Yellowface: A Novel

Written 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 readable. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: May 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9780063250864

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 for Yellowface

[Nicole Hagood · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[gmaccagnociccarelli · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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

[Minn Pete' · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh wow! Loved every bit of this book, great fiction story.

[Leonora Dufour · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found the story funny and enthralling, and the narration extremely well executed.

[Marian Helsby · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating read about the world of book publishing and peppered with contrasts of author friendship and betrayal, racism, white privilege, fierce competition and mysterious death. The audible version is so well performed, it is as though you are listening to the main character in the story.

[Francess Remi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you're looking for an eye-opening read, this is it. The lengths that Juniper went to remain relevant are astounding and will leave you in disbelief. Trust me, this book is a must-read.

This book got me out of my months-old reading slump.

[ggerstndss · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I loved everything except the ending. Incredible story that absolutely keeps you hanging onto to the edge of your seat. It is realistic portrayal of how our society can turn on people in a second using platforms such as Twitter (refuse to call it X:-)

[Kelly Clarke · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a "pre-agented" writer (who has seen my own disability be incorrectly and harmfully represented in literature by an able-bodied author who received heaps of praise...) Holy crap.

IDK if the cliffhanger ending was brilliant or frustrating.

[Ramonia Nelson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I painfully stuck with this book. The characters themselves were good but not developed enough. The mother should have protected her Athena’s legacy more. It would have been more interesting if ultimately the mother was behind the harassment from the daughters account while working with Cindy. Not worth the listen.

[claire.rosenfrisk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Exceptional. Gripping, thought provoking, and dark. Satire at its finest.

[Kate Cloutier · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an extremely well written book. However I was so anxious listening to it. It’s definitely worth a listen. The narrator is so cringey.

[Kaia Vere · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow, okay. Bravo. What an ending.

I can't give it five stars because I almost gave up on it during the first half of the book, to be honest. Both Juniper and Athena and well, pretty much every character actually, are absolutely insufferable, and for about the first half it's mostly just listening to everyone complain. I find it hard to connect with a story if the characters are unlikable (not badly written, just unlikable).

Buuut I had to know what the twist was, and this book sure as hell delivers on that if you stick around.

It's VERY meta -- like, just when you think you understand the premise, R.F. Kuang peels back another layer of the inception, even in the very last page.

[Arely Ivonne Lopez Soto · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Something never imagined to happened, June after all got mad!

[Barry Westbrook · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I started reading this because of the four star rating and finally had to just stop listening. Don’t waste your time.

[Rachel Valley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Omg!!!!! Loved this book!!! So many feels!!! Highly highly recommend!!!!

[Betty Bennett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dazzling, shifting plot. Kept me guessing. Crisp dialogue, believable characters and easily visualized environmental descriptions.

[Gloria Wooldridge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Did I like the narrator? The book?
No. But it was engrossing enough to stay with it. The story makes me think about narratives and how they are told and by whom - it makes all the difference.
And I saw so many instance’s of bullying, stereotyping, racism … I will be thinking about this for a while.

[Felicia Ross · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was just okay. Some parts kept my attention, and others didn’t.

[Beza Negussie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Phenomenal performance and edge of your seat read! I read this in one sitting!!

[jamie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! I’m not sure I have words! The author addresses so many important issues; racism, mental illness, jealousy, the publishing industry. The way one can tell themselves a story to justify their actions until they believe it to be truth.
This book, read it!

[Bayan Saeed · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Captivating well written novel about friendship betrayal, success after redemption

[Karina Pentecost · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The audible was good. The book however was all over the place. The main character was impossible to like or feel empathy for.

[Kimberly Tucker · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Liked the premise but not so much the details of the story. Some parts were extremely graphic without any real purpose.

[Shannon Henry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Waw this was.. waw
F -ed up but also really good

[Sabers Phoenix · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Couldn’t finish - hated the main character. Narrator was ok.

[Brian Fromm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The main characters anxiety made me anxious the whole time I was reading this book! The ending seemed sudden and left me hanging.

[paola garcia · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to appreciate the narrative but it was convoluted and at times pretentious. The ending was the most exciting, but overall I just couldn’t wait to finish.

[Libbie George · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So wait…what happened? She could walk away but doesn’t? I’m confused.

[Lindsay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Twisted, tense, and utterly captivating. This piece is a commentary not just on the publishing industry, but of cancel culture and social media. Read this and think hard about anything you have ever seen, posted, or followed on Twitter/X. Your mind might just be blown.

[lafeeriedeslivres · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5. R.F. Kuang is such a genius. I loved this book. Not as much as TPW but it was fun, funny and it reminded me of the meme “the lion, the witch, and the audacity of this B*”.