Yellowface
YellowfaceR. F. Kuang
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Yellowface (2023)

R. F. Kuang

Others: Overwhelmingly positive

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.

ISBN:
9780008532819
Length:
331 pages

Genres: mystery, thriller, literary fiction

Lists: …

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Reviews13

Loved it

this book has such an intense addictive quality to it's literally like watching a train wreck like you are watching this character make so many bad decisions so many poor choices but you just can't look away

Loved it

I just thought the story was really smart really entertaining definitely again a lot lighter and cuter than I normally would but if you look at the meat of the story there's a lot of really smart messaging that is going on underneath the surface and I thought it was really well done I love this author