Yellowface
What’s the harm in a pseudonym? New York Times 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 in the vein of White Ivy and The Other Black Girl.
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody 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 to the British and French war efforts 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 takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
Reviews
maya@starveil
Amelia Hruby@ameliajo
envee@wutheringshelves
Caroline@caru
sarah ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚@thegoldflinch
Rebeca Keren Nuñez@rebecanunez
John Manoogian III@jm3
Bella Baxter@bellhorebooks
Chitra Kokkirala@chitra
Little Flower@kenzia
Cristina S@cattonatto
Jessica Harn@jesscollinsharn
Isabella @iscbella
Frederik De Bosschere@freddy
Nicole@nicmochi
claudia alford@claudalford
Victoria @waltzkatzenblut
gabby@snoopygabster
Lewis Ngugi@ngeshlew
wen@wennie
Jessica Kovalick@jessicakovalick
Allison Dempsey@alliedempsey
annalyse! @a_nnalyse
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Highlights
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd
Atli 💗🧚🏽♀️@0ceanblvd