Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

183 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

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.

stacyaj's review

mysterious fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

daralexandria's review

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, and Death

Minor: Rape

unluckycat13's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative reflective

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

4.0

I wouldn't normally enjoy a book focused around a terrible person who is surrounded by terrible people, but I think the main character is actually kind of funny. Plus, we've all known her and some of us have been her. She's just a liberal white woman who's totally not racist or sexist because those would be bad things to be, but also refuses to ever engage with the fact she perpetuates those things. She voted for Obama after all, how can she be racist. June's racism is not the put on a hood and say slurs type that we like to think of. It's the casual, unchallenged racism that permeates everything around us and many of our actions. I think some people really hate June because they had a mirror held up to themselves. She's honestly not nearly as evil as beloved characters like Walter White or even the cast of It's Always Sunny. She's a Seinfeld level racist. 

Although it's true that there's a lot of bluntness to this book, I think there's a lot of subtlety that goes by people. You see how the main character effectively transforms into her dead friend, and comes to understand her better than she ever did when she was alive. Or at least-- Potentially. June is an unreliable narrator, and you're only ever getting her incredibly biased view of events. But it's her very believable view. 

My main criticism is that June is a really fun character when she's smart (and at her most defensive) but there's a middle portion of the book where her intelligence just seems to drop completely for the sake of the message of the book. I really think the story and the thrust of the book's point could have intertwined more. 

The author apparently said she wanted reading the book to feel like a panic attack, and she nails that. Some of the most painful possible experiences. I think this is a rare case where the audiobook enhances it too, because the narrator really captures what an awful snob June is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Grief, and Sexual assault

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

wet_towlette's review against another edition

medium-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

4.0

I have never read a story that has such a hypocritical and annoying main character that I enjoyed reading this much. Like this girl was crazy and as much as I wasn't rooting for her it's hard not be impressed by the shit she's pulling off. Also, that was the perfect ending for a character like this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Death of parent, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, War, 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

hannah_lilli's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

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