Yellowface: The instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from author R.F. Kuang (colour may vary)

This is, of course, only my personal opinion. The book employs a modern narrative approach, which I do not mind at all, perhaps because I have read a great deal of classic literature. Many readers seem to admire this book, and I can understand why. I enjoyed it as well. However, when you read the description on the back cover and begin the story, you naturally start to anticipate how it might end. As I continued reading, I expected a surprising twist or an unforeseen conclusion. Instead, the ending unfolded exactly as I had predicted. While the story was engaging, the lack of surprise made the conclusion feel somewhat predictable.

This book is a must-read for anyone looking to make a career in writing and publishing. I am one of them, and it resonated loudly. The protagonist is a nondescript white author, June, whose Asian-origin peer from college, Athena, has cracked the author code - seven-figure deals, social media queen and a bucketful of respect in the industry. However, success is riddled with loneliness and paranoia. So Athena relies on the less fortunate June as a sounding board, shares her successes with her, and treats her to drinks after her wins. Neither is technically a 'friend' to the other, yet they have enough shared memories to qualify as such. June has the dubious distinction of not only witnessing her "friend's" sudden death but also the unravelling of Athena's unsavoury truth. Based on the themes of plagiarism and who really owns a story, the book is a resounding slap on the publishing industry as well as the role social media plays in creating and destroying reputations, and therefore, careers. The reader is enlightened about terms like "cultural appropriation", "dogpiling", "cancel culture", "racial diversity", etc. and educated on social media platforms like Twitter, TikTok, as well as Instagram. Success in the industry has nothing to do with authentic literature, writing talent, or creative freedom - ultimately, it's all about the money. There are some chilling quotes sprinkled across the book. Here is one- “The truth is fluid; there is always another way to spin the story.” Rebecca Kuang has leveraged June quite effectively to invoke dislike, sympathy, pity, and disgust in the reader. In fact, none of the characters is pure as the driven snow; they are all flawed. The ending is deliberately left to the reader's interpretation, as by then the reader has been sensitised to the fact that anything can happen in the publishing world. Definitely worth a read. It did not bore me anywhere, and the writing is very engaging. I particularly the loved the title cover.

I bought the book based on the hype on Amazon, and I feel a tad bit disappointed. The story started off strong with a promising novel premise but ended very weakly.

The book came in perfect condition with a timely delivery. My rating for the book is ★★★★★ What an unputdownable book! It is a gripping and interesting fiction that has a strong take on various things among writers and the publishing industry. You need a narrative that is gripping enough to make you turn pages and this book has got that perfectly. In this social-media-obsessed-celebrity-status-thirst-name-fame-money-hunger world, how writing gets difficult, how jealousy creeps in and spoils June's peace of mind, and how an industry darling makes her wear that 'Yellowface' that gradually becomes offensive when June goes to the top in the publishing world. This book has a unique take on plagiarism through the central characters. From every angle, you will not deny that these central characters plagiarized someone or the other, which was incorrect. At the same time, the entire story is narrated like you owning an unclaimed million dollars you found from your friend's boot, and while spending the last dollar you are busted. The places Kuang describes when June shot to fame are simply unbelievable nuances you will enjoy. The book tours, the publishing numbers, June's envy of Athena and her success, and many such things made me connect holistically with the novel. The conflict starts right from the initial pages. The grip that Kuang holds in her text and the entire novel is admirable. Her take on publishing pressures, voices of the marginalized in publishing, writer's block, and how social media ruins the peace of mind for anyone especially writers who are supposed to churn pages and pages out every day for the contract they signed with the kind of world we're in is completely empathetic. Though the plot twist was a little easy to predict, I would say, I got what I wanted as a reader. As an audience, I wanted that to happen much earlier, but keeping that twist at the end elevated that novel. Above all, Kuang's class narrative shines when June embraces her plagiarism, discovering herself as a writer and refusing to give up on writing. Despite all the setbacks in the publishing world, in the end, she perseveres, to write another story and leave everything behind to fight for her passion. Class!

I had seen this book everywhere. It’s pretty distinctive with its bright yellow cover, controversial title and huge publicity campaign. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a good book (I had never read any Rebecca F. Kuang work before) or whether it was all just hype but I grabbed a Kindle copy on the Amazon Black Friday sale for 99p. The main character is June Hayward. June is a struggling author, her only book had a mediocre reception, and she cannot seem to find that next big story that will see her gain the adoration she feels she deserves. June is best friends with fellow author Athena Liu. Athena’s books are much more successful and June is jealous and feels like she’s living in Athena’s shadow. When Athena dies, June is left in possession of the only copy of Athena's very final and very brilliant manuscript. No one has previously read this manuscript so the temptation for June to pass this off as her own work is strong. I did no research before starting this book so I didn’t realise how it has split reviewers. It does seem that you either love or hate this book. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. June is a great character; she is jealous, racist, petty, scared, strong, confident and miserable and we get to follow her entertaining downward spiral. I watched with horror at some of the things she did or said, she was like a horrific event that I couldn’t look away from. I also really enjoyed the other characters in the book, they all had their role to play and usually with their own motives. Although I don’t usually like books about books, I thought the storyline was original and interesting and I actually enjoyed learning a bit more about the publishing industry. There are so many themes in this book, some obvious and some less so and Kuang makes us sit with our discomfort through an excellent choice of an unreliable narrator and forces us to confront our own opinions on the matters. This book moves at a slow pace as the characters and the central thread of the story is established so if you come expecting big thrills and high stakes tension, you'll be disappointed but I appreciated the approach. I did predict the ending but this didn’t take any enjoyment away from the book for me. I didn’t know how I should feel about June at any given time and this kept me on my toes and kept me thinking about the book and its themes when I wasn’t reading it. Overall, although controversial, I really enjoyed this book. I liked how it made me think and feel and I enjoyed the storyline and characters. I’ll check out more of Kuang’s work.

I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. One thing I can say for sure is that it is well written and kind of like a train wreck. I had to keep reading to see what happened next. Juniper Song was a delusional, possibly psychotic, person whose ability to cast herself as the victim was nothing short of legendary. A good perspective of racism in literature and the toxicity of social media keyboard warriors from many different angles. In my humble opinion, of course 💙

The book was packaged nicely and of course it was a nice read

Very interesting especially first-mid part. Final part is a little bit boring but still good to read for studying English especially Asian.

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce roman mais la fin est laborieuse : ça aurait pu finir 50 pages avant. Mais je recommande quand même !