Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

80 reviews

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This novel is compelling, I couldn’t stop reading. Juniper is a flawed character and I loved that. She had clear dreams and motivations that pushed her to steal a manuscript from her friend and become a compulsive liar because of it. I was like, oh my god, you did not just do that to a dead woman. What kind of friend are you?

The psychological warfare by Candice against Junie was well-deserved because it was the punishment for stealing Athena’s The Last Front and the idea of Mother Witch. Juniper lied a lot that she was believing her own lies as realities. But Candice had her own brand of crazy. She even made money because of this story. That was insane!

Junie was delusional and had a loud mind; it was truly interesting. At some point, I was cackling because of her ridiculousness. The stress of the mystery behind the Instagram posts and messaging was intriguing, I was at the edge of my seat. Oh, Junie was assaulted and it made me so sad. 

Athena wasn’t a saint at all. She wrote other people’s story without their permission. She exploited their pain and I thought that was cruel. 

Damn, the internet people are really scary and there’s really a big price for being famous.

This is my first book by R. F. and I enjoyed this a lot. I’ll read more from you. Thank you!💕

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

zoevjester's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

So, this was a tense and brilliantly written novel - Kuang states in the acknowledgements that it's centred around loneliness in a competitive industry, but I think there is more to it than that too - there is a lot of rage at the beginning, and no subtly regarding the pain of being a person of colour in the publishing industry. 
Reading this after reading Babel is a thrilling experience because of the author pointing a finger at all the readers who slammed the book for disturbing them with the racism that's written and shown. Seeing the dialogue in the book that's lifted from the reviews the author received? Absolutely delightful. 
However, the second half of the book shifts into the characters being the focus - and this is when my stomach soured as I read on. 
June is an incredibly well-written character. She is a thief and a liar and we are in her head for the majority of the story so we see her thoughts and mannerism. She's a horrible human being, adamant and persistent and her sin is Envy - over her friend, Athena Liu. 
Athena, for all of appearing in only one chapter before her death, she is prominent throughout the whole story. We see her life through the perspective of June, and of other characters, and they all comment on her whole life. 
It would have been nice, I think, if the final chapter of Athena's life was written from her POV, so we get an unfiltered perspective of her and who she is, but not doing so I guess adds the mystery of who she truly was. 
However, I dropped this to 4 instead of 5 stars. The second half of the story contains some topics that needed content warnings. I wouldn't have read this if I'd known these topics were written about. 
But, I'm curious about the quote, 'An Act of Translation is an Act of Betrayal'. It's the opener for Babel: An Arcane History, and also written in this book too. I'd love to know what this quote means for the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Classism, War, Grief, and Physical abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Bullying, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Stalking

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense 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

What I would give for a read The Last Front fanfic written by a white woman! The most petty obnoxious protagonist; enjoyed every minute of it 4🥞

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racism, Xenophobia, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Classism, Death, Alcohol, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, War, Genocide, and Toxic friendship

justwingit03's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Gaslighting, Bullying, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, and Rape

krisfailedtosubmit's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-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

5.0

Yikes 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Colonisation, Death, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Rape, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Ableism, Bullying, Hate crime, Medical content, Racial slurs, Classism, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

rhi_'s review against another edition

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Rape, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

valjeanval's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-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

5.0

“I’m not a racist, but…” the novel! A deeply engaging exploration of a character that is rarely likable but always interesting. It’s a big departure from Kuang’s epic fantasies, but the same level of attention is applied to the very real world in which we live.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Racial slurs, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Rape, Alcohol, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Grief

meaghanslibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

I’m between a 3.75 and a 4. Then beginning and middle of the book I thought were so good. The quips and short sentences were very engaging to read. The plot was very creative.

The back end of the middle started to drag. The end felt rushed and fell a bit flat, I guess I was hoping for more, but not sure what I would have preferred instead.

I think this book would lead to good discussions in book clubs about authorship, representation, and race. Hmm I guess for the beginning part of the book and convos I’ll give it a 4. I think if you asked me to rate it early on it was a heavy contender for a 5, but the ending really just lacked. To some extent I did feel like the authors other work Babel had a bit of a rushed ending. But in that book I thought the beginning and middle dragged and the end saved it. 

I give props to the author for branching out well into different genres.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

themadsonlibrary's review against another edition

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Violence, Mental illness, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, and Cursing

thirdtimesacharm's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Misogyny, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and War