Reviews with content warning for Racism - Yellowface

I'm a big fan of Kuang's writing and I'm glad to have read it, however I can't say I liked it (?) just because June is sooo (intentionally) unlikeable. I did not necessarily have a good time reading it but there was a perverse pleasure in watching how low she would go.

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mjones14's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Very very good. Only reason it's not a 5 stars is I found the ending relatively predictable. The voice in this steals the show - as someone who studied creative writing, I feel so exposed it was terrifying

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ajzou's review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-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

4.75

Reads like a tell-all memoir with an unreliable narrator. Nice beach read that’s not romance

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niamhgray's review against another edition

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informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I can’t fault this book. It’s insightful, reflective and something I just couldn’t put down.

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12_honking_geese's review against another edition

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challenging funny 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

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gwynethagbenyo's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a really gripping read! June was ridiculous but understandable. Satires are really interesting because you know that certain things you read aren't meant to be taken at face value, but you're not sure how the author is going to resolve the conflict. I kept wondering if June would be punished for her actions, or if the story would take it to a place of true realism and end without justice because that's kind of just how things work in the real world. Kuang ended up going with the latter, which wasn't exactly satisfying, but made sense in the context of the story. The whole ordeal reminded me a lot of Caroline Calloway and I think ultimately it reads to me like a white woman's transformation into her racist final form.

The use of the setting of the publishing industry and the importance of social media in that field really sets up June's resolution to double down and paint herself as the ultimate victim. It's weaved in in small moments throughout the story before the end where it becomes June's literal goal. I'm not sure if a white person would read this and see what real world phenomena it's trying to point to, but I think people who are already aware of the issues people of color face in the publishing industry (or, I guess, all industries) will be able to pick up on the true message and digest June's descent into complete racism.

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