Yellowface by Rebecca Kuang - Book Review

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Fantasy writer Rebecca "R F" Kuang of the Poppy War series of novels tackles the issues of racism and cultural appropriation in her latest book, Yellowface, a thriller delving into the cut-throat nature of the publishing industry in contemporary America.



The protagonist of the novel is June Hayward, a white woman struggling to make it big as a published author. She attended university with Athena Liu, a Chinese-American woman with a tragic family history. While June has been sidelined by publishing houses, Athena has signed one mega deal after another. At the start of the novel, Athena meets June to celebrate yet another such deal. After a drinking session, obviously paid for by Athena, the pair retire to Athena's swanky DuPont Circle apartment where Athena proudly shows off her nearly-finished manuscript for an upcoming historical novel to an amazed June. Following that, she passes away in a freak accident as June watches on, horrified.

June takes the manuscript, along with a random assortment of other papers home with her. She puts the finishing touches on the manuscript and gets it published under the ambiguous name of Juniper Song. What later follows is a social media storm that turns her into something of a lightning rod. Using the story within a story as a plot device, Kuang tackles issues that have plagued discourse on various social media platforms in the United States since the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016.

It is hard not to feel bad for June as she gets abuse heaped upon her incessantly by trolls on Twitter and Instagram, egged on by so-called influencers struggling to make their mark in the ultra-competitive publishing industry. Them playing the race card does nothing to help but only makes it worse. Like J K Rowling, whose stance on transgenderism has got her cancelled , it is only the conservatives who have June's back. Yet in a way, June is partly guilty of some of the things she has been accused of, notably plagiarism, as her own original work was not exactly great enough to be considered for commercial publication.

In Yellowface, Kuang brings identity politics and artistic struggles, among other things, straight to the fore. June experiences incessant online abuse for making seemingly bad decisions no matter how good her intentions might have been, which takes some toll on her mental well-being. Yet in a way, she secretly enjoys the controversy as it lets her dominate the limelight so she can sell more books. In this way, she is playing with fire like what most content creators these days seem to be doing. All that leads to the climax where she nearly loses her life at the hands of an unhinged individual who also tricks her into revealing more than she ought to.

The character of Athena may have been inspired by Kuang's own family background. While Athena dies in the first chapter, her voice lives on through June. For a Chinese-born writer to use the voice of a white woman as an unreliable narrator, it does seem like a stroke of genius.

This novel is touted as Kuang's foray into the world of literary fiction, and it could not be further from the truth. It would certainly find a niche with those who have read Lauren Weisberger's books, notably The Devil Wears Prada. It would be exciting if Yellowface itself were optioned for the screen.
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