Yellowface

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Rebecca F. Kuang: Yellowface (2023, HarperCollins Publishers Limited)

English language

Published 2023 by HarperCollins Publishers Limited.

ISBN:
978-0-00-862637-2
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4 stars (10 reviews)

7 editions

refreshing and fun

4 stars

I like the premise, the plot, the narrator and the discussion about cultural appropriation. The writing flows nicely. The pop culture references and the tweets were fun at the start too, but eventually it got too repetitive for my taste. I get that the main character was spiraling, but it felt tedious towards the end. At times, the villain-ness of the main character felt too heavy-handed, verging on rage-bait (or was it just too close to home?). And the ending didn't do the book justice.

I've never enjoyed a horrible main character before!

4 stars

I had to keep reminding myself that NO, I did NOT want June to win and come out on top, that she is a despicable selfish person that deserves every horrible thing that she gets.

R.F. Kuang does a really great job at pointing out the toxic things that (some) publishing companies will do to try to make it look like they're all for diversity and for leaving you to really have to stew and think about how far was too far with what Claire does. It was a very uncomfortable read, but in a good way.

Overall, I found this to be a good read, but it did feel like it was just a little too long and the ending threw me for a bit of a loop, and not in a good way. Definitely not mad that I read it, though! Still fully worth the 4 stars to …

Clever and morbidly fun

4 stars

This is a change of pace from the author's other work and it feels somewhat self-referential, but through which character? The story had me hooked, even though the protagonist, if you can call her that, is not exactly sympathetic, and I feel like I've met that person, but after a while, I feel like I could be that person, and everyone in publishing sucks, anyway. Which is the general message I'm getting (in a more clever and entertaining format than all my complaints about the one computer book I published).

The reader plays the judge and jury as the author weaves thoughts and themes of diversity quotas, reverse racism, and white woman tears #bookstodon

4 stars

Artistic writing. Even though you hate the protagonist from the first chapter, the author leaves it up to you to decide how much and how far you disagree with her actions. Engaging read in surprising ways

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