Yellowface is an audiobook by R. F. Kuang, narrated by Helen Laser. The unabridged Audible edition runs 8 hrs 39 mins.
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 readable.
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: Helen Laser
- Length: 8 hrs 39 mins
- Publisher: William Morrow
- Release year: 2023
- Audible category: Literature & Fiction / Genre Fiction / Literary Fiction
Listener Ratings
Yellowface holds an average listener rating of 4.0/5 from 6181 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.5/5
- Story: 3.9/5
- 5-star ratings: 43% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
3/5 stars — “Overhyped”
This book started out great but after the first quarter it just went down hill. The characters were all one dimensional, mostly racist in one way or another, and completely unsympathetic.By the time I was half way through I just wanted it to be over and was hoping the end would tie it all together. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
Such a disappointment after all the hype.
— Naomi, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “A delight from start to finish”
I read this book in one sitting, it was so compelling and just flew by. The author is able to capture so many realistic expressions of the utterly toxic characters and the reader is also excellent in portraying them distinctly. Even the read aloud comments from social media have a wonderful animation to them that makes this read un-put-downable. Even though it is fiction, these people are every bit recognizable from daily life. Seeing this kind of nasty behavior so deftly conveyed in print is somehow reassuring. There is a serious challenge to people who operate like the deceitful and ultimately unrepentant narrator, but it never stops being funny.— Patricia, Audible listener
3/5 stars — “Anxiety attack as a novel”
Narration was perfect, no complaints there. The story itself was as insufferable as the main character. I only finished the story out of pure stubbornness. I read a review that said R.F. Kuang wanted the story to read like an anxiety attack. She succeeded. I have enough anxiety on my own, thank you.— j. grant, Audible listener
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