At its core, Yellowface is about racism and toxicity in the publishing industry and sometimes the book community. 

 

Yellowface is a jaw-dropping book that felt like a memoir with its realism. The book feels like a look behind the curtain of the publishing industry and includes instances that have happened recently in publishing and the book community. E.g. Twitter book drama and calling out problematic authors/books. 

 

The main character June is extremely unlikable and on multiple occasions, I said out loud “she is so racist!” While the main character is ‘justifying’ why it isn’t racist and she isn’t a racist. (She is). However uncomfortable it was reading from June’s perspective it was also fascinating reading it, knowing it was written by a POC author who has experienced these interactions from the other side.  

 

I could feel R.F. Kaung in this book while I was reading. I was hyper-aware that a POC author in the publishing industry was writing this book. I was constantly looking for deeper meaning and wondering how many of these instances were based on things that she has experienced. 

 

I highly recommend this book I was engrossed in a half-fascinated, half-disgusted way. I just had to know what happened next.