A review by reggiereading
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

oh my god. i said this about tsh by donna tartt too, but i'd read this book just for the ending. the only reason this isn't a 5 star review is because it's horribly dated, so many things referenced are so 2023 it's insane.
i really enjoyed june's character. she was so firm in her belief that she wasn't doing anything wrong i almost started to believe it (almost)!
i can't decide if i like athena or not. i was happy when june mentioned some happy moments in her friendship with her, but i can't get over how many stories athena stole and profited from (seriously, stealing june's rape story is a whole new level of stealing). even though athena was only alive for the first maybe 2 chapters of the book, i really felt like i knew her by the end, she was so present in june's life. i really felt how haunted june felt, how desperate she was to be free from athena's shadow.
the book was well-paced, it felt very quick at the moments of her book releases and social media happenings, but immediately slow when, for example, june saw athena's ghost at the event at politics & prose. the kind of slow that doesn't drag, but stops you in your tracks.