Yellowface by RF Kuang

Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.

When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.

But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.

Yellowface has by all accounts been a sensation. Since its release it has been all over bookshops and Bookstagram alike. But what makes it so popular?

First, the premise is simple. June steals work that isn’t hers, takes the credit and then watches almost helplessly as her social media accounts explode with (true) accusations, which she coolly denies. We, as the reader, get to watch the consequences of someone doing something most of us would never dare to do.

Kuang’s writing style is also accessible. Yellowface is written colloquially, interspersed with text messages and tweets. The fast pace of the writing keeps the plot moving.

Something that appealed to me about Yellowface is that I like reading books narrated by the villain. It means you have to stop yourself from taking what they say at face value and instead look behind it to the other side of the story and the full context. June finds numerous ways to justify what she has done and at times I found myself almost sympathising and agreeing that what she had done was not as morally reprehensible as others seemed to believe.

Through June’s increasing self-justification, though, Kuang expertly conveys the sense of paranoia as June is backed into a corner by the circulating rumours and the literary community’s growing suspicions. It seems inevitable that she will be found out but by then she is so far into the lie that she cannot backtrack. I genuinely felt anxious when reading these parts of Yellowface – the fear of being discovered and caught is oddly relatable, and it is clear that the consequences for June would be catastrophic to her career and personal life.

Alongside the storyline, Kuang also weaves in some interesting wider comments about aspects of being an author, largely highlighting that it is far less exciting and far more stressful than it appears from the outside. This is not only a result of the anxiety and mounting pressure that comes from writer’s block but also the fact that it is both lonely – writers do not have colleagues or office hours – and very competitive. June is constantly looking over her shoulder for anyone threatening to catch up with her or outshine her; she is all too aware that, as soon as another author comes into the limelight, her own success fades by comparison.

These pressures are not helped by the brutality of social media where June learns that some people feel that they can say what they like, no matter how harsh or rude, on the basis that they are commenting anonymously. Although what June has done is questionable at best, as the reader you do sympathise with her here as there is never an excuse for the kind of messages that June receives.

Finally, Kuang raises some interesting questions about cultural appropriation. June uses the pseudonym ‘Juniper Song’ for her publications, of which the plagiarised book is about Chinese troops during the Second World War. Readers of that book suggest that June is disingenuously masquerading as someone with links to China as the surname ‘Song’ could be interpreted as a Chinese surname. Debate ensures: should authors stick to writing material about their own backgrounds, irrespective of how much research they have carried out into their chosen topic? Or should they be free to write about whatever they want?

Although it seemed to me that Kuang wanted to portray her own experiences as a writer by weaving these issues into Yellowface, it did provide context to some of June’s self-justification of her actions.

When a book is as hyped as Yellowface has been, it is tricky for it to live up to expectations. But in my opinion, this one just about deserves the hype. It ticks all the boxes for a gripping book and its familiar subject matter is readable and articulate. The pervasive paranoia adds a constant sense of suspense.