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    Yellowface: A Novel
    Yellowface: A Novel
    Yellowface: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Yellowface: A Novel

    Written by R. F. Kuang

    Narrated by Helen Laser

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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 readable. 

    Editor's Note

    #BookTok sensation author…

    In one of the most anticipated novels of the year, June, a white writer, steals a manuscript from her recently deceased Chinese American rival, then publishes it under a racially ambiguous persona. But June’s choices soon haunt her in more ways than one. Kuang, author of bestselling BookTok sensations “Babel” and “The Poppy War,” delivers a sharp satire that skewers white entitlement and cultural appropriation in the publishing industry and beyond.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 16, 2023
    ISBN9780063250864
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for Yellowface

    4/5

    3,330 ratings131 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a complex exploration of heavy-hitting topics, with a well-thought concept and brilliant execution. The pace of the novel keeps readers on the edge of their seat, and the twists and turns leave them jaw-dropped. The book offers a scathing look at the publishing industry and white privilege, making readers cringe and reflect on their own actions. While some found the ending confusing or the main character unlikable, overall, the book is an intriguing and captivating read that sparks deep thoughts about cancel culture and social media.

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5

      Apr 4, 2025

      This book absolutely hooked me and I listened to the whole thing in three days. SO GOOD!
    • 5/5

      Mar 7, 2025

      *I listened to this book via Everand. * Wow. A brilliant depiction of one woman's spiral. Juniper, the main character, is a person you are not sure if you would hate to love or love to hate. But her obsessive behaviour draws one in. Kuang expertly shows the reader a rise and fall of an not so lovable character. The novel includes underlined commentary on modern publishing, covert racisam, but ultimately it is a map to a head of an obsessive person. A great read.
    • 4/5

      Mar 5, 2025

      This book is a lot of things. The main character is totally unlikable, but still I couldn't let go. Highly recommend
    • 5/5

      Feb 9, 2025

      Timely and important. Racism in publishing is sadly not talked about. This is a stunning work. Read it.
    • 5/5

      Jan 29, 2025

      I enjoyed this a lot more than I'd expected. It took me for a wild ride through the thoughts of a woman who very deftly convinced herself that she was doing the right thing, and the way it's presented is so nuanced and realistic I could see myself thinking such thoughts as well. I might pick up another of her books after this, despite The Poppy War not hitting for me. Great book.
    • 3/5

      Nov 15, 2024

      I liked it, i enjoyed it, but i had something phenomenal in mind for a plot twist or something. still, i have enjoyed it anyways ?
    • 5/5

      Nov 10, 2024

      RF Kuang, I would read your grocery lists. You haven’t let me down yet. Absolutely incredible, I never knew what the end would be until I knew.
    • 5/5

      Oct 26, 2024

      Loved this read! Finished it in two days. The perspective is great and I enjoyed how it made me question the ethics of each character.
    • 2/5

      Oct 21, 2024

      Expected more but the story was too boring to follow
    • 5/5

      Oct 17, 2024

      Jesus such a good read... I had so much fun listening to it.
    • 3/5

      Oct 14, 2024

      I held off on reading this because I thought it would be a heavy read. It was and it wasn’t. It kept my attention, for the most part, and I predicted the ending but there were so many questions left unanswered that it ticked me off. What was Athena’s family history that terrified her mom so much? How did the ex boyfriend suddenly stop caring once June admits to stealing Athena’s idea? The characters were shallow and I didn’t care for the writing and I didn’t want to get to know the characters more. Read it if you want to. I should have just kept holding off on it.
    • 5/5

      Oct 9, 2024

      Best book I have heard in ages! Loved every single, unfiltered and raw moment of it. Proud that storytelling like this is still possible. Can’t wait for it to become a film! Special thank you you to the narrator for giving it life?
    • 4/5

      Sep 13, 2024

      June presents so many entitled women. They seek out any chance to take credit for work and concepts they didn’t come up with themselves simply because they think they’re more deserving.
    • 4/5

      Sep 8, 2024

      Captivating and unique!
      Exploring issues that we all face, read ot
    • 3/5

      Aug 28, 2024

      I found this book to be quite enjoyable, despite the very unlikeable characters. I loved R.F. Kuang's other books, so my expectations for this one might have been a little too high. 3.5 ☆
    • 3/5

      Aug 14, 2024

      I expected a much better book. The main character is so unlikeable, and I almost gave up at the 25% mark… but continued on based on the positive reviews. There is some interesting psychology on rationalization and buying into one’s own lies, and the narrator was very good. Overall though, meh.
    • 5/5

      Jul 29, 2024

      Fantastic themes! Absolute masterpiece. Kuang is at her most raw and most honest ?
    • 4/5

      Jul 23, 2024

      Very well written. I found myself cycling through phases of feeling sorry for June and hating her. Most of the time I hated her, which at times made it hard to listen to the book. But I think that was the point!
    • 5/5

      Jul 19, 2024

      Very entertaining. It shows how quickly we can create versions of events to meet our needs! Looking forward to more from this author.
    • 5/5

      Jul 15, 2024

      the writing was phenomenal, deserves the hype it got .
    • 4/5

      Jul 6, 2024

      Fascinating story we follow along all with all the twists and anxieties. Learnt about how novel writing to publishing proceeds. Very interesting
    • 3/5

      Jun 30, 2024

      It was fine it took me a long time to finish and often fell asleep while listening. The protagonists is very unlikeable and irritating
    • 5/5

      Jun 20, 2024

      Wow absolutely fantastic book. I loved every word. Great narration too.
    • 2/5

      Jun 18, 2024

      I found the concept of profiting from stolen material
      Repugnant.
    • 5/5

      Jun 17, 2024

      The narrator is AMAZING! I can't stop listening to it. The good thing about this book is the words are so easy to read. Kudos to the author and the narrator.
    • 3/5

      Jun 1, 2024

      3.5 I loved the discussion around the publishing industry. I was hooked.
    • 5/5

      May 12, 2024

      Excellent book, regarding race relations, perceptions, motives and revenge … very enjoyable book to read ??
    • 2/5

      May 4, 2024

      An awful lot of whining in the narrative. I can barely stand it.
    • 3/5

      Apr 29, 2024

      At first, I thought I disliked this book because of the main character. Though she is downright dislikable, and despite the fact that the plot started out interesting, the last half of the book turned into predictable and juvenile plot lines. This coupled with the over the top white woman entitlement trope made this book hard to finish. Though I will say the author did a fairly good job of making the character seem shallow and completely tone deaf to her own racism. But this tone deafness is what made the book a real slog . It made the character one dimensional and even the Asian character at the end of the book was made out to an angry woman of color. These tropes are tiring and downright exhausting when reading them over and over in a novel. It would have been nice to give the characters some depth. After all, complexity is what makes racism, entitlement, and suffering these things so horrible and confusing . Otherwise it’s far too easy to reduce people to tropes and stereotypes.
    • 4/5

      Apr 28, 2024

      Cunning, brilliant. Reminded me of The Tell-Tale Heart. Totally recommended, a great story to debate at a book club!