Listened to the audiobook with Helen Laser. Well-read.

I know this is website is supposed to review speculative media. Last week’s Kindred was kind of cheating, though it is arguable that that is portal fantasy. Yellowface, though, is definitely cheating. The only reason I’m uploading it anyway is because it is written by an author that also writes fantasy.

So, if Yellowface is not a fantasy book then what is it?

Yellowface is a book about authorship and plagiarism, about lying to yourself and starting to believe your own lies, about race and perceptions of race. And it is also an absolute page turner. I finished the 9-hour audiobook in less than a weekend because I was actively looking for things to do that I could combine with listening. Sure, I’ll go for another run! Sure, I’ll clean the kitchen!

The book’s hook – one author stealing another’s manuscript – is good, but what makes this book so interesting is that Kuang uses the premise to write a scathing satire on the publishing industry. In particular, she explores tokenism and racial attitudes, the idea that certain stories can only be told by certain people, and the idea that a certain descent can be a advantage or a disadvantage in publishing.

I don’t view myself as particularly well placed to contribute to the debate on race and representation in media, but I can see that there are extremes on either end of the spectrum that might be worth satirising. Kuang certainly takes a position, but she does so with subtlety, provoking thoughts rather than sparking outrage.

Yellowface is told by and focusses on June Hayworth/Juniper Song, who is both the story’s main villain and protagonist. Even though the premise of Yellowface isn’t exactly close to my own experience of life, Kuang does an impressive job of making June a character I could empathise with. So good, in fact, that I found that I had to remind myself a couple of times of who actually was the perpetrator and who was the victim in this story.

The one thing that takes Yellowface from 5 to four-and-a-half stars is that Kuang – like her fictional June Hayworth – seems to struggle just a little with how to wrap up the story. With how good this book is, though, I didn’t mind at all.

Overall, Yellowface is one of the best books I’ve read recently, and I heartily recommend it: it is a literary book without pretence, and if you recommend it to your non-speculative fiction-loving friends, it might serve as a gateway to Kuang’s other work!