Juniper "Junie" Song Hayward goes out with Yale classmate and coincidental acquaintance Athena Liu. Athena is celebrating her publishing success, as well as her latest Netflix deal. Junie has not attained this level of success, but she has also published with a smaller press. Junie simmers with envy, but she tries to be a fun companion as they celebrate Athena's successes. At the end of the night, Athena chokes on a pancake and drops dead. Junie has Athena's latest WIP in her bag. Thus begins the darkly funny and satirical journey of Junie as she shortens her name to "Junie Song" and appropriates Athena's writing and culture as her own.

R.F. Kuang writes a bitingly sharp and intelligent novel about racism, white superiority, cultural appropriation, and publishing. Junie manages to bury herself deeper and deeper into scandal and the dilemma she has created for herself looms larger and larger. This is also a critique of the publishing industry. 4/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest feedback. Loved this thriller, it's very different from Kuang's other works but hits hard.

This book was incredibly enjoyable.
The fast-paced plot was written in such a comical way that even though it is an extremely relevant critique, it goes down quite easily. As crazy as the main character gets, she never fails to one-up herself with her next terrible decision (to my exasperated amusement).
Yellowface is my top read for 2023 so far.

An excellent commentary on racism and cultural appropriation specifically in the publishing industry! You can definitely tell that the author was passionate about this narrative and had a clear vision about what she wanted to achieve. The narrator is purposefully an awful person with her actions making the reader feel like they're watching a car crash in slow motion. It's horrible but you just can't stop watching.

A terrific page-turner. And so relatable on many levels for writers of any stripe because of how Kuang dives deep into how the publishing industry works. The line that stayed with me the most and that I've been quoting the most to fellow writer friends is about how bestsellers don't happen, they're chosen by an elite, select group of gatekeepers. Ain't that the truth?

Yellowface is a speculative fiction novel by R.F. Kuang, published in 2023. The novel follows the story of Juniper (June) Song Hayward, a female caucasian, and Athena Lee, a young Chinese-American woman who was a highly revered author who writes about Asian heritage. June and Athena were together on the last night of Athena’s life when she suddenly chokes and dies in front of June. Right before Athena dies, June stumbled upon Athena’s latest and highly secretive manuscript in which Athena asks June to do a read over and let Athena know what June thinks. This is important: Athena has no computer when she types her manuscripts out. She uses an antiqued typewriter and puts all her notes into a moleskin journal. June, being too drunk with Athena, puts the manuscript into her bag and tells Athena, they both are too drunk and she will review it when she is sober. With the sudden and shocking death of Athena, June has the only copy of Athena’s last work.

Yellowface is a well-written and exciting novel that explores themes of identity, race, and power. Kuang's writing is sharp and witty, and her characters are complex and believable. You may not like any of the characters but as you continue reading and peeling back each layer, you realize how realistic the flaws are. Not just these two people but all the characters in the novel.

Speaking of flaws, Yellowface is not without its flaws. The plot is sometimes convoluted, and the pacing can be uneven. Additionally, the novel's treatment of race and identity is somewhat simplistic.
Overall, Yellowface is an enjoyable and thought-provoking novel that is well worth reading. However, readers should be aware of its flaws before reading it.

Triggers ⚠️: diaspora, canceled culture, woke, racism, suicide, rape, and cyber bullying.

Writing Style: 3.5/5
Plot: 3.5/5
Pace: 3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
Intrigue: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Thank. you to Netgalley and William Morrow Publishing for my e-copy for an unbiased review.

What a brilliantly-done satire—the critiques of publishing and privilege in the industry are sharply drawn, and June's character—while disturbing—is fully-developed into a person I understand. A thriller that mad me laugh in horror and will be lingering with me for a long time.

It really gets at the way white liberals give themselves a pass on racism because at least they didn’t vote for Trump and some of their best friends aren’t white.

I'd be really interested to see how this book to received by non-book people. It's a really nuanced conversation, that this book gives all sides a voice. Really interesting to read as a member of the book community.

This book is extremely readable. It’s told from June’s perspective, the ultimate unreliable narrator, and it reads like a casual conversation with your most try hard white liberal work friend. She’s v basic. I applaud Kuang for really taping into that voice. Where the novel stutters for me is that being with that character for so long (300+ pages) stops being interesting and gets a touch boring. Same can be said for the plot. It starts strong and is very provocative but ultimate it fizzles as the story unfolds and tries to figure out how to end.
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YELLOWFACE is full of critique for publishing, white creatives, and consumer culture as a whole. There are clearly pieces of this book that are ripped from the headlines (if not Kuang’s own experiences and observations) and they resonated with me as I read. The flip side to that praise is that this book feels dated. So much of what is said here has been hashed out publicly online for the last 5-10 years (if not longer). This book didn’t say anything new, nor did it pack a new punch. It felt tame given what we’re living through and especially for a work of satire on racism and ownership.

This book by R.F. is brilliant. To write a notice in the villain's voice and accurately depict the thought process of the villain's behaviour.

Although the characters seem extreme, the message is apparent.

June has stolen the manuscript of her "friend" when she dies in a freak accident. June will never feel remorse for her actions - she has the all too familiar mindset where she can easily justify anything. At no point is there remorse for her effort, only remorse for the consequences

Although June is extreme, she is not an unknown type of person - the little things she does are very clearly steeped in racism and microseism.
June doesn't want to understand the story of the minority. She would instead assume they have it easier because of their ability to gain from their struggles.

The ending was also fantastic and reminiscent of how this situation pane out in real life.

I loved this read, especially for its brilliance in writing

A stunning and smart look at the publishing industry from the inside out. R.F. Kuang is a scholar in many areas, and publishing politics is clearly one of them. It's also plain fun to read, totally engrossing, with intriguing but simple elements of mystery that will appeal to those who aren't even traditional mystery readers (like myself).

YES! This book was so good. It left me feeling totally unsettled because despite DESPISING the main character, I was also rooting for her! I kept thinking of the American Dirt scandal while reading this one and I loved the way Kuang gave the reader what felt like insider info about publishing. It's an interesting catch-22 of a plot as well, because Athena was also not that likeable. Loved it. I will read anything Kuang writes.

Going into Yellowface, you cannot expect Babel. You have to set yourself up for a very very VERY different book than Babel. Babel was brilliant but definitely academic and a bit dense in spots. It was inspirational, heartbreaking, and it made you think.

Yellowface will make you think, it will challenge your views, it will anger you, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a thriller with some serious modern commentary on cultural appropriation, the publishing industry as a whole, cancel culture, and more topics that require such an intelligent and careful hand. R. F. Kuang is definitely up for the challenge.

From the first chapter of this book, you can tell this is going to be different from her other works. I read this one slowly over a month or so of eating breakfast, and I oftentimes found myself compelled to keep reading just to see “Juniper Song’s” downfall.

A thriller with weight that will be alllllllllll the rage and discussion of thoughtful book clubs in just a couple of days. Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read by R.F. Kuang, though her other books are on my TBR.

From what I’m reading this is pretty different from her usual work. I’m definitely intrigued to pick up her other books.

It was very interesting to see more of the publishing side of things from someone who experiences it first hand. I can’t say I really liked any of the characters. I wasn’t really rooting for any of them. I’m not sure if that was the intent or not. I don’t use Twitter nor do I particularly care about Twitter ‘drama’ so that may have lost me a bit.

This was well written but just not my cup of tea.

Thanks to HarperCollinsCa for this advanced copy.

When June Hayward's "friend" Athena Liu dies unexpectedly, everything changes. June and Athena went to Yale together and both had high hopes of becoming literary stars. Only Athena achieves those goals and June's career is nothing more than a flop. June resents Athena's stardom, but still goes out with her when invited. A pancake eating contest gone wrong leaves June alone with Athena's final manuscript. She publishes it under the name Juniper Song, a deliberately ambiguous name that leads many readers to believe that June is Asian like Athena. It's the story of a spectacular rise to fame and the fallout from it. June starts seeing Athena's ghost and when she begins to get ominous messages from Athena's Instagram account, she wonders if she's lost all sense of reality. This book is an intellectual thriller. It kept me on the edge of my seat, though I wasn't rooting for anyone.

3.5/5 rounded up.


This was good... not great. I love R.F Kuang's writing. She is straightforward and almost academic at times, which adds to her style and elevates her themes. Where this gets in the way, is when she gets heavy handed. Her style just wasn't made for satire. Was this a great social commentary? Yes. Sometimes it screams a point you at the sake of the story making chapters clunky. June is an irredeemable, terrible person, and a great main character. Witnessing her manipulate and explain away her racism and plagiarism creates a thrilling tension and thoughtful commentary on the publishing industry. This book makes you think. When this book is great, it's great. When it screams a point at the sake of the plot, its not my style.

This book is SO GOOD. It's like the scandals over American Dirt, Bad Art Friend, and...whatever big plagiarism scandal you can think of combined into a thoroughly engrossing novel.

June Heyward is a writer but her only published novel has seen no success and she struggles to get by. Meanwhile, her former classmate and...friend? sort of?....Athena Liu is a literary wunderkind, her first novel reaching bestseller status when Liu is still in school.

When Athena suddenly dies and June finds herself in possession of the notes for Liu's work in progress, June sets out on a path that she will find hard to turn back from, even when confronted over and over with the ghostly truth.

There is so much in this novel that as a member of the book community I found fascinating, hilarious, and so on point. For example, June's publisher decides to publish the book under the name Juniper Song, because they don't want the world to know she's actually a white women writing about Chinese laborers during WWI. Or how Kuang so brilliantly describes the rhythms of booktok, whose righteous outrage while justified is met with a careless roll of the eyes by June and her bestseller friends.

I was so appalled at yet also fascinated by the main character - a most unlikeable person whose story we can't help but become engrossed in.

I haven't yet read Kuang's other work but I'll be doing so asap. Highly, highly recommended!

Yellowface is a propulsive, insightful look at the world of publishing. June Hayward and Athena Liu were college classmates and friendly with each other. Both become published authors, but Athena is much more successful than June. When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her manuscript and passes it off as her own. The novel examines racism in the publishing industry, what it means to be a successful writer, and plagiarism and theft of intellectual property, and the whole novel is very meta. I couldn't put it down!

Okay, this book made me angry. But like, wasn't that the point?
Yellowface is RF Kuang's debut literary fiction (but her writing transcends genres, truly. Even though this is not a fantasy book by any means, it was so well written.) about a white author who steals her dead friend's manuscript and publishes it as her own. It further goes on to discuss major themes such as racism in publishing, accountability, and white privilege. As an Asian reader, this book captivated me. Again, it made me HATE the main character and the things that they said, but it invoked some emotion in me that honestly, will have me thinking about this book for a long time. Absolutely banging job by RF Kuang and now I need to delve back into her backlist!