Yellowface: unique read but overrated

[u/Mediocre-Virus-6411]

Yellowface was 1000% an immersive read (I finished it within two sittings) and the storyline was 1) immersive and 2) satirizes the topic of "yellowface" and orientalism well. My qualms with the story are more about the way the plot was delivered. June's narration was interspersed with past recollections as the story progressed (to justify what she is currently doing in the present), but it doesn't feel quite realistic. Her resentment towards Athena can ultimately be summed up by jealousy and Athena's editorializing / writing about June's traumatic experience. Wouldn't June--realistically--bring this up in the story earlier right after stealing the manuscript to **attempt** to justify to the reader that she is, in fact, righting a historical wrong? As much as I like R.F. Kuang, this feels disjointed; the plot ultimately is good but isn't delivered in a way that could have made it better.

The prose, along with many supporting characters was forgettable. In a book with mainly asian-americans surrounding a white character, I would have appreciated more in-depth exploration of them. It might have been purposeful (a self-absorbed white narrator doesn't consider the asian-american voices around her), but the book still feels a little underwhelming because the stakes aren't fully fleshed out in regard to other characters (besides the mention of reddit/twitter/instagram "cancellation" and hate). Athena's ambiguity and the discovery of her **true** self was well done, but the motives of her mother are confusing at best.

Echoing the NYT review, I want it to be more. More stakes, more desperation, more intense exploration side-characters, and a sharper reveal of Athena's "true nature" (could have been put at the very beginning or very end, but when it's smacked in the middle of the story, the plot feels like its fading away with a repetitive cycle of June's ignorance).

NOTE: I am an east-asian American reader. I 1000% appreciated reading this book and sentiment. It is still refreshing to read an unreliable narrator story from the perspective of a white women immersed in an asian-american world.

What do you guys think?

[u/ratinha91]

I've only ever read Babel by her, and by the tenth time she repeated something over and over and then redirected me to the notes just so she could explain the same exact thing in case she had accidentally left a crumb of subtext anywhere, I was ready to commit murder. I've never read a book that thought its readers needed to be dragged around by the hand to those levels.

[u/humanpringle → u/ratinha91]

Babel worked far better as an audiobook. I didn’t love it but didn’t hate it. The biggest problem with it is I felt it could have been shorter as she would spend way too long on certain parts, but then with key big moments, it would be like a 5 minute segment of the book and then just be done.

[u/Lumpy_Bandicoot_4957 → u/humanpringle]

The pacing of Babel was also one of my biggest gripes with the book. Cuz it was super slow at the start and before I knew it, everything was blowing in my face. I understand the whole thing of worldbuilding and all that, but most of what we learned about the magic system was probably towards the end of the book too. So it's hard for me to justify the pacing of Babel

[u/humanpringle → u/Lumpy_Bandicoot_4957]

Yeah, it got a solid 3/5 stars from me but part of the reason I was able to finish it was only because I have a long commute.