I’ve heard so much about anticipatory hype around this book, and as I enjoyed the author’s previous novel Babel I wanted to check it out. From the start the narrative voice is strong, I felt like I understood Juniper and her motivations right away - even if I didn’t agree with them. Kuang delves into the psyche of someone who can’t see their own white privilege so well. As Juniper gets called out for her actions I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. My frustration grew as Juniper gets further into her own self-delusions of righteousness. I couldn’t help but thinking about the controversy around the book American Dirt while reading this book. How white voices outshine BIPOC, and how Kuang artfully crafted this story from a white perspective. While I enjoyed this, I am curious to see what the wider conversations will be around this story once it’s published. I can imagine the same reviewers that disliked Babel because they say too much of themselves in Letty disliking this book. Kuang knows how to hold up a mirror to society and forcing them to look.

This fast paced, smart, cutting social commentary is very different than the authors usual style. With highly questionable, frequently unlikable characters making often cringewothy decisions, it kept me hooked to the end. I would recommend it, just to see for oneself. Great book for discussion, bookclubs and reflection.

The audio book is fabulous. I really enjoyed the narration and felt it added to the experience.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I am speechless and unsure of how to feel or even put it down into words. What I can tell you is that I flew through this book! After reading Babel I was expecting a slower paced book, but yellowface hooked me from the beginning. RF Kuang did an incredible job narrating from the villain’s point of view because you should hate this lady, and you do, but you also sometimes forget she’s the bad one with how well she plays the victim card, until she says the next white feminist or racist bullshit and you remember you are in fact in the head of a gross person. You should hate being in her mind, in her story, but it’s like a train crash you can’t look away from, and I throughly enjoyed every second of it.

This book is a great commentary on the publishing industry, on white victimhood, and racism. I think the author also took the opportunity to make fun of what some of her critics have said about her and her work in the past and it looked like she actually enjoyed it which made it fun for me too, but honestly her biggest achievement was writing such an unlikeable, despicable and gross character, making us live inside her head for the entirety of the book, and come out loving every second of it… well mostly: I did find myself sometimes empathizing with Juniper and I felt extremely gross the second I realized that was happening 😂

4.5

This book was everything I had ever imagined, a satirical twisted view of comedy with the most unlikeable white woman you'll ever meet. The book really captured the essence of a true anti-protagonist although they are the main character they are the most unlikeable person by far and I've never wanted to punch a fictional character so much in my life. June captures the essence of a literal Karen in the making.

June is money hungry, and fame-hungry and will do anything to get where she believes she deserves to be when she's nothing more than a mediocre white woman trying to convince people that she actually has talent. I wish that the book allowed us to see the downfall of June towards the end a little bit more which is the only reason I didn't read it five stars. But other than that it was a chaotic, satirical mess which was absolutely fantastic.

An amazingly unlikeable narrator takes you on a wild ride through her thoughts and feelings on a scandalous act. Stealing Athena Liu's work is just the tip of the iceberg with June. She genuinely thinks that some of the things she does are justifiable and wants people to like her, because she's not a bad person - but she absolutely is. The ending was unexpected but totally on brand for June. I found myself gasping in shock and laughing incredulously at her ideas. Great read.

Can I give this 10 stars??? Kuang knocks it out of the park with this timely publishing satire. A recommended purchase in all formats.

Yellowface is a superbly crafted story about self-rationalization and the extent to which one can contort logic to justify immoral actions. The premise for the novel is simple enough - two young women authors, one successful and famous, the other not so much, have been convenient friends since college. When the famous friend dies tragically, the other steals the idea for her friend's unwritten novel about the mistreatment of Chinese laborers during World War I and writes a best seller. But she is hounded by the reality that it is not her original work. And the authenticity of her work is challenged by others who point to the fact that, unlike her famous friend, she is not Chinese.

How she responds, both to her inner demons and those who confront her with not quite provable allegations, is the heart of the novel. And it is engrossing from start to finish.

The narrator was terrific and made the book even more entertaining!

I read the e-galley of Yellowface a few months ago and was excited to get access to the audiobook version of this book. I loved the narrator and how well she narrated this novel! I felt all of June’s emotions and honestly think I preferred the audiobook to the written one.

Although, I still didn’t love the re-hashing of the social media drama happening with the main character, June. Found the book overall to be repetitive… Really enjoyed the audiobook!

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperAudio for the advanced audiobook!

This books is extremely meta- a book about books, authors, writing, publishing, trolls and also a lot about twitter. I read a couple reviews that seem to indicate that the book may mirror the author's life in some way. I have never read anything by R. F. Kuang before, and do not know anything about her history, so I'm not sure of the mechanics behind that. But, this book was excellent. I enjoyed nearly the entire thing. I loved it being told first person through the lens of someone making just extremely bad decisions and hearing the justifications and how she grapples with these decisions. I just ate it up. Its hilarious at points and just so painfully cringe at others. It definitely holds up a mirror to the publishing industry, and I thought it was quite brilliant.

She did that. Kuang went there. And it was absolutely worth it.

If you're even slightly aware of the publishing world, you will realize that this boo tells it as it is and may even be taking it a little light.

Our MC is so problematic yet seems like a 100% real character.

10/10

The narrator for the audiobook did a fantastic job.

3.5. This is a very bizarre book. I kept reading cuz I wanted to know how it ended. It talks a lot about the publishing industry and authors and social media and how it affects the industry. This was an ARC copy from NetGalley.

Audiobook Version of Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Provided this ARC by NetGalley and Harper Audio. Thank you!

This is my first R.F. Kuang book and it won't be my last. I was looking for a entertaining, unique fiction read and saw this available as an audiobook. I am in love...

Its so rare that I can read a book that is able to balance an amazing read and interweaving real world issues and themes and I'm so here for it! Oh to be sitting at the publishing company tables when discussing this book. I had heard about this book, but was still able to go into it not knowing much. What a fun read! Its almost like watching a train-wreck and you just can't look away. I found myself uncomfortable reading this book at times...Unhinged was an understatement. These characters haunt me still... lol!

This is such a great book no matter what genre you enjoy. It's just a really freakin fun read!

I

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced listening copy of yellowface by r. F. Kuang. This was so good and messed up beyond belief. I cannot express how many eyebrow raises were given during this and how much of my own internal commentary there way

Amazing! So many layers to this one. Biting send up of the publishing industry with plenty of emotion and a bit of a mystery thrown in as well. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. I interspersed the audio with the ebook and the narration was excellent as well.

What an absolute barn burner of a book (especially of that barn was the bookternet). Kuang's eviscerating commentary on who can tell which stories and the book internet's fury feels ripped from the headlines of your favorite book blog. You'll hate the main character in the best way.

An incredibly meta and compulsively readable book that is at once a satire of the current publishing environment and a kind of ghost story. The end does feel a bit unresolved, but it worked well enough for me. One caveat is that I don't know much about R.F. Kuang outside of the titles of her other books, so I can't comment on any parallels related to her writing career, as others have.

The production values on the audiobook were great and Helen Laser, the narrator does a really good job. She gives all the characters distinct voices, while injecting Juniper's perceptions of them into each one.

Would recommend for people who enjoy unrealiable narrator with a penchant for self-justification that lead to all sorts of dark places.

Content warnings: racism, white privilege, choking, death

A slight caution to readers who will pick up YELLOWFACE because they have read either The Poppy War trilogy or BABEL... if you expect this book to be anything like those books, you'll be disappointed. Sure YELLOWFACE (like Kuang's other novels) tackles the tough topics of racism and colonialism... but the plot and writing style of YELLOWFACE is entirely different.

Honestly, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about YELLOWFACE as a novel. This is full of sardonic, dark humor as Kuang explores how white-centric publishing (and readers) are - and a lot of it has been pulled directly out of recent authors' bad behaviors and drama between Goodreads reviewers and Twitter discourse. Which makes me wonder how this book will age if/when these social media platforms are no longer thriving, even though the issues will still be alive and well unfortunately. Our protagonist June Hayward isn't a good person, and she's not meant to be, and truth be told, Athena Liu isn't a great person either. But this isn't a novel about liking or cheering for a character, and I can see how Kuang will face harsh criticism from a certain type of reader because of this novel... which actually will just prove Kuang's point in the end.

YELLOWFACE is well written and is an important topic. For those readers who lean into contemporary literary fiction, I think they'll really enjoy it. Me personally? I preferred Kuang's other works better, but that's not to say this isn't a solidly good novel.

Helen Laser does a great job as the narrator.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and HarperAudio in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator is a bit of a cartoon villain, and the author’s opinions sometimes bleed through, making the social commentary a bit heavy-handed. That being said, I still found this very enjoyable and entertaining. I read it all in two sittings. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and it’s definitely different from all other RFK books. While I prefer her fantasy works, I still think this is solid.

Thank to NetGalley for an audio ARC of Yellowface by RF Kuang!!

This book is a masterpiece and should be a required reading for everyone. I've seen a few people complain that the main character is too unbearable. Like yeah that's kinda the point. Juniper is the narrator but she isn't the protagonist. She's the villain in her own story and to the people around her.. I'm surprised my eyes are still in my head with the amount of times I've rolled them. I was truly aghast most of the time by the sheer racist audacity of Juniper.

I loved how meta and satirical it is. As a book professional and chronic booktok viewer, it was almost uncanny how close it nails everything on the head. RF Kuang is a brilliant writer and I will read anything she publishes. Yellowface is a modern masterpiece that analyzes the publishing industry and the online book community. Yellowface is an immediate 5 star read for me. Bombastic side eye to anyone who gives this a one star rating.

Ps- I also really enjoyed that Babel reference...I see what you did there.

I read this book and listened to the audio book - this was immediately engrossing, the narrator is most infuriating and her lack of self-awareness was frustrating, and as the book moved along, she became a little more self aware at least in regards to what she wanted in this life. The truths about publishing and about dominant culture and defensiveness and fragility were excellently portrayed.

The narrator was fantastic