Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

16 reviews

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.

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Biphobia, Bullying, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, and Sexism

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

abicaro17's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

0.5

God this book was unbearable. I will say first off, that Kuang has a beautiful writing style and the base of this book is really interesting. That being said, the execution of said base is god awful.

Juniper Song Heyward is a jealous, manipulative, vindictive, racist, bitch. She spends the entire book a plagiarist who attempts to convince the reader she's a victim somehow. June continuously uses racist language and defends her actions by blaming Athena for being more talented and likable. Every word that came out of her mouth made her less likable.

The plot is unbearably slow. You spend like 80% of the book reading tweets. Why? Who knows. I considered DNFing so many times it's a miracle I finished at all. I would recommend this to someone only if I hated them. Brb while I go cleanse my aura of this nightmare. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Vomit, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Alcohol, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Islamophobia, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Medical content, Sexual assault, Stalking, Cursing, Rape, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

zadsavage's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Grief, Classism, Murder, Sexual content, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Racism, Blood, Islamophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

rubellaface's review

dark tense medium-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

4.75

Talk about an unreliable narrator... 
This book is triggering, fascinating, and has messed me up for the foreseeable future. 

Highly recommend to anyone who has been vilified by white fragility or would like to be taken on a wild ride by an unreliable narrator. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Toxic friendship, Racism, Violence, Rape, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Sexism, Mental illness, Cultural appropriation, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Colonisation, Stalking, Sexual assault, and Hate crime

imstephtacular's review

challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Alcohol, Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Bullying, and Cursing

Minor: Stalking, Ableism, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

jakepasseri's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Stalking, Hate crime, and Abandonment

Minor: Genocide, Sexual assault, Rape, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation

bella_01's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

I first started reading this book digitally, and liked it so much I bought a physical copy which I re-read from the beginning.

I absolutely ate this book up. It was a very easy read. I was motivated by my hatred of the characters to continue reading just to see what happens. Many moments in the book left me feeling conflicted, since both characters behave inappropriately. Definitely an interesting read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Minor: Gaslighting, Body shaming, and Death

autumnrevisited's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

This book is utterly insane. I completely understand all the hype around it. I haven’t read a character that is so enticing and so unlikeable at the same time. This book is amazing.

I’m glad that Candice didn’t end up dying and that June’s ‘revenge’ is somehow even more heinous. She is continuing to use Athena to the very last second.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Death, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Body shaming, Alcohol, Cursing, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent and War