Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.

White lies
When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.

Dark humour
But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Deadly consequences…
What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

Paperback, 336 pages

Published May 16, 2023

 by William Morrow Paperbacks

3/5 stars

I jumped into this book as soon as I finished Babel, which I found to be an entertaining read. One of the things that attracted me to Yellowface was an author interview where she talked about what a fun book this was to write, that it's a funny, satire driven story giving readers a glimpse into the publishing world.

There is a lot going on in Yellowface, aside from the fact that the authorship of  the book June Hayworth published is brought into question. It also deals with diversity, and racism. As well as how social media has influenced and affected those that are questioned.

For me I was hooked right away. It starts with a bang, giving me an authentic look at June and how that book in question came to be.  But then it sort of peters off, at least for me it did. I wasn’t a huge fan of June/Juniper. I found she didn’t have too many redeeming qualities that made me root for her. There are some that say this is satire, so I was expecting some thing humorous, but I didn’t get that. Also, a lot of the story is internal thoughts of June which overtime got to be a bit much.The storyline was good, the look into the publishing industry was enlightening, and how social media people hide behind their posts, saying things they wouldn’t if it was face-to-face.

The ending took me by surprise, it wasn’t what I anticipated though honestly I didn't know what to expect. But for me, it didn’t really work. All in all a quick read.

This book was part of my 2023 Reading Off My Shelf Challenge

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

Hardcover, 544 pages

First published August 23, 2022

by Harper Voyager

4.5/5 stars

Babel was our family June book club read. We spent 4 weeks slowly reading and honestly that was way too much time, even though I lost some of the momentum we still had some great discussions.

For all of us this was our introduction to RF Kuang, the cover and YouTube word of month sealed our pick.

We all agreed that the author brought her extensive knowledge of language and colonial history to bear in this deeply engrossing and unsettling historical fantasy. In this world language has power and silver can harness meanings lost in translation, and Britain will stop at nothing to control this alternate imagining of the Industrial Revolution. 

It’s not a time period I read often but this was an entertaining read. Great when we discussed each part, speculated what would happen next and marvelled at the author’s talent. This is a big book, its a commitment yes, but when you have likable characters, an intricate plot and some mystery, it's isn't hard to get lost in the pages.

I will definitely be reading more by Kuang, in fact I am almost finished her latest Yellowface.

This book was part of my 2023 Reading Off My Shelf Challenge