"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."--Goodreads blurb
I've loved everything I've ever read by Kuang, and this was no exception. She deserves the hype, and you want to know why? Because despite the fact of me hating every.single.character in this book, I still couldn't put it down. Her writing style, dialogue, and atmosphere of her stories is so engrossing. This book made me feel gross on so many levels. June's delusional thinking has the reader thinking "WTF" on so many levels. She surrounds herself with enough 'Yes men' to completely buy into her delusions, and for a fleeting moment, be very lucrative in doing so. This book left me shaking my head, and I can't wait for more from Kuang. This is the first book I've ever rated 5 stars, loved completely, yet hated everyone in it. Now THAT'S good writing.
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