Yellowface Audiobook By R. F. Kuang cover art

Yellowface

A Novel

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Yellowface

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Helen Laser
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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
Genre Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire United States World Literature Witty Unreliable Narrator Funny Suspenseful Thought-Provoking

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Editorial Review

Frenemies, death, and a manuscript theft—sign me up!
Confession: I sometimes judge a book by its cover. Thankfully for me, Yellowface delivers a bold and impressive social commentary on the publishing world and its intersection with social media. The novel starts with June Hayward, a struggling white author who had an underwhelming debut experience. After witnessing her Asian American friend’s death, June makes a choice to steal, edit, and submit the late author’s latest unpublished manuscript as her own. What ensues is a meta, anxiety ridden, satirical thriller that had me rooting for the morally grey June—while also hoping that her mountain of crimes, lies, racism, and betrayals would be discovered. As a listener, lover, and reviewer of books, Yellowface has truly left me speechless (which is unusual for me). And to be completely honest, I have not been able to stop thinking about this brilliant novel since the moment the story ended. —Patty R., Audible Editor

All stars
Most relevant
I read this book in one sitting, it was so compelling and just flew by. The author is able to capture so many realistic expressions of the utterly toxic characters and the reader is also excellent in portraying them distinctly. Even the read aloud comments from social media have a wonderful animation to them that makes this read un-put-downable. Even though it is fiction, these people are every bit recognizable from daily life. Seeing this kind of nasty behavior so deftly conveyed in print is somehow reassuring. There is a serious challenge to people who operate like the deceitful and ultimately unrepentant narrator, but it never stops being funny.

A delight from start to finish

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This book started out great but after the first quarter it just went down hill. The characters were all one dimensional, mostly racist in one way or another, and completely unsympathetic.

By the time I was half way through I just wanted it to be over and was hoping the end would tie it all together. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

Such a disappointment after all the hype.

Overhyped

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I’m a huge fan of R.F. Kuang’s writing and this did not disappoint. I thought the narrator was perfect and really nailed the main character’s whole vibe.

Fantastic story and narration

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It was just an ok read, story was good but it just was not a page turner

Ok read only

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Narration was perfect, no complaints there. The story itself was as insufferable as the main character. I only finished the story out of pure stubbornness. I read a review that said R.F. Kuang wanted the story to read like an anxiety attack. She succeeded. I have enough anxiety on my own, thank you.

Anxiety attack as a novel

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