Yellowface by RF Kuang

June Hayward is ambitious. She knows in her bones that she was born to be a writer, and in spite of the fact that her family will not see it as a legitimate career, she is determined to prove this to be true. And even as she has faith in her own potential, she cannot help but worship Athena Liu, who has become, straight out of Yale where they met and became friendly, an overnight success. Where June ultimately takes this drive, this deep need for acknowledgement will likely shock you — again and again and again.

This story is an indictment of both the publishing industry and social media. The hoops that potential authors must jump through to get to be seen creates an almost closed loop for so many. If you don’t have an agent, you cannot get your manuscript looked at by an editor – but if you’ve never published, it’s almost impossible to get an agent. If you do succeed in breaking through, you may become either the newest darling of the industry or depending on public opinion, the newest pariah. And it is not necessarily the case that any publicity is good publicity.

And social media, magnifies any controversy ad infinitum. When June is outed for the controversy she starts with her book, for example, the online discourse goes utterly viral. She cannot get out from under this. There are some creative ways in which she attempts to handle the attacks, but they mostly backfire – as they often do. And they are personal, cruel, and, well, yes, true. But we still feel a bit sorry for her, which is the beauty of this book.

In spite of her deeply flawed logic and her repeatedly poor decision-making, we are still sympathetic – at least to a point – toward June. We get her – we are able to see her, at least in part, as an underdog and, in a way, we do sort of root for her, in spite of her persistently absurd choices. Which is what makes this book a fun read in spite of all the cringing we cannot help ourselves undergoing throughout. It verges on funny, on sad and on absurd – all at the same time. But always, consistently, cringeworthy.

Definitely a worthwhile and entertaining book to delve into!