Book Review of YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang

YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang (The Borough Press, May 2023) Hardcover, 329 pages. 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

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.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     A brilliantly told first-person narration that touches on writing and book publishing, social media, racism, prejudice, marketing manipulation, and cancel culture in compelling fashion.

     While there is not a single likable character in the novel, their individual points-of-view are well-detailed and understandable. I disagreed with almost every decision made by June, but her feelings were vividly realized and I began to feel sorry for her. 

     Page 256: "But enter professional publishing, and suddenly writing is a matter of professional jealousies, obscure marketing budgets, and advances that don't measure up to those of your peers. Editors go in and mess around with your words, your vision. Marketing and publicity make you distill hundreds of pages of careful, nuanced reflection into cute, tweet-size talking points. Readers inflict their own expectations, not just on the story, but on your politics, your philosophy, your stance on all things ethical. You, not your writing, become the product - - your looks, your wit, your quippy clapbacks and factional alignments with online beefs that no on in the real world gives a shit about.

And once you're writing for the market, it doesn't mater what stories are burning inside you. It matters what audiences want to see, and no one cares about the inner musings of a plain, straight, white girl from Philly. They want the new and exotic, the diverse, and if I want to stay afloat, that's what I have to give them."

     Just imagine this: You are a young female college student and aspiring author. You bond with another student with the same interests. She achieves acclaim; you don't. When she unexpectedly dies, you have possession of the first draft of her next novel. You love it. It inspires you. You decide to edit it, add new scenes, and make it your own while retaining your friend's voice.

      The right step would be to contact her parents and obtain permission to finish her novel, make it a collaboration and share her name in the credits, and share proceeds/royalties with them. 

That's not what happens here and this novel is about the consequences both positive and negative of June's decision to take full credit. 

     There are a myriad of things that could happen following this, and Kuang deftly gives them all consideration. This is a diatribe and pointed satire on the way the book publishing industry uses marketing and social media, and how internet scrollers and trolls also use and abuse social media to either lift up or slam down on authors. Along with admiration, recognition and respect within author circles there also exists an equal amount of envy, jealously and mean-spirited reactions. I've been a part of both writer support groups and writer critique groups and this part of the novel seems incredibly accurate to me. 

      There's a neat twist to events around page 266 that makes me wonder if Kuang is relating some personal author experiences. You could also imagine her as the narrator even those she has more in common with the deceased author Athena and not narrator June.

     Page 308: "It all boils down to self-interest. Manipulating the story; gaining the upper hand. Doing whatever it takes. If publishing is rigged, you might as well make sure it's rigged in your favor. I get it. I've done it, too; it's just playing the game. It's how you survive in this industry."