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  • Yellowface

  • By: R. F. Kuang
  • Narrated by: Helen Laser
  • Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (421 ratings)

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Yellowface cover art

Yellowface

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Helen Laser
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Publisher's Summary

The new book from no. 1 New York Times and no. 2 Sunday Times bestselling author R. F. Kuang

Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.

White lies

When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.

Dark humour

But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Deadly consequences…

What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.

©2023 Rebecca F. Kuang (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"Razor-sharp." (Time)

"A wild ride." (Stylist)

"Satirical and humorous." (Cosmopolitan)

What listeners say about Yellowface

Average Customer Ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars

First audible I’ve finished

A fantastic story that had me wanting to get in my car (only time I can listen) more than I should. I was playing it getting ready, in the shower, in bed, making dinner. Any chance I got. Great book.

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5 people found this helpful

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Great job

I loved the book. Beautifully mixed authenticity of a literature, human relationships, parts of history unknown to most of us and challenges of being a writer in the modern world.

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5 people found this helpful

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Great story

Finished in a few days! The main character was very unlikable which was a great change. Really enjoyed the topics explored in the book. 100% recommend.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Perfection of an antagonists point of view

it was hard to push through thus for the cringe that June provided bit it was a great type of suffering

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story and behind the curtain publishing industry insights

I couldn’t stop listening. This was a great read. I loved and hated June as anyone who reads would well be expected to do. It was so good.

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Thoroughly enjoyed it

This book is very entertaining. I finished listening in 2 days. I didn’t find the middle part repetitive. It was necessary to understand the internal turmoil of June’s mind. Would recommend it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I could not stop listening

Brought this to listen after it flooding my social media. Started last night and couldn't stop till I finish today. Amazing!

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A great read

Really enjoyed this book - well narrated and an absorbing story. An interesting insight into the publishing world.

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Loved it.

Not a big fiction reader but I’d heard good things and I loved it. Especially the insights on the publishing world, social media and PR. Great, fun, unexpected read.

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Could not stop listening

Highly recommended this book. Listened to it over a few days.
Kind of a predictable ending but great to read a book where I didn’t like the narrator!

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  • sarah
  • 25-10-2023

Not for me


I just didn’t like the character and I’ll never think of pancakes the same.
Great insight into the publishing industry but overall just a negative story. No thank you. Not for me.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Michelle Mundell
  • 06-12-2023

Promising in the beginning - but disappointing

There had been a lot of social media hype around the book so I chose to buy it on audible. It was so promising at the beginning but by midway had deteriorated into a long-winded, repetitive and delusional diatribe. The lead character is an unlikeable narcissist and her thought process flawed and unbelievable. Very disappointing

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Amanda
  • 19-09-2023

It is very engaging until half way through

I found the storyline very enticing but halfway through it became very repetitive and long winded.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Tracy-Lee de Villiers
  • 14-08-2023

So meta it’s meta of the meta by the meta

It’s pretty meta. Very engaging but loses the plot a little at the end. Performance is outstanding. Great variance in character voice while not sounding cartoonish or overly put on. Definitely worth a listen. If you know or have ever been curious about the world of publishing. Plus, it’s on the NYT best seller list which is super meta.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 26-05-2023

Drunk on her own self importance

Honestly this book has been hyped up and the PR has shoved this down on social media for months for me it wasn’t that great.
Drunk on her own failed existence an author steals a lot more than a manuscript. I feel the voice wasn’t dark enough to get that full villainous experience.
It’s fast paced, it’s incredibly millennial and contemporary, but a thriller??? I wouldn’t say that and the voyeuristic look on the publishing industry held no interest for me.

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21 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • J. Dixon
  • 03-06-2023

A truly awful book about a bad author who steals a book

Not sure if this was supposed to be funny, insightful or what? Can’t believe I fell for the hype. The whole premise of an untalented white author who takes a Chinese authors book and pretends it’s her own - feels very college grad. The author in the book exemplifies every racist trope which just feels lazy and starts to makes your teeth grind. There’s also a bunch of insights about wanna be writers and the whole literary scene. All very meta and unredeemingly awful. Didn’t make it past chapter 8

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8 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Codfish
  • 04-06-2023

Didn’t match the hype

This will appeal to people wanting to publish their own book, or people in the publishing industry, otherwise it was like watching paint dry. 3/4 of the way through I gave up on it.

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  • the typist
  • 29-05-2023

Luke warm social satire with zero thrills

Great start which swiftly goes downhill as soon as the story meanders into the stolen manuscript trope. Jean Hanff Korelitz handled the same idea in a much more interesting & original way just a year ago in The Plot. But this has nothing to add. Where the novel does get interesting is the detailed Chinese WWI history. I was waiting with bated breath for some interesting, clever link to the central story and the dead character’s mother, but it never materialised. Instead it ended up being set dressing for an incredibly run-of-the-mill wannabe literary thriller. The problem seems to come down to the fact that the central premise just doesn’t stand up. Why a white millennial would consider passing off an Asian friends story of Chinese history makes no sense. Social media is littered with cultural appropriation horrors, and anybody under the age of 30 has a clear and concise grasp of this. The lead character is also incredibly one-dimensional. She has no love interest, no close friends and a cardboard cutout family who are blithely unaware of all the media attention she’s garnering. Kuang seems to be trying to say something important and weighty, but she doesn’t have the skills to do the heavy lifting.

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  • Oliver
  • 05-06-2023

Nor for me.

Really hard to listen to, the narrator does a great job of portraying a horrendously narcissistic human being, but that doesn't make it a good listen.

I was hoping the story would get going, but it never really does.

I tried to feel some sympathy for the main protagonist, but she's really rather unpleasant and the story just didn't grab me at all.



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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • nettynoo
  • 12-06-2023

Underwhelming

Fell for the marketing, was totally underwhelmed. started off ok but quickly became a poor me storyline with totally unlikeable characters.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • fiona
  • 07-06-2023

Disappointed

Couldn’t wait for this book to launch felt underwhelming no true flow to the story no significant or clever outcome

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Heather G.
  • 13-06-2023

Loved it!

Loved it!I thoroughly enjoyed Babel and wondered whether this would be as good. It was captivating the storyline is gripping and the conversations surrounding authorship and race were well represented.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Daniella
  • 13-06-2023

Great modern satire

so on point and really entertaining. narrator good maybe a bit too off-putting but all in all a great satire on cancel culture, cultural appropriation and social media.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 07-06-2023

Self obsessed

I could not quite figure the book out. Publishing inside story? Mystery? Critique of a modern day social media culture? I found it repetitive and rather annoying. Sorry

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