Yellowface by RF Kuang - Review
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- Опубликовано: 26 май 2023
- A review of Yellowface by RF Kuang.
What's the harm in a pseudonym? New York Times bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn't write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American--in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R. F. Kuang.
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena's a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn't even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.
So what if June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song--complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.
But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.
With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
Dude your reviews are so real and to the point. I don't have a lot of time comma but I have time for you.
Thanks for your diligent reading and consistency in making videos. Great job
I just wanna lyk that youre one of my absolute favorite booktubers!! Love your quick but insightful analysis of such a diverse style of boooks. Its hard to find good reviewers who can happily read genre fiction like Pierce Briwn then move to contemporary fiction like this and then go to something super experimental and literary like McCarthy. Keep up the good work!!!♥️♥️♥️ (also if i could recommend a cool fantasy series after the red rising series itd be Stormlight Archive! Its just soooo fun)
Thanks so much! Appreciate you taking the time to comment. Makes my day! Always enjoyed reading different genres and styles. Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check it out.
4 stars from me on this book. Very clever and a great idea for a novel.
Great review! Just subscribed to you. Looking forward to more book content!
Another fantastic video thank you!
Great review. The East Orange Public Library book club will be reading this book in September.
Wow you were generous scoring it a 4* - I've finished it and it failed to wow me. I feel it was "a try too hard" attempt at a fiction novel. None of the characters were likeable, found it a very dull book to read.
I have yet to read R.F. Kuang (but I will be reading Babel later this summer), but I'm very intrigued by this book. I'm on the holds list for it at the library, but I'm waaaaay down on the list!
I just finished reading this book about ten seconds ago. A fun satirical sendup of “The Telltale Heart.”
Great breakdown. Many Thanks.
I loved your review! While I do think it's true that it would have made me appreciate the book more understanding the online book culture but I still thought it was 5/5!
Please review Blake Pierce , I am curious what you would have to say about her novels
Didn't Athena die before June saw the manuscript? Great video, you do many cuts, I should think of that, too. And reduce talking time to less than ten minutes. Keep up the good work!
Ooo possibly. I can’t quite remember. It became my aim to make sure my reviews dont last longer than 10mins. I’m not always successful haha. Hope you are well. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. Always enjoying watching your videos :)
Lol I could seriously argue this book plagiarizes “The Plot” by Jean Hanff Korelitz. I’d urge you to look up that book and give that a read as well to see what you think.
Reaaaally! Well I’ll check that out then. Cheers!
I just read the synopsis of that one, and WOW, it does sound pretty similar…
@@rororeads The Plot , is about failing author now teaching , he steals plot from dead student. But , the student story has true facts which only the person who wrote book would know so ...... Will not give away more. Yellow face sounds interesting but same story line ?
@@heatherkirkland9056 yeah that’s pretty close!
Yellowface is not plagiarized from The Plot. The latter is more NY Times thriller.
I love a book that presumes it’s going to teach us about cultural appropriation written by an Asian woman named Rebecca.