Yellowface book review: A sharp, dark and satirical read
Yellowface synopsis:
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.
Yellowface book characters.
Yellowface is narrated from June Hayward’s (pen name, “Juniper Song”) perspective. We really get inside of June’s inner monologue, and along the way, encounter everyone she meets along her publishing journey. Here is the full list of characters, main, supporting and minor.
June Hayward, aka Juniper Song
Athena Liu
Garrett
Brett Adams
Diana Qiu
Daniella Woodhouse
Candice Lee
Geoffrey Carlino
Andrew
Emily
Jessica
Marnie Kimball
Jen Walker
Adele Sparks-Sato
Noor Rishi
Ailin Zhou
Dr. Gaily
Rory
Tom
Patricia Liu (Athena’s mother)
Emmy Cho
Xiao Chen
Peggy Chan
Johnson Chen
Skylar Zhao
Christina Yee
Kimberly Deng
Keep reading to learn more about our main character, Juniper Song and supporting character, Athena Liu.
June Hayward/Juniper Song.
June Hayward’s full name is Juniper Song Hayward, and she sometimes goes by the pen name Juniper Song if she’s plagiarising another author’s work and insinuating she is representative of the Chinese diaspora.
June describes herself as “just brown-eyed, brown-haired June from Philly,” and is clearly envious of Athena Liu’s success. She’s the definition of a frenemy to Athena Liu, although it may be skewed to one side from June’s end.
Athena Liu.
At twenty-seven, Athena Liu, “ambiguously queer woman of color,” has published three novels, each one a successively bigger hit. From June’s perspective, Athena has everything, from multi-book deals straight out of college to a resume of prestigious artist residencies and a history of award nominations.
But the biggest thing, June narrates, is that Athena is so cool. Born in Hong Kong, raised between Sydney and New York, and educated in British boarding schools that gave her a posh unplaceable foreign accent, Athena Liu is tall and thin, graceful, porcelain pale and has “massive long-lashed brown eyes that make her look like a Chinese Anne Hathaway,” which June argues is not racist of her to say. (🤨)
Yellowface book review.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Reading Yellowface from MC Juniper Song Hayward’s perspective was a polarising experience. On one hand, she is one of the most salty, delusional, self-centred and unlikeable characters I’ve ever read the narration from. On the other hand, this was a meta read, and Rebecca F. Khuang’s use of dark humour, irony, wit, snark, and satire is astute, polished and sharp.
The grisly hilarious satirical commentary on the publishing industry makes me wonder how much Khuang personally experienced, whether from being pigeonholed by #ownvoices or fulfilling a certain diversity quota in line with “trends”.
Not a style I usually go for, but a powerful read, holding up a mirror to cultural appropriation and casual racism.
View my Yellowface book review on GoodReads.
