Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

41 reviews

readingonthefly's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

I needed a Y title for my alphabet challenge, and someone suggested Yellowface. All I knew was this author also wrote Babel and I was very intimidated. I checked it out from Libby and thought if I didn’t like it I could return and find another Y title. 

I went in blind and WOW, I was so surprised that I really liked this! A very unlikeable main character and I just ate it up. It also takes place where I live! I loved the mention of the exorcist stairs, as I actually went there as a kid. 

It was a quick audio I really enjoyed, and happy to check off another letter! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

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.

willow1113's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Grief, Gore, Rape, and Alcohol

_meganrose's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

This felt like a hate read, but in the way that it is kind of supposed to be a hate read. It was refreshing in the sense that every character is morally grey (some darker grey than others). Kuang has such a captivating writing style and I loved the development of these complex characters. A page turner for sure!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood and Death

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Physical abuse

ninahuynh's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

Ok. How do I start?! I have so many feelings about June and how the book ended. I found it funny with the

ghost elements (with Candice, the hallucinations and social media accounts

. Is it trying to comment on how out of touch she is with reality? All I know is Juniper Song Hayward needs help ASAP, especially before she taps into another novel.

Overall, I like the book. There were just some parts where the writing was a biz clunky for me and I had to re-read the sentence several times to understand it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Death of parent, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and War

daisyfont's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Murder

joanna_banana's review

emotional funny tense 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

4.5

This is a juicy page-turner! The commentary on racism and cultural appropriation is a must-read. Reminded me a bit of The Other Black Girl - a thriller set in the publishing industry with racism and in that case cultural assimilation as its central theme - but Yellowface is entirely its own. The ending was excellent, unpredictable, and I loved the first person voice, very effective for this story that feels so real it’s hard to remember you’re reading a novel and not Juniper’s tell-all memoir.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Abortion and Blood

kristinj1's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

So, here's the thing about this book. I think it's a really interesting story I just could not stand the main character by about 10 pages in, and that never really changed. I think I also wanted the reveal at the end, because there were reveals throughout the book, to be a little more unexpected or surprising, maybe? I guess there was so much that could have been totally unexpected, and we actually did start to dive into the world of the supernatural, that the reveal at the end was a very normal thing. Or maybe that was the point? That the main character spun herself up into believing in a ghost, and it turned out just to be a human? I don't know, I always have a really hard time thinking that this main character, June hayward, was just so idiotic about her racism. She never investigated her own thoughts, and her reactions to people were sickening. So all in all, I did not dislike this story, I just maybe wanted something else? This could be having to evaluate my own privilege and prejudices, for sure. I understand that my reaction is fed by that part of me. I just couldn't believe that we got to see her in her dialogue and that there was never really any education that happened for her. I think that's actually what it is, she clearly needs to dig out and unpack her own issues, but she was never really confronted with having to do that.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Death, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

jennaviolet's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual assault, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Blood, Self harm, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Rape, and Misogyny

Minor: War and Death of parent

xgabrielle_hx's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Blood, and Death of parent