nerd teacher [books] reviewed Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Conceptually interesting, deeply discomforting in presentation
3 stars
This wasn't a book that I could particularly feel okay reading; I'm fine with being made uncomfortable by topics within books, but there are rarely ways material is presented that makes me want to crawl in a hole until it stops. That is how this book felt because the constant focus on the social media landscape made me want to look away, especially when I just kept repeating to myself all the things that June should've done (as if she were a real person).
The concept is really interesting, though I find the initial premise harder to believe in the setup (maybe it's simply that I wouldn't steal a manuscript from the apartment of someone who I'd just watch choke to death on mostly cooked pancakes, as that would never be my first thought). Everything that comes after, however, is mostly believable. (Well, except for some nitpicks, like June not …
This wasn't a book that I could particularly feel okay reading; I'm fine with being made uncomfortable by topics within books, but there are rarely ways material is presented that makes me want to crawl in a hole until it stops. That is how this book felt because the constant focus on the social media landscape made me want to look away, especially when I just kept repeating to myself all the things that June should've done (as if she were a real person).
The concept is really interesting, though I find the initial premise harder to believe in the setup (maybe it's simply that I wouldn't steal a manuscript from the apartment of someone who I'd just watch choke to death on mostly cooked pancakes, as that would never be my first thought). Everything that comes after, however, is mostly believable. (Well, except for some nitpicks, like June not knowing how to look up an IP but being able to figure out how to get one. Also the fact that there were already WordPress plugins, even prior to the publication of this book, that were able to get all that information for you in one go without a person doing much work and without someone needing to involve their brother-in-law.)
It's worth noting that, by the time I'm reading it, its structure is already quite dated because of the focus on Twitter. Even a couple years after publication, it feels bizarre considering how many people have fled that platform for other walled gardens. I imagine in a few more years, it'll feel even more awkward as people lose the cultural memory of what Twitter was for what it currently is.