Bookends Book Club: Yellowface

RF Kuang’s 2023 satire of racial diversity, cultural appropriation and plagiarism in the publishing industry garnered some mixed reviews; the Washington Post was particularly critical of the main character (lacked depth) and the depictions of publishing (perfunctory). Our own view was closer to The Guardian’s – “a hugely entertaining account of a brazen literary heist” – or  The Chicago Review of Books’ commendation of “Kuang’s darkly witty tone, critiques of publishing and cultural exploitation, and the all-consuming nature of internet personas”. Should make for some interesting conversation …