REVIEW: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

 

Genre: Literary Fiction | Mystery/Thriller | General Fiction

Release Date: Expected 25th May 2023

Publisher: Harper Collins UK

June and Athena have been friends they were both dreaming of being writers at College. But now, Athena is a highly acclaimed darling of the literary world and June is left trailing behind in her shadow. 

She can't help but wonder why - Is it because Athena is more beautiful? Because she's cooler? Because her ambiguous queerness and Asian heritage make her more diverse and interesting? Does she make her readers feel clever and cultured? It can't be because she's a better writer than her.

And then one night, it doesn't matter anymore. When Athena dies suddenly after a night celebrating her latest success, June finds herself along with Athena's newest secret manuscript … but now, it's hers. And suddenly, she's a success. Okay, she might rebrand herself with a new name and ambiguous identity, but her dream is finally real until a ghost lurking in the shadows threatens to turn it into a nightmare. 

"What more can we want as writers, but such immortality? Don't ghosts just want to be remembered?"

Incisive and immersive - this story is a searing statement about the erasure and othering of Asian and other minority cultures in a white-centric society. It's a blinding social commentary about race, class, culture, social media - and the line between appropriation and respect, between speaking up for someone and speaking for them. 

Satirical and almost parody-like at times, this story is formed through a clever cocktail of different media forms, an unreliable narrator and a hyper-focused lens that keeps us separated from the outside world and only letting us hear the voice of one singular person. June is undeniably a detestable character - and hearing first person from the villain of the story was an interesting and refreshing choice. Of course, it's always difficult to read a story from the perspective of someone you dislike, but she invoked our morbid curiosity and made me need to know what she was going to do next. RFK nails the deep discomfort of forcing us into a relationship with a character who is toxic, jealous, hateful and ignorant -- creating murky grey areas of morality outside of the clear cut right and wrong and crafting an atmosphere of such intense anxiety it's almost palpable. 

And of course, then there's the interesting irony of RFK, an Asian writer, pretending to be a white writer, pretending to be an Asian writer - admittedly it's on the nose but it just kept adding layers to the existential humour of this story. When writing as June, she writes from the view of someone ignorant and racist, who sees diversity as a threat to her and a benefit to everyone else, as an act of tokenism that gives success to people based on their skin or culture. All while as I'm sure many other people know, whether because of race, gender, disability, queerness; that tokenism is very real but it used against people to limit how loud their voices are and people will often attribute our success to this instead of our talents. 

In Yellowface, June wants to justify not only stealing the book to herself, but releasing a story that is not hers to wider society - remaining ignorant to the difference between storytelling and stealing, which adds a layer of something painfully absurd and self-aware to this story. RFK writes about horrible, uncomfortable things and while there's clearly rage there, there isn't a blanket hatred and bitterness. To quote our own villain, "She has the confidence, the understated and lyrical prose necessary to tell such a heavy story without coming across pompous, juvenile or sanctimonious." 

At times the style was erratic and jumpy, the narration guided and forced by a singular voice - at times this left no room for reflection or nuance as Junes voice was overpowering and overbearing. There were large sections that felt almost out of place, heated discourse and discussion on writing over twitter, goodreads, social media that almost broke the pace for me. 

To quote June once more, "But what do I do with the ending Where do I leave the protagonist now that there's no clear resolution?"  - the latter stages of this book felt strange to me, their absurdity reaching fever pitch, almost like it'd been taken from another writer and copied in. Whether that's a witty attempt at an ironic parallel I'm not sure, but it did leave me feeling a little alienated at the conclusion. 

It took me a few days of stewing to write this review - did I like it? Am I doubting that I like it because I hated the characters? Are the clever parallels and self-referential, twists genius or too much? But at the end of the day, it lingered in my mind and made me write a review three times longer than usual because I had so much to think about. So yes, I'd say I did regardless of the stylistic choices and overpowering narration that I didn't particularly enjoy. 

Either way, this is the kind of book that demands to be talked about, so if you're looking for something to start a discussion at your next book club, you've found it. 

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. 

cw: racism, rape and sexual assault, drinking, swearing, death, injury.