A review by eri_cat93
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

5.0

4.5 because nothing is perfect, but DAMN I LOVED this book!

This book is a trainwreck you can’t look away from, the gnarly true crime scene photos you shouldn’t have looked up but then you did & you can’t stop staring at, watching your high school nemesis get kicked off the cheer squad but then she dates the QB anyway and you’re just like “but she sucks, why is she getting good things? Go back to the failing part”.

Our narrator, June or Juniper depending on which race she wants you to think she is, is utterly exhausting. Nearly everything she does, says, thinks had me raging & yet you can so clearly follow her contorted logic that leads to her eventual actions. When her frenemy dies in a tragic accident, June steals her unfinished novel and, in a fit of inspiration, finishes it. In top of the fact that she stole the basis of her work from another author, the other author happened to be Chinese American writing about Chinese Labor Workers in WWI & June could not be more white or disconnected from Chinese culture if she tried. She even hates Chinese food (who hates Chinese food? There are multiple times she is disgusted by it & honestly that might have been the most upset I was throughout the book. It’s ridiculous.) As her star rises she makes racist after racist decision, all while firmly believing she’s done nothing wrong.

It’s infuriating & a delicious mess to watch unfold.

Look, we all know that white person (people) who is 100% convinced they aren’t racist & aren’t ever racist intentionally but are also 100% racist & get SO MAD if you point it out. Hell I’m very sure I’ve been guilty of it too because I’m a middle class white woman from rural Ohio & that systematic shit runs deep. June is given so many opportunities to be better & continually declines them.

This story is fast paced, fun (despite the death & racism & mental health worries), well written, & a great meta look at the publishing world & how systematic racism is so easily cultivated & grown in our world today.

Highly recommend.