Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

 

Yellowface came out in May and was immediately added to my TBR based solely on the NPR interview Kuang did--I was immediately hooked by the premise. A student aide that I talk books with constantly has recently been allowed more freedom to choose the books she reads from her parents and said that Yellowface was her best read of the year. I immediately checked it out and got to reading. In one word, it's brilliant. Utterly and completely brilliant.

I've had Poppy Wars on my TBR for a while and will definitely be reading everything Kuang has written and ever will write. Essentially, I'm saying Yellowface isn't just good. It's amazing. Jaw-dropping. The prose is amazing and the characterization is just so damn convincing--that Tyra Banks meme, "we were all rooting for you,"  just kept playing over and over in my head, except I was rooting for June to just stop. Every time I thought June couldn't make the situation worse, she did. Everything about June is horrifying--how relatable she is because who doesn't experience those petty little jealousies? Her actions at every turn both drive the plot and evoke that disgusting feeling one gets when one sees something awful and can't seem to peel their eyes away. 

I love what Kuang did with the character of June. It's like a villain origin story, except I never felt sympathy for June. I'm so curious as to whether there was any other ending for June or if her continued behavior was just inevitable. I felt one brief flicker of hope when she was writing her fictionalized version of her story before she spiraled over Athena's "ghost." I kept thinking THIS will be the moment she understands that she needs to seek help, but even when she reaches out to her former therapist, June fumbles the ball--which is another fantastic commentary on the outdated notion that seeking help is somehow bad along with being such a timely jab at people who attribute their racism to being inebriated, depressed, medicated, or whatever flimsy excuse they think will keep them out of the frying pan.

Yellowface is absolutely my best read of the year. It's a fast-paced and disturbingly humorous--not in a laughing way, but in that unique way dark comedy and gallows humor makes us sit in uncomfortableness, where it's funny because you're smart enough to get it but it's not funny because the plot is entirely too plausible. Absolutely a must read!