Yellowface

Book Title: Yellowface

Author: R.F. Kuang

Date Started: February 11th 2023

Date Completed: March 11th 2023

Genres: Contemporary, Literary

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you to NetGalley for this ebook for review ◆

Yellowface is one of those books that I find it hard to write a review for (the irony is not lost on me). In both academic and emotional terms it struck a chord with me to the point I was swearing out loud. Still, at the same time, I often found it unpleasant to read (again, I appreciate why) and towards the end, things dipped into melodrama for the sake of a wrapped-up plot.

Regardless, I kept picking it up. I wanted to know where it went, who would connect the dots, and how the wrong-doers would get their comeuppance - which in itself is a sad reflection of the human impulse Kuang often looks at in the story. The ending (once past the climax that felt sort of forced) was no surprise, and there's no denying that it was a joy to read Kuang embody yet another genre, time and cohort of characters.

Yellowface is a book with a lot of courage to point and prod at everything wrong with the publishing industry, an industry that like several profiting off the creative arts pigeonholes, rigs, discriminated, tokenises, torments, strings along and creates a respectable about the identity of its storytellers. Poignantly aware of the wider social, economic and political frameworks established to keep everything circulating back to the same status quo, Kuang brings the narrative back down to the responsibility, and humanity, of the individual, whether it be writer, reader, reviewer, publisher or witness.