Yellowface

Yellowface

2023 • 336 pages

Ratings870

Average rating3.9

15

Through a string of mean and bad characters, Rebecca weaves a tail of racism, plagiarism, theft and loneliness, while uncovering the dark side of the publishing industry.

This is a satirical, thought provoking thriller and I loved most of it.

I loved that this book brings up to discussion important questions surrounding cultural appropriation and in which lanes someone can write. These are issues that currently worry me in publishing as I believe they have the opposite effect than desired: they end up limiting diversity overall.

Though this was certainly an interesting read, it left me somewhat disappointed as it feels extremely dated. Its relevance should decrease at an insane fast pace, and proof of this is that Twitter, a significant focus of criticism in this book, does not exist anymore. Musk will finish what remains of it soon enough, and although something else will appear, everything changes fast.
For someone outside of twitter (me), twitter scandals and Notes apps apologies don't have a huge impact and feel almost foreign. I didn't even know Notes apologies were a thing, but after some research, the conclusion was that the world moved past this as well.

I wish the author left her opinion on the book's issues more clear. I know what she thinks about them because I made a due diligence after the book, but while I was reading it, it was not clear for me at all.

This book also included a pet peeve of mine: It directly mentions two best seller writers to support the lack of literature knowledge of some characters. Though I understand the reasons behind these mentions, and that it actually emphasizes June annoying personality, it doesn't sound right to me. The same result could have been achieved without the mentions.

I believe this is a wonderful reading for a book club or a buddy read due to its discussing potential.

This was my first book of R. F. Kuang and I can see why she has been such a success on the writing world. Her writing is captivating and I'm certainly going to pick more of her books

August 3, 2023