Yellowface, R. F. Kuang
Yellowface, R. F. Kuang
1 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $16.50
Club: $12.49

Yellowface
A Novel

Bestseller

Author: R. F. Kuang

Narrator: Helen Laser

Unabridged: 8 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 05/16/2023


Synopsis

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 authorWhite 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 readable. 

About R. F. Kuang

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.


Reviews

Goodreads review by ishika on March 03, 2025

2/5 i feel weird writing this review. for one, Yellowface isn’t out until next year. two, the book is very meta about twitter and book reviews—ratings on goodreads even make up several important plot points. i feel like me and the book are engaging in some inside joke. i’ve decided not to include any......more

Goodreads review by Bookishrealm on July 11, 2023

Whew child. Some of these reviews are doing exactly what Kuang was pointing out through Yellowface. It’s interesting to watch it happen in real time. While I don’t have extensive knowledge of her work, I think what Kuang is doing in this book is actually quite brilliant. At the most basic of levels,......more

Goodreads review by Emily May on January 25, 2024

If publishing is rigged, you might as well make sure it’s rigged in your favor. 4.5 stars. Holy shit, I had an absolute blast reading this! I inhaled it in a day. Forgive me if I make no sense because I stayed up late to finish it! To be honest, I wasn't going to read Yellowface. I found Kuang's B......more

Goodreads review by Nilufer on April 09, 2025

This is a compelling, cynical, and thought-provoking satire that delves into themes of plagiarism, racism, and internet trolling. It offers a realistic portrayal of the publishing industry within the framework of a heart-pounding thriller. The story revolves around an anti-heroine driven by power an......more

Goodreads review by Yun on July 25, 2024

I'm always drawn towards stories about plagiarism. You write 'em, I read 'em. And the ones I like best tend to be a little bit tongue-in-cheek and satirical, inviting you to see the world through the plagiarist's eyes. After all, they're not really bad people, are they? They see a story that needs t......more