Scan barcode
deetabz's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Murder, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Self harm
Minor: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Hate crime, and Sexism
akira_outofthegravity's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A beautifully stunning critique of racism in modern day America and in the modern book-sphere.
Juniper is such an interesting character, because at points I almost do feel sorry for her. It’s difficult putting yourself out there, especially when your friend seems preordained for greatness. I’ve been there. My best friend was everything I wanted to be, she was blonde, beautiful, and funny. She was insanely intelligent and good at everything. Her poetry made a teacher cry, her grades were the highest in my year. No one wanted to know me, they wanted to know her. I understand Juniper, better than I’d like to admit.
But Juniper’s downfall comes in the form of her unwillingness, or perhaps her lack of ability, to take any responsibility. She’s judgemental and rude and turns on people at any given moment. She’s incredibly selfish and bitchy, but at points she is sympathetic.
I love how Kuang dips between timelines, showing both Athena and Juniper in a sympathetic and unsympathetic light- but the fact is that none of Athena’s acts are terrible enough to have her life’s work stolen and her identity as a woman of colour stolen.
I think this is a very sharp thought out critique and I hope that Kuang writes more thrillers in the future!
Juniper is such an interesting character, because at points I almost do feel sorry for her. It’s difficult putting yourself out there, especially when your friend seems preordained for greatness. I’ve been there. My best friend was everything I wanted to be, she was blonde, beautiful, and funny. She was insanely intelligent and good at everything. Her poetry made a teacher cry, her grades were the highest in my year. No one wanted to know me, they wanted to know her. I understand Juniper, better than I’d like to admit.
But Juniper’s downfall comes in the form of her unwillingness, or perhaps her lack of ability, to take any responsibility. She’s judgemental and rude and turns on people at any given moment. She’s incredibly selfish and bitchy, but at points she is sympathetic.
I love how Kuang dips between timelines, showing both Athena and Juniper in a sympathetic and unsympathetic light- but the fact is that none of Athena’s acts are terrible enough to have her life’s work stolen and her identity as a woman of colour stolen.
I think this is a very sharp thought out critique and I hope that Kuang writes more thrillers in the future!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Racism
Moderate: Body horror, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Rape, Bullying, and Sexual assault
Minor: Eating disorder and Gaslighting
frenchvanillapowdercreamer's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was excellent, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I would particularly recommend it to those with a love of reading, and a tendency towards paranoid insecurity. We would benefit from the self reflection.
I finished Yellowface in a single sitting, without breaks. It was impossible to put down. Kuang explores themes of fame, craft, cultural appropriation, and jealousy bordering on sexual obsession.
This haunting story evokes Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca in Athena, a recently deceased and very accomplished young author. The main character is her 'friend', who is jealous of Athena's accomplishments, and insecure about her own work. Kuang successfully makes the reader feel the loss of Athena in every page, even when the main character despises her, and violates her memory. I found myself wishing for her insight into her own butchered work, and an inside look into what sustained the friendship from her side.
On the ending:
Spoiler-free version: Privilege and entitlement in publishing was well explored in a satisfying conclusion.
The ending was masterfully done. It serves as a timely commentary on cries of cancel culture to note that, even though Junie may have been 'cancelled' on twitter, her career is not greatly damaged. As a white woman, sympathy will always lean towards her. She has wealth, and she will recover. Her books kept selling, and the total comeuppance that the reader craves is not forthcoming.
I finished Yellowface in a single sitting, without breaks. It was impossible to put down. Kuang explores themes of fame, craft, cultural appropriation, and jealousy bordering on sexual obsession.
This haunting story evokes Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca in Athena, a recently deceased and very accomplished young author. The main character is her 'friend', who is jealous of Athena's accomplishments, and insecure about her own work. Kuang successfully makes the reader feel the loss of Athena in every page, even when the main character despises her, and violates her memory. I found myself wishing for her insight into her own butchered work, and an inside look into what sustained the friendship from her side.
On the ending:
Spoiler-free version: Privilege and entitlement in publishing was well explored in a satisfying conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Body horror
cepbreed's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I love an unreliable narrator however the circumstances of this story are different. As an Asian American woman I am enraged by June but this anger kept me turning every page. There was never a point during this story where I wanted to root for the main character which was a shocking revelation for me. It’s so uncommon that it enraptured my attention incredibly quickly and I couldn’t put this book down. Yellowface is frustratingly witty and sometimes ridiculous enough to be hilarious. I really appreciate the satirical “white-woman-with-a-victim-complex persona Kuang created for June. She gets it perfectly right with the incorporation of small details such as when she imagined a movie of her life she named Florence Pugh but only referred to Athena’s actress as the girl from Crazy Rich Asians (did she mean Constance Wu, Gemma Chan or someone else entirely????)
I’ve been meaning to read R. F. Kuang’s book Babel for so long and I didn’t even make the connection that she also wrote Yellowface until my dad told me. Yellowface is so brilliant that I have to read her other works now.
Finishing an amazing book is the most satisfying feeling but, for me at least, its always accompanied by an insatiable need to write something of substance. I need this. I will write something, it’s just an issue of figuring out which one of my half baked ideas to flesh out. Maybe I’ll get lucky and stumble upon a successful author’s manuscript haha…
Finishing an amazing book is the most satisfying feeling but, for me at least, its always accompanied by an insatiable need to write something of substance. I need this. I will write something, it’s just an issue of figuring out which one of my half baked ideas to flesh out. Maybe I’ll get lucky and stumble upon a successful author’s manuscript haha…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Colonisation, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
bookishfaye's review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thank you so much Harper Collins for providing me with an E-Arc for review!!
R. F. Kuang’s brain is really and truly everything. She really is my favourite author and weaves so much intricate commentary into everything she creates and she continues to change the way I read & consume books & media, and her books continue to absolutely rattle and shake up the genres with which they are published.
The fact that Kuang considers Yellowface a silly little gremlin pandemic book is SO WILD to me because in my opinion it packs a punch to the same degree as The Poppy War and Babel do, just in this case it’s more modern. The way this book breaks down ignorance, racism, white womanhood, false allyship, tokenization, fetishization, corrupt publishing, cancel culture, and more was so incredibly profound and it also reads as such a biting and witty satire and it’s absolutely brilliant!
Being inside the head of the protagonist June was one of the most viscerally aggravating reading experiences I’ve maybe ever had, but it also was so unbelievably entertaining and actually physically jaw dropping and gag worthy following along June and her absolute delusions and Caucasity & I was so enthralled by every aspect of this book. The way it also has some genre-bending psychological thriller and near paranormal horror elements thrown in there as well was such an unexpected surprise and I really and truly would read R. F. Kuang’s grocery list.
TW: Racism, tokenization, fetishization, SA/Rape (not a graphic depiction of the act, but the after effects and thoughts and trauma), death, violence, blood
R. F. Kuang’s brain is really and truly everything. She really is my favourite author and weaves so much intricate commentary into everything she creates and she continues to change the way I read & consume books & media, and her books continue to absolutely rattle and shake up the genres with which they are published.
The fact that Kuang considers Yellowface a silly little gremlin pandemic book is SO WILD to me because in my opinion it packs a punch to the same degree as The Poppy War and Babel do, just in this case it’s more modern. The way this book breaks down ignorance, racism, white womanhood, false allyship, tokenization, fetishization, corrupt publishing, cancel culture, and more was so incredibly profound and it also reads as such a biting and witty satire and it’s absolutely brilliant!
Being inside the head of the protagonist June was one of the most viscerally aggravating reading experiences I’ve maybe ever had, but it also was so unbelievably entertaining and actually physically jaw dropping and gag worthy following along June and her absolute delusions and Caucasity & I was so enthralled by every aspect of this book. The way it also has some genre-bending psychological thriller and near paranormal horror elements thrown in there as well was such an unexpected surprise and I really and truly would read R. F. Kuang’s grocery list.
TW: Racism, tokenization, fetishization, SA/Rape (not a graphic depiction of the act, but the after effects and thoughts and trauma), death, violence, blood
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Antisemitism, Body horror, Bullying, Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Violence
clairew97's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Well if there was one way to get me out of a reading slump it was picking up this book. Rebecca has done it again. I read the entire thing in one sitting, I could not put it down.
The main character is as insufferable and delusional as you would expect. Her justifications for her actions were wild to me, but I also believe that there are people out there who think like June does.
The exploration of racism within the publishing industry and the insight into the industry was incredibly interesting. Also, the exploration into the online world as a writer was an interesting take. The ending took me completely by surprise and I was hooked.
A completely satirical look into the publishing world and life as an author, I don’t think anyone else could have handled the premise of this book quite as well. A complete 180 from Babel, so if you’re looking for that type of book again this is definitely not it. I can’t wait to see where R F Kuang goes next.
The main character is as insufferable and delusional as you would expect. Her justifications for her actions were wild to me, but I also believe that there are people out there who think like June does.
The exploration of racism within the publishing industry and the insight into the industry was incredibly interesting. Also, the exploration into the online world as a writer was an interesting take. The ending took me completely by surprise and I was hooked.
A completely satirical look into the publishing world and life as an author, I don’t think anyone else could have handled the premise of this book quite as well. A complete 180 from Babel, so if you’re looking for that type of book again this is definitely not it. I can’t wait to see where R F Kuang goes next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, War, Blood, Alcohol, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Bullying, Homophobia, Racism, Stalking, Violence, Grief, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, and Racial slurs
More...