• Yellowface

  • A Novel
  • By: R. F. Kuang
  • Narrated by: Helen Laser
  • Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (3,220 ratings)

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Yellowface  By  cover art

Yellowface

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Helen Laser
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Publisher's summary

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

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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

What listeners say about Yellowface

Average customer ratings
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Loved it!

Story was disturbingly awesome and
narration/performance was spot on. The story told so accurately “the spin” that has forever existed but is exponentially worse with social media! Incredibly entertaining!

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3 people found this helpful

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Bad people in a good book

Hooked from the start. Really good performance too the voice is snarky and just mean girl enough to capture June but not too much to be cloying. Glad this was picked as our book club book!

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2 people found this helpful

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Too much fun

I wish this author would write more books in this genre. I see her other books are fantasy, but this was so stellar I’ll have to try one. I had to listen to this nonstop all day long. Superb novel, superb narrator. I’m going to look up the narrator as well. Perfect!

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1 person found this helpful

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Couldn’t put it down

This voice of June is so authentic to the dark side of all of our minds … all the things we’d never actually say or do. You can’t look away as she hurdles herself towards destruction and yet you are rooting for her. An incredible development of a complex character you both hate and love simultaneously.

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1 person found this helpful

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Hard to hit pause on this one...

Terrific, entertaining, darkly funny and thought-provoking. Simultaneously completely unique story while ringing true, full of recognizable characters. The narration was absolutely hilarious and perfectly paired with the sharpness of the writing. Addictive!

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GOOD BUT ramble-y

A bit of babbling BUT still keeps you interested. This book had me picking a side. Keeps you interested you’ll love to hate the protagonist.

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Captivating listen

I thoroughly enjoyed this story even though I wasn’t sure who to root for. Great narration, too!

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Great book!

I thought it was a really fun to read and was enthralled from the start.

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An Amazing Story. Highly Recommend

This is a hugely compelling story. I did not know I needed this until I listened. Take a crack of this book. It is amazing :)

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WOW

This book was such an interesting take. I never knew how much I would enjoy reading a book like this until now. This story really had me on the edge of me seat from the very beginning. It's so well written and explores such important themes. Well done.

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