'yellowface' was an absolute romp of a novel following june, a white author who decides to steal an unpublished manuscript by best-selling asian author, athena, after athena randomly dies. things spiral out of control as june passes the novel as her own and is haunted by the consequences of thievery and cultural appropriation

with acerbic social commentary, 'yellowface' calls out the publishing industry & online book communities, discusses cultural erasure, the treatment of marginalised voices & the need for non-white people to sell trauma stories in order to be seen, heard and acknowledged. it comments on cancel culture and online discourses surrounding controversial authors, and so much more

this book was compulsively readable, darkly comedic, satirical, and effective. 'yellowface' accomplishes everything it sets out to do, and it does it well. this story felt unsettling in how enjoyable it was. no matter how horrific & twisted it got, i could not put it down. i hated june with a passion, but being in her warped mind was so much fun. i loved the discussions in here, r f kuang makes acute observations regarding online book communities that really spoke to me

saying that, 'yellowface' might just be my least favourite release by r f kuang. it is, objectively, a great book that achieves what it sets out to do. but it's never a story i'm gonna reread. it didn't affect me as much as her previous work has. it has its flaws: for me, the ending felt cliché, the pop culture references got tedious after a while, and it was a little too heavy-handed at times (i would love to see kuang try something more subtle in the future)

i still highly recommend it because it is expertly crafted and an incredible response to a plethora of current issues. i just wish it had more of a long-lasting impact, if i'm honest

— 3.5☆