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Yellowface
by R.F. Kuang · 2023
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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.…
Recommended by
"This sharp satire on publishing and cultural appropriation, told through a female lens, aligns with Reese Witherspoon's focus on women-led narratives."
"“Nail-biting thriller about the world of book publishing” is not a phrase I ever expected to use. But that’s what this book is, with the added dimension of a toxic friendship, an identity thief and, of course, some racebending. The story is glossy and fun but tackles some very serious ideas – like who owns history, what it means to grieve and where the line is between appreciation, appropriation and outright thievery. This one is hard to put down – as baffling and often pernicious as the narrator’s decisions sometimes are, I found myself unable to stop hoping, desperately, that she would eventually find the light."