Yellowface

4/5 • This is a thriller on the publishing industry. It's a risky book to write so I admire Rebecca for doing it. Writing a Goodreads review for this one feels weird, considering the topic of book reviews is discussed in the book, even making up an important plot point.

This novel feels like a r/HobbyDrama post, turned into a fully-fledged 300 page novel. I mean that as a compliment though. Anyone who's ever stumbled upon the aforementioned subreddit, knows it's a rabbit hole. You'll be immediately hooked by tales of messy drama in niche fields you've never heard about. Yellowface feels like an first-person account from the woman at the heart of a drama within literary fiction, and she's delightfully problematic.

The story reminds me of the Cassandra Clare plagiarism debacle, or JK Rowling descent into transphobia. Only this is a fictional story of bestseller Juniper Song, and her plagiarism from her dead Asian best friend. Then her descent into racism, narcissism and perfectionism.

I enjoyed this novel more than I expected. I've just realised I've not read enough books by the villains, or the unreliable narrators. Juniper Song, our main character, is a narcissistic bitch , that's the point though. It's interesting to explore the psyche of such a person. It also brings attention to the difficulties of racism in publishing, along with the unintended effects of diverse voices in fiction. Rebecca's writing works well, the pacing of this one is perfect, managing to include many twists, that had me quite literally gripped, wanting answers.