Audiobook Review

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Read By Helen Laser

Published: May 2023

Summary from Goodreads:

Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena is a literary darling while June is a 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, stealing 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? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Wow, what can I say that hasn’t already been said about this book? I thought it was a brilliant piece of satire and commentary on the whole book publishing business and an exposition on how social media can do more harm than good. This was certainly a book that brings up all sorts of issues, and certainly deserves all of the hype.

The reader, Helen Laser, does a fantastic job with voicing the main character Juniper Hayward. The whole book was like listening to the inner thoughts of the character, and Helen did an excellent job with it. Especially at the end when things start to fall apart for June and her anxiety starts to hit the roof. I really felt that emotional turbulent time for June through Helen’s voice.

The almost stream of consciousness of the narrative really works for this story. Most of the time we are listening in to the thoughts and feelings of June and her need to have her work and herself be validated by the publishing world. There is some dialogue between June and other characters, but mostly we are just an audience to June’s inner monologue. I can’t say that I liked June that much, but I could sympathize with many of her feelings. The publishing world is harsh and social media can make things really tough for authors and I think that really shines through in this story.

But this was also a bit of a thriller and even though I kind thought I knew who was behind all of the harassment and social media troubles, I was still caught up in all of the anxiety and emotions that June was feeling as she was going through it. The pacing at the end was brilliant and really kept me going till the end of the story.

If you are like me and have been putting off reading this story, don’t wait any longer. It is a well done and biting commentary on the publishing world and the effects of social media on books and authors. This is one that shouldn’t be missed.