| title | author | published | pages | goodreads | goodreads_id | cover | read | start | rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yellowface |
R.F. Kuang |
2023 |
326 |
62966998 |
2024-02-08 00:00:00 UTC |
2024-01-25 00:00:00 UTC |
4 |
Brilliantly written, almost car-crash like reading.
The story is very much set in the publishing world, which isn't something I know very well or is directly relatable, but I was still brilliantly drawn in by Kuang's characters.
It took me a while to fully realise that the protagonist, Juniper Song, is white (even if it says it right there in the blurb!), which, when it was written down in text made a lot of story even more cringe.
It's an interesting view into an individual being cancelled, then un-cancelled, then…somehow digging a deeper hole. I really couldn't find myself feeling any sympathy with the Juniper character and found myself often saying (albeit in my head): just walk away, start a-new, the damage is done.
Along side the cancel story, Kuang lets me, as a white reader, look in on a world where I don't really have any experience: Asian American culture in literature (and work), and how race is always in play for better or worse.
A great, intelligent read. Even if it keep making me think of the Batman slap meme...