Emma Goto

So I watched the movie a long time ago and the movie did a really, really good job of translating the vibe of the book to the big screen. So if you've seen the movie, you kind of know what you're getting. The plot revolves around a husband his wife who goes missing. It's revealed that the husband actually hated his wife and seemingly doesn't seem too outwardly concerned about it all, and ends up becoming the main suspect in her disappearance.

So the setup immediately had my YA alarm bells ringing (17 year old lead who is really smart, strong and is fighting against an unjust and wrong society) but this was honestly really good! The plot and characters are complicated enough that it's not clearly split into good guys and bad guys, so I'm keen to see where this goes next.

I stopped and started this one a couple of times, but I found the beginning to be really confusing, and I didn't really connect with the characters either so I didn't find the middle or ending to be all that impactful either. Which is a shame, because I like some of the author's other books!

A very fantastical-yet-not-fantasy book, sort of similar to 100 Years of Solitude. It follows the story of a family in Iran post the Islamic Revolution in the 1960s. Although the book has magic, ghosts and even a mermaid, it's missing that something that would make me want to categorise it as a fantasy book - maybe because of its very serious subject matter, and really the lack of anything good happening. (It's just one tragedy after another). The author escaped from Iran herself, and with little cultural references explained in the footnotes, you can see how it's a lament for what could have been for her country.

I gave it a 4 stars because it has a bit of a slow start, with the fantasy elements feeling quite overwhelming and confusing at first.

About a white writer stealing a story from Chinese American author and passing it off as her own, while making her penname be racially ambiguous hence the title “yellowface”.

The main character doesn't think of herself as a racist but is very obviously one (a lot of little microaggressions throughout the whole book like being surprised when an Asian character speaks good English). So you start off by obviously hating her, but the way it's done feels quite heavy handed. And as she gets sucked more into her lie towards the end you can't help but feel some sympathy for her but at the same time you don't want her to succeed so it feels pretty conflicting.

The ending also acts more as a set up for a second novel but I can't help but wish it was resolved a bit more satisfyingly.