Book Review: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Athena and June are friends (?), and aspiring writers who graduate from Yale. Unfortunately while Athena’s writing career takes off, she dies in a freak accident. June on the other hand discovers Athena’s recently finished manuscript and decides to claim it as her own. This sets her on a path to becoming a Best Selling Author. But it wasn’t long before she’s faced with the "cancel culture" and is questioned about her credibility. As soon as her limelight has dimmed, she now needs to write another novel.

Written in the first person, June takes us on a rollercoaster ride of how she handles everything thrown at her and the struggles she had to face when she tries to write another novel. She can’t seem to find her voice and decides to steal another manuscript 🤦🏻‍♀️ For some reason I thought there would be a plot twist about how Athena was the real thief. I mean, I guess you could say that Athena was some kind of a thief in her own way??? I don’t know, you tell me about it when you get the chance to read it.

Eventually the story became repetitive and I guess it ended the way it should. While it presents an exploration of ambition, ethics and race, there were a lot of parts in the book that fell flat for me. Nonetheless, I’d say it’s still quite interesting to delve into the complexities of being an author and how cut-throat the publishing industry is.

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