Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Yellowface

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

635 reviews

victoriousbookworm's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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bookishevy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book deserves a higher rating on Goodreads.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars, but Athena leaves June in the dust as she quickly becomes the literary darling. Realizing she's too basic to outpace her so-called friend, June swipes Athena's manuscript, a novel about the Chinese laborers who went uncelebrated for their contributions during World War I, after witnessing Athena die in a freak accident.

While June is honest about being white, she allows her publisher to rebrand her image by changing her name to Juniper Song and taking new author photos that make her appear racially ambiguous. June doesn't see anything wrong with editing and passing Athena's work off as her own. She believes the story should be told regardless of the storyteller's race. When evidence of her thievery threatens to shoot June's star down, how far will she go to remain relevant?

How dare Kuang tackle cultural appropriation, racism, diversity, and tokenism in the publishing industry with such biting satire. And to write it in first-person? To allow the reader to delve into June's obliviousness to her prejudices and justifications for stealing Athena's intellectual property? To have her mental health symptoms be exacerbated by the guilt that haunts her following the social media fallout?

This read shows how cutthroat the literary world is. For Athena to become so successful at such a young age, she had to do some questionable things because she was pigeonholed into writing about Asian experiences and trauma. But does that make what June did okay? Or is she just a mediocre writer who believes she deserves the success of her more talented Asian counterpart simply because she's white?

This book is brilliant. Kuang gives a middle finger to the publishing industry and bookish communities who feed off of BIPOC stereotypes and trauma. Many reviewers on #goodreads are proving her point.

TW: death, sexual assault, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, racism

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amybartoli29's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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storiesireadtoday_28's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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questionablyevil's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Felt predictable, I did like that all of the characters seemed flawed in different ways although the narrator was not compelling to me.

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palebea's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow.
This is such a poignant critique on the publishing industry. Delivered through the means of a frustratingly unlikeable unreliable narrator. It was engaging and angering - exploring themes of racism and microaggressions. Probably one of my favourite reads this year. One of my favourite reads of all time. Read almost in one sitting. Could not put it down!

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