The main character, June, spirals into her racially biased views, which is astounding and, at times, hard to listen to but captivating. How she clung to her belief that she had the right to steal another author’s work that includes the voice of a minority group that she isn’t a part of and can never relate to.  As the title implies, June changes her last name to come off as an Asian American author to sell a book that she stole from her deceased friend that discusses Chinese laborers during World War Two. The backlash she receives, once people realize she is not the person they assume she is only, encourages her to push back, even if it is only in her head, and find excuse after excuse to validate herself and her reasoning for publishing the work in the first place. Many of the excuses she repeats to herself, I hear from people in real life, and I can only imagine how tiring it must be to hear from a white person who is speaking over you on your own (or your own people’s) experiences. Through out this spiral, June experiences her “friend” haunt her through her social media accounts and in ghost form at book signings and readings further causing June to spiral out of control.

Yellow Face is not just a book; it’s a wake-up call. The narrative, told from the viewpoint of a racially biased person in the twenty-first century, powerfully reminds us of the need for empathy and understanding in our society. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of how their words and actions can affect those around them.

Works Cited

Kaung, R.F. Yellowface. 2023. March 2025. <https://www.amazon.com/Yellowface/dp/000853277X&gt;.

Kuang, R. F. Yellow Face. Harper Collins and Blackstone Publishing, 2023.