Yellowface by R.F. Kuang - A Book Review at Uhibbook Publishing

1. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang | A Book Review This was one of the titles I picked up this summer to steer away from my usual reads. Seeing that it was about publishing was another reason it caught my eye. I mean, here I am, claiming to be an independent publisher focusing on publishing for impact, and the subject matter here was everything I talk about on an average day: diversity in publishing, the yearning to become a best-selling author, and typical publishing cycles.

2. The book follows author Juniper Song, who is struggling to make it big in the publishing world, and what follows the death of her friend and best-selling author Athena Liu. I have to admit, it started out fantastic. It was gripping and exciting, with a lot of potential to explore some interesting yet controversial theories in modern-day publishing. For the most part, it delivers on its promise. You do get to observe and understand different parts of the operating cycle of a publishing project. The book also manages to convey the true isolation of writing a book. However, the core subject matter progressively moves from cleverly twisted to unhinged. The book explores heavy themes like racial profiling, sexual abuse, and suicide. But the way these topics were handled left me confused about whether the author was trying to critique general sentiments around these subjects or whether the bizarre events in the book reflected her own views. In the second half of the book, I found myself reading with a sense

3. of embarrassment and awkwardness. This may have been deliberate, but it ended up feeling messy towards the end. As a plot, the book sounds great, and I admire the author’s courage in going through with it. It bravely takes on the challenges that BIPOC writers and writing face. However, a lot of narrative focus was given to petty Twitter wars and ego clashes, which ultimately made me want to just finish it and be done with it. What left me with a negative aftertaste was realising that no character in the story seemed to have any redeeming qualities. They were all written as existing with malicious intent. The most sympathy is given to the protagonist, who is clearly not on the right path, which aligns with the new trend of “gray morality” or “antihero storytelling” that I’m not much a fan of. I would also like to point out that diverse literature does get additional scrutiny in general.

4. On the whole, I’d give it a 3, for writing that is brave and done well but a storyline that misses. Original Source: https://uhibbook.com/yellowface-by-r-f-kuang-book-review/