Happily Ever Chapter

“What more can we want as writers than such immortality? Don’t ghosts just want to be remembered?”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang is a standalone literary fiction novel that illuminates heavy topics, such as racism and plagiarism. It follows a woman named June Hayward, a published author who is acquainted with a more popular author named Athena Liu. When one night of camaraderie goes wrong, Athena chokes on a pancake and dies, and June steals her unfinished manuscript and tries to pass it off as her own.

It’s one of those stories that, even though it’s fiction, is written as if it’s a true story, and you have to keep reminding yourself that this didn’t actually happen. Yellowface really caused me to think about the morality in this situation. I had to wonder whether June was in the right or wrong because it wasn’t a clear black and white answer. Not at first anyways. As the story goes on you start to see a clearer picture and the answer is more or less obvious. However it’s still a discussion because everyone might not see it that way. I really liked the themes talked about in this novel and I liked that it made me think.

Yellowface was my first book by R.F. Kuang, and based on that, I look forward to reading more of her work in the future. The one thing I didn’t love about this book was the main character, June. But I have to applaud Kuang for that because that’s the whole point. I didn’t get a “five-star feeling” reading this, so I didn’t rate it five stars, but I gave it a very respectable 4.5 stars.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it is mentioned over and over again that June was envious of Athena, and she wanted the success she had, felt that she deserved it. We also learn a deeper reason why June may have stolen the manuscript. However, even though June describes Athena as a “saint”, we are given reasons why she wasn’t one. I liked that this novel didn’t romanticize the dead, just for being dead, and pointed out that Athena wasn’t perfect either.

Overall, it was a great book. I have already recommended it to my mother, and I recommend it to all of you. Literary fiction isn’t the genre I usually reach for, so I was hesitant about picking this up, but I am so glad I did. In fact, it has encouraged me to pick up more lit fic in the future, which proves my point that “everyone can be a reader, you just need to find the right book”

Content Warnings

• Death (of a parent and acquaintance (off page), graphic choking)
• Blackmailing
• Assault
• Claims of “reverse racism”
• Rape (recounted in chapter 15, not graphic but mentioned throughout the story, and also briefly mentioned in chapter 22 in context of Chinese ghost stories)
• Stalking
• Slurs
• Suicidal Ideology (briefly mentioned near the end)
• “Positive” racial stereotypes
• Anti-queer sentiments
• anxiety
  
• Representation
• Queer Asian Female MC

Tropes

No Specific Tropes