Review: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yellowface tells the story of June Hayward, a jaded writer whose career essentially ended before it began, and her vicious jealousy towards her former classmate Athena, who is wildly successful. June and Athena’s relationship, which I hesitate to describe as a friendship, comes to a dramatic end when June witnesses Athena’s death, prompting her to seize the opportunity to steal Athena’s unpublished manuscript and claim it as her own. Without spoiling anything we follow June as she drifts further down the path of immorality in a completely gripping narrative. I like the way Kuang exposes June’s immorality gradually, so she begins by being slightly grey and progresses bit by bit towards a shocking landslide. Racial tensions are at the forefront of Yellowface’s concerns, with June being white and Athena being Chinese-American, and Kuang explores extremely complex issues in an accessible and intriguing manner.

I haven’t read a book written solely in a first-person narrative where the narrator is also the villain before, which I found really intriguing. June’s voice is so strong and immersive that it really keeps you with her for quite a while before you accept that she will not and cannot redeem herself. The power of her delusion is fascinating, and I really enjoyed seeing the way my perception of events differed to June’s and how she was constantly able to convince herself that her actions were justifiable. It was sadly reminiscent of the internalised racism so often seen both in and out of the literary industry. Kuang’s satire of the publishing industry is cutting and witty in a way that only someone who has been through the process themselves could be.

I only had a few gripes with Yellowface but I still did really enjoy it overall. The first thing was actually the ending, I’m very torn on it! I found it slightly unsatisfying as I wanted to see some proper consequences or justice served. Although, I guess maybe Kuang wanted to reflect the reality that often white celebrities don’t really face the consequences of their actions and continue to pursue successful careers. It also reflects June’s undying delusion and steadfast belief that she did the right thing. I would say then that although the ending is not particularly satisfying in a traditional sense, it develops the themes and questions that Kuang has been feeding throughout the text. The only other thing, I was unsure of was the execution of the haunting aspect. I enjoyed the haunting concept and the way Athena’s memory encroached on both June’s psyche and the wider text. However, I felt some of the more tangible haunting scenes would have made more sense if June’s mental health had been explored in more depth. As the rest of the text was so grounded in reality, these scenes felt slightly out of place. I don’t think I can really say more without it turning into spoiler central, but I felt it was important to mention. Overall, however, I found Yellowface to be an engrossing page turner with a unique premise and some very interesting themes and moral questions to leave you thinking about. I’ll be intrigued to read more by Kuang. Have you read Yellowface? What did you think?

Love, Grace xx