Book Review: Yellowface by R.F.Kuang

Because I rarely read fantasy books those days, I haven´t read anything by Rebecca F. Kuang until Yellowface. But as the topic has to do with the publishing industry, the one and only intensive American publishing industry, a topic I am recently interested in, I devoured the book in one relaxed weekend sitting.

The irony is so smart that convinces even the most restrained and critical reader - to abandon all reserves and laugh incontrolably. Athena, the cultish writer of Asian origin, dies while chocking to pandan pancakes. June, her buddy and sometimes companion, white mediocre writer June, happens to be at her home upon the tragic moment and leaves with at least two of her notebooks. She nonchalantly uses the material from those notebooks, although relatively out of her research and topic league, and got to leave the life of success. She turns into a bestseller writer overnight but also attracts the negative attention and suspicion. Victim of her own greediness, she has no morals and no ethics. The excuse of her despicable acts is that she wanted to see how does it feel to be successful. The one who will bring an end to her fame will have the same aim.

Practically everyone casted in Yellowface is despicable. The ideas of the politically correct publishing look through a magnifying glass as a grotesque show of notingness. Writing books does not have anything to do with the pleasure of writing. Being a writer is a competition for the best - and many digits contract, but no substance.

In Yellowface, the kings and queens of publishing are whole naked. They know it themselves as well, but it´s too late to stop them from their desperate run for fame. 

The story enfolds in a mysterious, cinematic way, although sometimes the way in which the story is built looks artificious, like when the story and the characters should conform to some idea planted by the author. The attitude towards the characters may be ambigous, as the online bullying and desperate competition within the publishing industry may raise some sympathy for the characters, especially June.

Overall though, Yellowface spreads a lot of salt on the wounds of publishing and although often books on those topics are slightly redundand, there are truth worth telling. Personally, I am grateful that R.F.Kuang approached this topic because otherwise I would have not discover her writing. I am tempted to focus more on fantasy in the near future, and if it will really happen, she will be one of the first authors to start with.

Rating: 3.5 stars