Reviews with content warning for Death - Yellowface

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

1364 reviews

violet_viper's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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ibeau's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

Really interesting book. 100% recommend. Very interesting and complicated character. It' so interesting to see the nuances of racial issues in a modern world, both real and precieved. Incredibly realistic in showing how people can convincing themselves that they are right even when they break their own moral codes and accurate anxiety portrayal.

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katherineshawwrites's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

I pre-ordered Yellowface as soon as I knew it was a thing, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to finally read it!

R F Kuang's writing is intelligent, engaging and compelling, and I found myself whizzing through this book much quicker than I expected. The main character, June, is incredibly unlikeable - but that's clearly the point! You're supposed to dislike her jealousy, her pettiness, her casual racism and privileged bad takes, and her complete denial she has done anything wrong. Somehow, though, R F Kuang's writing gets you hooked, and you can't help but devour page after page as everything goes right and then very, very wrong for June.

I see some people take issue with this book, and that's to be expected, and kind of the point. R F Kuang is provoking us and forcing us to consider our own biases and privilege, our own jealousy and nastiness, our own reaction to discourse, rumours and scandals, and that's bound to feel uncomfortable in places for people. It makes for an interesting an unexpectedly addictive read.

My biggest critique is that the pacing is off. The book starts relatively fast-paced, slows right down and then jumps to a bit of a silly climax right at the end. After such a solid 75% or so, the sudden escalation and weirdly tropey and kind of stupid standoff was a bit jarring for me. It didn't ruin the book, but definitely prevented it from hitting that 5 stars.

Still, a solid read that I recommend giving a shot.

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