I read this for a book club and that's the only reason I persevered. I was gripped by the first few chapters and then lost interest when it became repetitive and slow. I didn't really understand or get to know any of the characters well enough to maintain interest.
Great narration!

Really enjoyed this story. Very cleverly written! It brings up so many questions of fame, success, cancel culture and the publishing industry, and challenges the reader to draw their own conclusions. I was constantly flitting between empathy and dislike for the protagonist. The narration was great and really captured the voice of the main character.

A no spoiler review for this is difficult but here goes!
The narrator is great. The book is clever satire. But it left me cold and it was a relief to get to the end if it. Thought provoking and one of those I'm glad I've read but I didn't enjoy the process of getting here.

I was bored through most of this book, it jumped around trying to keep you hooked. I only finished it to see if it would get better, for me it didnu2019t.

Funny and engaging. The narration was fabulous.

I loved this book! Too much to say about it here, but thought it was great

So whatu2019s the buzz about? I feel a need to know, and set forth via my XigXag audio app (with read-along text if I want it).

Having just seen Christopher Nolanu2019s very impressive Oppenheimer two days before I start reading, Iu2019m amused with deep appreciation of a comparison between an unpublished manuscript about WW1 and Nolanu2019s Dunkirk. This comparison of the novelu2019s structure with Nolanu2019s multi-threaded multi-layered auteurship works well for me.

The booku2019s publishers already spoil the plot. If youu2019re thinking of reading the book you probably know the plot outline pretty well or can easily find it if thatu2019s what you need. I wonu2019t elaborate.

The slide of our protagonistu2019s morality is breath-taking. Her style is breathlessly urgent and blind to her own appalling failings. Self-justification abounds.

Rebecca F Kuang, as Yellowfaceu2019s author, certainly is not blind and not justifying her protagonistu2019s actions, but using them to excoriate the publishing industry and the wider society it serves, also challenging us about cultural appropriation and raising the question of whether an author can write about cultural experiences not their own. (Think American Dirt, which is passingly mentioned.)

Publishing is an industry driven by marketing. Here is protagonist Juniper Songu2019s reflections on an aspect of book marketing. Itu2019s an interesting read for someone like me, who suspects this sort of thing but has never had it explained.
u201cI didnu2019t know book boxes were such a major industry, but apparently subscription services like Readaholics send books out in cute crates with accompanying merchandise to tens of thousands of customers a month. The Readaholics Book Box edition of The Last Front will have special deckled edges, and ship out along with a cruelty-free vegan leather tote bag, a collectible key chain featuring various jade Chinese zodiac animals (for a special fee you can take a personality quiz online to determine your zodiac affinity), and a selection of sustainably sourced, single-origin green teas from Taiwan.u201d

Itu2019s been a bright and unusual start with some possibilities of this veering into other genres such as crime. But from halfway in, Iu2019m starting to flag. Will this self-indulgent lying self-delusionist ever get her comeuppance?

Thereu2019s an authorial shift of gear, my interest renews and I make it to the end, reasonably satisfied with having read this buzzy book. I get the cultural politics I think, learn some history, learn about the struggles of authors. But it is not a book whose sensitivities speak to me strongly.