jessica's Reviews > Yellowface

with some personal favourites like ‘the plot,’ ‘a ladder to the sky,’ and ‘kill all your darlings,’ im no stranger to a plot about plagiarism. but what makes this book stand out from the others is its hard hitting commentary about the publishing world.

RFK is a fantastic writer and skillfully navigates the loneliness and pressure authors feel, making the drastic decisions juniper makes feel somewhat morally grey rather than outright wrong (as we know plagiarism is). and even though its done in a satirical way (which isnt my favourite), i enjoyed the exploration of topics like authors in reader spaces, own voices stories, and the different standards and treatment of white vs minority authors.

the only reason this isnt getting 5 stars is because of a personal problem. i have a really weird pet peeve of real world things mentioned in fiction. i like realistic/contemporary stories, but pop culture references bug the crap out of me. so all of the talk of US politics and presidents, very real famous authors, even the commentary about goodreads and tiktok, took me out of the story.

so, a little too “real world” for my personal reading preferences, but there is no doubt this is a provocative novel that sheds light on various aspects of the book world.

↠ 4 stars