PLOT & PACING
When rising star Athena Liu dies in a freak accident, her “friend” June Hayward sees an opportunity—one that could finally make her career take off. She steals Athena’s unpublished manuscript, edits it, and passes it off as her own under the vaguely Asian pseudonym “Juniper Song.” The book explodes into a cultural phenomenon… but the fame comes with a price. Online backlash builds. Accusations fly. And then there’s the matter of the ghost that won’t stop haunting her.

Yellowface moves briskly, powered by tension and June’s delusional spiral. It’s not a whodunnit—it’s a how-long-until-she’s-exposed. And somehow, you’ll want to watch the whole train wreck unfold.

CHARACTER & VOICE
June Hayward is the definition of an unlikeable narrator—hypocritical, insecure, and often insufferable. But that’s the point. Kuang lets you live in her mind as it twists reality to justify each terrible choice. She’s not a villain you love to hate—she’s a villain you recognize. Possibly even speaking the truths that hide deepest within us all. The first-person narration is immersive and nauseating in all the right ways.

STYLE & ATMOSPHERE
In Yellowface, Kuang is razor-sharp, teetering between literary and punchy. She balances biting satire with eerie psychological tension, all wrapped in a social media-drenched haze. There’s an undercurrent of horror—not supernatural, but existential. Sometimes, it’s difficult to believe that June is doing what she’s doing. The whole time, you’re screaming at her, “What are you doing?!?” It’s what makes Yellowface so unsettling: you’ve met people like June, and maybe even believed them. Or worse, maybe they are you, deep down.

THEMES & DEPTH
Yellowface isn’t subtle, and it’s not trying to be. It confronts racism in publishing, tokenism, the fetishization of trauma narratives, and the absurdities of the online literary world. June’s theft isn’t just of a manuscript—it’s of a voice, a legacy, a lived experience. It’s also a darkly funny exploration of how social media eats us alive while pretending to uplift us. If you’re looking for a novel to get you to think, Yellowface is quite satisfying.

PERSONAL TAKE
This one is subtly smart. It’s bold. It’s messy—in exactly the way this story needs to be. If you loved Babel, this is nothing like it. And yet, Kuang’s fingerprints are all over this: language as power, the cost of authorship, and what happens when the world demands you speak for everyone who looks like you.

I listened to it on audio, and the narrator was perfect. The dry delivery only added to the dread. It’s gripping, horrifying, and way too real.