Yellowface – R. F. Kuang

Expectation: A timely and highly literary story about plagiarism and diversity set against the backdrop of the publishing industry.

Reality: A dark, shocking and highly engrossing novel that dismantles so many hot button issues in less than 400-pages. Unfortunately the last third lost steam. 

My Take:

This pitch black story about jealousy, opportunity and fortune will not be to everyone’s taste, but R.F. Kuang kept the plot on hyperspeed, which made it easier to push through when the story got increasingly implausible and repetitive in the last third. 

Had Kuang shaved about 100-pages from this already slim novel, I probably would’ve given it five-stars, because I appreciated the “oh, s**t, she went there!” deconstruction of cultural appropriation, misery literature, cancel culture and the publishing industry machine.

No one leaves the pages unscathed. Not Athena, the Chinese American writer whose work was stolen, not June her “best friend” that pawned the work off as her own, not the publishing industry for its rules on how to be, and certainly not the Twitter warriors who have a tendency to turn every mole hill into a mountain.

There’s no doubt elements of “Yellowface” were meta, with Kuang using it as a mechanism for therapy and to dissect the multitude of ways authors — and especially diverse authors — must play the game to be successful. 

My initial reaction is that it was all very angry but also justified. The fact that Kuang, most well-known for fantasy novels, followed up her blockbuster “Babel” with this tells me a lot about what the past few years have been like for her. It also gets me excited for where she’ll take her career next.

I had the benefit of reading “Yellowface” after hearing Kuang speak about it at my local library. She made it clear the entire novel is structured around a terrible person who doesn’t think they are a terrible person, and that she wanted to address topics like, who can own a story and why many white people fear diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Knowing this going in was key to my enjoyment, because it would be very easy to write this off as heavy-handed, self-important drivel. It is, to a point, but it’s also incredibly clever and essential commentary on how we lose humanity behind a screen and frequently build others up only for the joy of tearing them down. 

Helen Laser did a solid job with the narration, oscillating easily between June, Athena and other assorted characters. While June isn’t a likable person, she almost made me feel sorry for her. That’s a testament to Kuang’s rich characterization and how Laser fully understood the assignment. 

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): 4/5 stars

Format: Audiobook (library loan)

Dates read: May 18 – May 20, 2023

Multi-tasking: Good to go. The plot gets a little recursive but Kuang fills the pages with blistering commentary that you still want to hear. I’d recommend activities like walking, biking, cooking and gardening.