Yellowface
by R. F. Kuang
★ Top 25 book of 2023 · #17 on Best Books of 2023
After witnessing writer Athena Liu's death, June Hayward steals her unpublished manuscript and passes it off as her own under a rebranded name. As success grows, so does the risk of exposure, in a darkly funny tale of ambition and appropriation.
Best for: Readers who like sharp, darkly comic satire about publishing, race, and ambition
Yellowface is #17 on BookWard's Best Books of 2023, out of 34 2023 books that cleared our data bar.
What Yellowface is about
June Hayward is a young white novelist whose career has gone nowhere. Athena Liu, a Chinese-American author and the darling of the industry, has everything June wants. When Athena dies and June is the only person there, June takes the unpublished manuscript Athena leaves behind, a novel about Chinese laborers in World War I, and passes it off as her own. A publisher offers her a large advance, and she releases it under the name Juniper Song, with author photos that leave her background unclear.
June tells the story herself, sometimes speaking straight to the reader, which makes it hard to look away from her justifications. The book becomes a bestseller, but success draws attention on Twitter, where accusations of cultural appropriation start to pile up and an anonymous account begins a shaming campaign. Darkly comic and tense, the satire takes aim at how publishing handles diversity and how social media treats reputation. It suits readers who enjoy sharp, uncomfortable books about ambition, envy, authorship and who gets to tell which stories.
Yellowface on the Best Books of 2023
Yellowface came out in 2023. Of the 34 books first published in 2023 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #17 on our Best Books of 2023 list.
Why it made the list: 262 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (17 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2023 list
- Divine Rivals Rebecca Ross, #15
- Happy Place Emily Henry, #16
- The Woman in Me Britney Spears, #18
- Right Move Liz Tomforde, #19
See all Best Books of 2023 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2022 Best Books of 2024.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 219 want to read it, 10 are reading it now and 33 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.9 out of 5 from 17 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 53 | 55% |
| Reader love | 38 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 41 | 20% |
Questions about Yellowface
When was Yellowface published?
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang was first published in 2023.
Was Yellowface one of the best books of 2023?
Yellowface is #17 on BookWard's Best Books of 2023, out of 34 2023 books that cleared our data bar. 262 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (17 ratings).
Why is Yellowface on the Best Books of 2023 list?
262 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (17 ratings).
More of the best books of 2023
- Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros, #1
- King of Pride Ana Huang, #2
- Iron Flame Rebecca Yarros, #3
- Powerless Lauren Roberts, #4
- The Chalice of the Gods Rick Riordan, #5
- King of Greed Ana Huang, #6
See the full Best Books of 2023, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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