Yellowface is a darkly funny satire about a white female author who steals her dead Asian friend’s book manuscript and publishes it as her own.

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Struggling writer June Hayward is deeply jealous of her Chinese friend Athena Liu’s success as a literary darling. So when Athena dies suddenly and tragically, June sees nothing wrong with stealing her latest typewritten manuscript, making some edits, and publishing it as her own – despite the unlikelihood of a white woman like June wanting to tell the story of Chinese laborers in France in World War 1.

When she publishes Athena’s her masterpiece, June – now writing as the maybe-Asian-sounding Juniper Song – revels in her success, until she becomes haunted by Athena’s ghost, shattering her mental health and threatening to destroy her career.

June is one of the most narcissistic and despicable characters I’ve ever read in literature. My mouth dropped open in shock many times at her audacity in justifying her unforgivable actions. She rails against cancel culture and reverse racism, framing herself as a victim, even as she makes deeply racist observations of her own.

The June character may be awful, but she’s brilliantly written. The only thing missing for me was just why she’s so awful. Is it simply her jealousy and failure as a writer that drives her to make these choices, or is something more deeply rooted driving it?

I know that some readers don’t enjoy books with unlikable characters, and if you’re among them you will probably not like Yellowface. I thought it was brilliant, funny, and very entertaining. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Helen Laser was perfect.