this, and I will forever. This book holds so much insight into the literary world, and how authors actually feel in a community that can be so lonely.
Songs
Songs that I find reminiscent of the book:
After Dark by Mr.Kitty
Leni by Crystal Castles
(P.S. We made them links so feel free to click on them and get teleported straight into the vibes.)