Yellowface

A Novel

By: R. F. Kuang

Narrated by: Helen Laser

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

“Hard to put down, harder to forget.”—Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently enjoyable.

©2023 R. F. Kuang (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

I've never hated a character harder

The main character was the cringiest character that I've ever read- and that's a compliment to the author.
The right-wing readers getting upset about the premise basically solidifies the validity of this book and they seem to miss the point of it entirely.
The audio performance was riveting and so well produced.

Was This on Purpose?

The first third of the story was amazing, but the story and the writing peters out after that. If this was purposeful, it was brilliant and in the spirit of the story. If not, it is still very good and the author seemed to enjoy writing it.

Hard to rate

There were a lot of things I did like about this book but also a lot of things I didn’t. In general, though, I find it difficult to rate a book that has such an intentionally unlikable and unreliable narrator. I didn’t want to spend any more time with this character.

Epitome of a one day read

Wanted to read this as soon as I saw the blurb and it did not disappoint, although I do wish they had included R.F. Kuang’s small disclaimer in the acknowledgments that her actual publishing team is the opposite of the jealous and paranoid literary world presented here. Perfect read for anyone who keeps up with real world author drama— “author kills her husband then writes a best seller about grief” kind of vibes.

Ate this book up!

In love with the story and narration! I finished this so quickly couldn’t stop listening!

Listened To The Entire Thing In One Day

When Eric Clapton first saw Jimi Hendrix play live, his initial reaction was to question his own ability. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep playing guitar. This book, at first, made me want to stop writing. Then, it just made me want to write at this level someday.

Insane (in a good way)

The way this book was able to give us a peak into what white privilege is like was amazing. RF Kuang is a word genius.

Great performance great writing

Fair warning, you might be stressed out the entire time lol Good book, highly recommended

Move over Jonathan Swift

Wow, this starts with a punch and just gets worse and worse (in the best, most condemning, of ways). I have more empathy than ever for diverse, marginalized writers. The sad thing is, I’ve heard all these excuses, too, in one way or another. What a condemnation.

These days, everyone gets to decide what they will or won’t write, what they will or won’t publish. I wish all would read this before making their decisions. I do believe that many in the publishing world will read it. That is a good thing. I’m glad I did. I always want diversity in books and in the books I wrote. I don’t want to take the place of marginalized writers and their stories.

Needs Her Comeuppance

Really liked this book, the main character was fun to hate. My only criticism was that she didn’t get utterly crushed in the end. I really wanted to see her completely emotionally destroyed, but never got that joy.