Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

248 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

joensign's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Mental illness, Death, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail

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

angeldevoursliterature's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, Death, Racism, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Death, Classism, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Vomit, Mental illness, Bullying, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Racism

charlotteturt's review

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Mental illness, Xenophobia, and Gaslighting

kproc381's review

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

I have to give it up for the author and her writing style. I was very engaged throughout this book. She knows how to write a complex character. Even more so, she knows how to write an AWFUL character. We read this book through the unreliable narrator that is June Hayward. June is completely and utterly devoid of any accountability or even acknowledgment that she is frankly… the worst. She makes her actions the fault of everyone else and begins to believe her own lies. I found myself getting angry at the book because of how much I truly hated June - but that speaks to how well the book is written.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, and Xenophobia

audreading's review

challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

R.F. Kuang does not miss!! You are going to HATE June Hayward, but you are going to love this book. It almost reads like a mystery where you’re in the mind of the criminal, waiting to see whether she will get caught (and hoping she will).

I actually started noticing so many stories like this one coming up on Twitter while I was reading. We always wonder, with these celebrities who go off the rails with bigoted rhetoric, how their thought process works and how they get to such a place. Yellowface shows you just that. I can’t tell you how many times I was screaming at the page and wanted to type out an argument just like I would online.

The book also shows an interesting peek into the publishing world in almost a meta way (except we would never want to relate R.F. to June). This is a struggle we readers don’t have to think about too often! We just lap up the books with no real appreciation for the fight that goes into getting honest work onto the table.

I only take off half a star for this book because the ending wasn’t my favorite.

Candice’s actions felt hard to believe and out of nowhere. I truly thought Athena’s “ghost” would just be June descending into madness in consequence to her own choices and struggles.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Mental illness, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Violence, Rape, and Alcohol

littlemissmuffet's review

dark reflective medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: War, Bullying, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault