Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

397 reviews

_dina's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

3.75

I understand what the author wanted to do with such an unlikable narrator, and she did it extremely well, but that made the book a bit difficult for me to get through at times. It’s just not something I enjoy reading. The commentary felt a bit heavy handed at times as a WOC but the reading experience will be different for every reader I suppose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War

livcashmere's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

nicolinebl's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

4.5

Even nurturing a reading slump and several migraines, I flew through this book. If that doesn't tell you how good and compelling it was, I don't know what will. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Alcohol, and War

casira's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Violence and Alcohol

karydiazc's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I don't even know what to say about this book...
It has so many important messages woven through it's pages. 
I love how June was portrayed as the villain and at the same time as the victim. What she did was definitely not good, but, did she deserved everything that came her way at the end of the book?

I think this book is an important portrayal of how social media and cancel culture can affect someone mentally, wheter they deserve it or not. Also it shows how the industry operates, not really caring if they are doing a good job and being actually inclusive, all they care about is appearing as if they cared and publishing what the people want, not necessarily what the society needs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Grief, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide

ninajune's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Cyber bullying

ibeau's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

katherineshawwrites's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicide

zock_06's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism

Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racial slurs

brainwave_caravan's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Racism and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Bullying