Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

249 reviews

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Stalking, Classism, Death, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Sexism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

tofubaby's review

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

thoroughly enjoyable and had me laughing out light. it’s a fun and unique way for the author to make a criticism of the publishing industry. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death of parent, Sexism, and Rape

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is a narrative about personal jealousy, racism in publishing and interrogating race politics 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Murder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Medical content, Dysphoria, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, War, Drug use, Grief, Biphobia, Classism, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Rape

The entire narrative of this book is about a White American woman excusing and justifying her actions against a college friend and writer colleague who is Chinese American plus the varying moods and swings in action to conceal what she is doing. We are in the mind of the white woman character the whole time and it’s intentionally uncomfortable to be in this character’s head. Pace yourself if you need to though this novel isn’t that long.

esv_'s review

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Suicide, Racial slurs, and Slavery

onlinesah's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Bullying, and Gaslighting

tatiana_rojas's review

dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Dear future me:

It was a good ride!! 

Me gustaron mucho los personajes, especialmente las protagonistas (porque aunque Athena Lu está muerta, ¡es una protagonista!). El viaje de June: la emoción, la fama, la obsesión, la cancelación, la locura... Athena: inalcanzable, exitosa, inalcanzable, desconocida y misteriosa. Ambas son la combinación perfecta para que la historia tenga algo de sentido.

June genera una cosa terrorífica y fascinante. Aunque sabemos que ella es la villana (aunque está contado desde su pov, algo en el tono deja claro que no es indulgente), queremos que gane, que le vaya bien. Aunque sabemos que ella está equivocada, que tiene motivos terribles (egoístas, ególatras, retorcidos, racistas...), queremos verla tener su "final feliz". 

En cuanto a la trama, te tienen al borde de la silla todo el tiempo. Tiene un ritmo cautivador y rápido que aprecié mucho. 

Sobre las críticas, que claramente están ahí, ¡Wow! Increíblemente realizado. Nos habla de la forma perversa en que funciona la industria editorial, sobre las minorías, la marginalización, las voces acalladas; sobre los privilegios blancos, el racismo interiorizado; sobre cómo se juega con los estereotipos de cada orilla posible...

Mi único "pero" es que el final me supo un poquito a culo... Jejejeje
Lo sentí predecible, y la forma en que June cae es más humana de lo que me gustaría (sé que cualquiera en su posición habría hecho y pensado lo mismo, incluida yo, pero era tan evidente que me dio mal genio con ella por no darse cuenta).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexual assault

kermittuesday's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I labeled this as a satire but it’s perhaps not extreme enough to be fully satirical. Some parts are, for sure. But a lot of this felt so real that I worried some people reading it might actually take June’s side. A lot of the stuff June thinks is such a nuanced dig at racism that it feels like those thoughts could be interpreted in the wrong way by a reader who may also feel that reverse racism exists. Hopefully the overall story was enough to not let someone be confused.

Still, I liked the nuance. A good example that wasn’t about June’s racism was

how June was shown to not have ever had original ideas by her reread of her high school journals

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I liked that we got just enough background about June and Athena’s childhoods and family to give insight into who they were as people even before they got to Yale, without going into a lot of detail. It wouldn’t have changed the story to know things like

how June’s mom and sister weren’t there for her when her dad died

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It was really well done- I gave it a 4 because the thriller bent to it stressed me out and I prefer satires that are less realistic in their plot. It was very well written and I would recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of content. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death, and Racism

aleyajo's review

challenging medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“I’m not racist - she wanted me to appropriate her work!”. I felt like I was trapped in a burning room just watching everything around me burn to the ground - dear god she’s so dense to her own privilege and racism. ~Micro-aggressions~ So many metaphors illustrating white people colonizing the spaces of minorities but still written very well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Toxic friendship

elliya's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I almost didn’t finish this. It really dragged for me, until we got to the “Athena’s ghost” arc near the end. I thought the satire was so overwhelming that there was hardly space for anything else in the narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Stalking and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

samuelachillese's review against another edition

3.5

This is well written and cutting satire of both how the publishing industry treats Asian writers and of racist white authors. It certainly had a train wreck effect that kept me reading. However, being in June's head is grating (intentionally), and I'm not a huge fan of writers writing about writing, so it wasn't my favorite read. Well done, just not for me necessarily. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

Minor: War