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Haarlem Expat Book Club

This is an English reading / speaking book club for reading enthusiasts and expats in Haarlem, Netherlands.

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For readers who love romance, fantasy, mystery and literary fiction

Yellowface

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

"Hard to put down, harder to forget." -- Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author

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.

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? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

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384 pages

Average rating: 6.75

2,089 RATINGS

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69 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

ColtsFanJQ
Nov 19, 2024
5/10 stars
I thought I’d rate this book lower than “5” because of how unlikeable I found the main character. I bumped it up a bit because of the great discussion the book brought to our book club. It ended up being a good learning experience, so despite not loving the story, I’m glad I read it.
Anonymous
Nov 18, 2024
10/10 stars
Enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would, extremely well written and the ending was brilliant
ED10
Nov 08, 2024
6/10 stars
Book was fun and modern - really disliked the ending. Part 2 maybe?
Zamokuhle
Oct 30, 2024
7/10 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed Yellowface. I was not ready for it to end and am now left creating my own ending. I just hate that there was no finality, I hope there will be a follow-up
Lsanto
Oct 29, 2024
9/10 stars
I’ve never read a book where I’ve hated the characters but loved the book.

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