Yellowface Book Review

Yellowface

by R. F. Kuang

Publisher: William Morrow
Ginasbookreport Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Literature / Thriller / Psychological Mystery
Read This If You Love: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

“What more can we want as writers than such immortality? Don’t ghosts just want to be remembered?”

Athena Liu is a literary success. June Hayward can only wish to achieve the same accomplishments. Well…maybe she could literally have Athena’s writing to help her earn the praise she so seeks? When Athena tragically dies, June takes Athena’s newest manuscript and claims it as her own. Publishing it as Juniper Song, which is all sorts of inappropriate and misleading. What unfolds from there is an exploration of the publishing industry, respecting cultural stories, and what we will do to be successful.

I loved this book! Writing an entirely first-person narrative and making it so immersive and engaging for the reader is a high bar, but Kuang does it so effortlessly. The messages in Yellowface about the publishing industry—racism, cultural appropriation, and public relations—are so on point. As someone who worked in the industry, I also loved the humor with the snuck in bits about the publishing process. Spot on!

While I typically offer up book club questions, all my notes for Yellowface were lost in a computer snafu. I decided to take that as a sign to just give a huge thumbs up for this book and tell you not to miss out on enjoying it!