{"id":4241,"date":"2025-04-16T15:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T21:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/?p=4241"},"modified":"2025-01-21T21:29:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T04:29:21","slug":"book-yellowface-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/book-yellowface-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK: Yellowface (2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft \" src=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1684810505i\/156736015.jpg\" alt=\"Yellowface\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/>Yellowface<br \/>\n<\/u><\/strong>Year: 2023<br \/>\nAuthor: R.F. Kuang<br \/>\nLength: 519 minutes \/ 8.65 hours<\/p>\n<p>There are plenty of books with authors as the main character, but <em>Yellowface<\/em> feels like the first time that the struggles have been expressed in such a realistic way. Most author protagonists seem to exist in this vacuum where nobody else in their close circles shares their love of writing and publishing stories. They have no network with other authors or can commiserate over another rejected manuscript. And while <em>Yellowface<\/em> takes a bold approach to addressing diversity in the publishing world, it still ultimately paints the main character as a villain.<\/p>\n<p>One cannot overemphasize social media&#8217;s effects on the modern publishing landscape. Anything authors can do to break through the noise, they\u2019ll attempt just to get more traction to sell their book. Tons of talented authors are overlooked for a variety of reasons, but <em>Yellowface<\/em> asks whether pursuing marginalized voices has created the unintended consequence of marginalizing the voices that used to be promoted. The frustration is real, but Juniper\u2019s actions are not the answer. The thrill of <em>Yellowface<\/em>\u2019s plot is how long she\u2019s able to get away with it before she\u2019s caught and tried in the square of public opinion.<\/p>\n<p>As an author, a lot of this book made me feel seen. We always tell ourselves that our fellow writers are not competition, but it\u2019s difficult to see others succeed when our own works go unnoticed. Jealousy is real, but we work through it and celebrate with our fellow authors so that someday they can come alongside us and celebrate our victories as well. Even if the ending gets a little weird, the way R.F. Kuang gives an intimate look into this community of writers feels authentic enough to be a universal experience for most authors.<\/p>\n<p>A gripping, tongue-in-cheek examination of author rivalry, I give <em>Yellowface<\/em> 4.5 stars out of 5.<\/p>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/>\u00a0<strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/>\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/>\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/255px-Five-pointed_star_svg-150x150.png\" alt=\"255px-Five-pointed_star_svg\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/> 1\/2<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/bmw-the-critic\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"820\" height=\"312\" src=\"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/BMW-the-Critic-v3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/BMW-the-Critic-v3.png 820w, https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/BMW-the-Critic-v3-300x114.png 300w, https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/BMW-the-Critic-v3-768x292.png 768w, https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/BMW-the-Critic-v3-640x244.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yellowface Year: 2023 Author: R.F. Kuang Length: 519 minutes \/ 8.65 hours There are plenty of books with authors as the main character, but Yellowface feels like the first time that the struggles have been expressed in such a realistic way. Most author protagonists seem to exist in this vacuum where nobody else in their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,54],"tags":[3407,1017,55,4089,4091,4092,4088,4090,8,1016,4087],"class_list":["post-4241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-5-stars","category-book","tag-3407","tag-author","tag-book","tag-diversity","tag-plagairism","tag-publishing","tag-r-f-kuang","tag-raical-inclusion","tag-review","tag-writing","tag-yellowface"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4241"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4245,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4241\/revisions\/4245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}