Rachel Reviews: Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang

The first thing that needs to be commented on is what a cover! I remember seeing it in the bookshop and it immediately catching my attention. From there, my curiosity was piqued. I know the old adage "Don't judge a book by its cover" but it's got to draw you in somehow, doesn't it, before words can hook you?

And was it good? Well, it's certainly not bad by any stretch. Our first person narrator is June, an aspiring writer who has a small degree of success but nothing compared to her friend and university classmate, Athena. Athena's works are popular and applauded and are very much the texts to read of the moment.

Is June bitter about this overshadowing by someone close to her? Well, to hear her explanation, no but there is a green mist rising nonetheless, emanating from some of June's words, otherwise why take someone else's notes and craft a book out of them yourself? This book is a masterclass in the uncertain ground that you can find yourself on when you have an unreliable narrator. And one who's a novelist to boot. I mean, who can you trust? I would say probably not June. And yet...

June does not come across as someone overly manipulative. Kuang keeps her the safe side of unstable throughout, showing her signs of weakness in circumstances with which we can all relate. Who wants to be criticised on social media? I don't. And when presented with an opportunity to steal another's work because they can no longer do anything with it, who wouldn't chance their arm and pass it off as their own? Well, um, actually, I wouldn't but I reckon that there are a lot of readers of this book who would be thinking that they could have, just like June, if they could have been wily enough about it and if it never came back to them truth-wise.

And so, we watch June as she navigates her appropriation of another's book material, following how this pans out for her in this modern age of trolling and video. Kuang highlights the deeper awareness that modern society has with regard to history and the telling of it especially if it's not your cultural background. It is a world in which June must tread warily in the hope of winning out.

And does she? Well, you'll just have to read it.

Rachel Rating: 4/5 stars

This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery:

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