I’m going to try to be posting more of my book reviews since I generally write them anyway…might as well share! And DUDE. This book was incredible. I devoured it and I have never been so happy to be left unsatisfied.
“Yellowface is, in large part, a horror story about loneliness in a fiercely competitive industry.” The opening line of Kuang’s acknowledgements puts a lot of the intention into perspective. She doesn’t mention that it’s a satire, but that’s obviously a large part of what it is as well. It’s a sharp satire that also puts a microscope to a huge list of problems both within the publishing world (I’m certain based on her own experience) and with racial insensitivity at large. June was an incredibly well-written horrible character. I simultaneously wanted to watch her world burn while also really sympathizing with her feelings and her lack of control in so much of her situations. I understood her point of view even if I could see, from the outside, how wrong she was at almost every turn. She was wrong, but I still understood her motivation. What a great villain. And in the end…
>>SPOILERS BELOW!!<<
…she not only does not find redemption, she digs her heels in. We see how utterly and completely deluded she has become. Her obsessions have ruined her humanity. She passed the point of no return sometime around the publication of Mother Witch and for her to have received redemption after that, certainly after her confrontation with Candice would have perhaps been more satisfying, but less impactful. I love how instead of tying the end up in a neat bow, it slashes the bow to pieces and throws them to the wind. Honestly, a genius book. I adored it.
Happy reading!
H.J. Swinford 