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helenamajaw's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
4.5
This book succeeds in keeping the reader uncomfortable while we are engrossed in following Juniper as she spirals and tangles herself further and further into a disastrous web. Much like a car crash, you can't turn your eyes away.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, Rape, and Violence
fyre_flies's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Sexual assault and War
Minor: Racial slurs and Suicide
e_lace's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I devoured this book so quickly it was embarassing, especially considering I am only giving it a 3.75. I think right now, fresh off of finishing the book mere minutes ago, I feel like the only way I can describe this reading experience is that it felt a lot like reading a 300 page r/amitheasshole post where you start reading and then you just can't stop because it's so interesting and at the end you check the comments to make sure you read it right and everyone is in agreement that ESH, Everyone Sucks Here.
When I first started this book (two days ago) I almost DNF'd it because it was immediately incredibly clear that RF Kuang's resentment towards casually racist white people was going to make it so that any attempt to sympathize a white woman who steals her dead asian acquaintance's Chinese historical fiction novel would be virtually impossible. But I kept sticking around because I genuinely could not put this down.
My best comparison of this book is to the 2022 film NOT OKAY starring Zoe Deutsh which is the story of a white influencer who fakes going to Paris for clout and pretends to be at the Arc d'Triomphe, accidentally posting within minutes of a terrorist attack. Instead of telling everyone that she actually photoshopped herself into Paris, she goes along with it and pretends to be a #survivor. Except, that movie tries to make the viewer sympathize with the main character before making it clear that she doesn't deserve a redemption arc. I think I wished this book did that.
Anyway I have a lot more thought about this so maybe i'll come back and update this but I think if you liked NOT OKAY (not many people did but I thought it was fun idk) or honestly if you like any of R.F. Kuang's other work or you just find author drama riveting, I think you'll like this book.
The one complaint I have about this book that I think is just part of Rebecca's style and worked a lot better in a book like Babel is that this book and Babel were very clearly written during a time when Kuang was taking classes in her PhD program and you can tell because every 3-4 paragraphs it feels like she HAS to end a paragraph with a thesis statement. I think that worked so much better in Babel but in this book sometimes kind of feels like she's feeding the reader a line. I remember feeling this way about Babel a bit too but I think sometimes she wasn't letting the story speak for itself and about halfway through the book it really hit me that the book was kind of written like a really creative essay for a class. Again, not a huge detraction but something I have noticed in Babel and Yellowface that wasn't quite so common in the Poppy War series.
When I first started this book (two days ago) I almost DNF'd it because it was immediately incredibly clear that RF Kuang's resentment towards casually racist white people was going to make it so that any attempt to sympathize a white woman who steals her dead asian acquaintance's Chinese historical fiction novel would be virtually impossible. But I kept sticking around because I genuinely could not put this down.
My best comparison of this book is to the 2022 film NOT OKAY starring Zoe Deutsh which is the story of a white influencer who fakes going to Paris for clout and pretends to be at the Arc d'Triomphe, accidentally posting within minutes of a terrorist attack. Instead of telling everyone that she actually photoshopped herself into Paris, she goes along with it and pretends to be a #survivor. Except, that movie tries to make the viewer sympathize with the main character before making it clear that she doesn't deserve a redemption arc. I think I wished this book did that.
Anyway I have a lot more thought about this so maybe i'll come back and update this but I think if you liked NOT OKAY (not many people did but I thought it was fun idk) or honestly if you like any of R.F. Kuang's other work or you just find author drama riveting, I think you'll like this book.
The one complaint I have about this book that I think is just part of Rebecca's style and worked a lot better in a book like Babel is that this book and Babel were very clearly written during a time when Kuang was taking classes in her PhD program and you can tell because every 3-4 paragraphs it feels like she HAS to end a paragraph with a thesis statement. I think that worked so much better in Babel but in this book sometimes kind of feels like she's feeding the reader a line. I remember feeling this way about Babel a bit too but I think sometimes she wasn't letting the story speak for itself and about halfway through the book it really hit me that the book was kind of written like a really creative essay for a class. Again, not a huge detraction but something I have noticed in Babel and Yellowface that wasn't quite so common in the Poppy War series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Suicide, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
lawbooks600's review against another edition
dark
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? No
3.0
Representation: Asian characters
Score: Six points out of ten.
I own this book.
How come Yellowface won Best Fiction and not Maame? (which was better.) Let's cut to the chase: I wanted this novel for so long, after seeing it in my recommendations, but so many library patrons placed a hold on it that I had to buy it. Afterwards, I read and enjoyed it, but it could've been so much better than what I read. For starters, what is this story supposed to be? A satire? A thriller? A critique and discourse of the publishing industry? A discourse on social media? A piece of literary fiction or metafiction?
It starts with the first two characters I see, Athena Liu and June Hayward who are both authors. As a work of metafiction, it works well because an author wrote about some authors' experiences of publishing their works. As for everything else, it didn't work as well as I hoped, for reasons I'll explain later. After Athena passes, June steals her manuscript (a story about the Chinese in WWI called The Last Front) and publishes it as hers after significant edits, and she believes if she didn't do that, the work would never see the light of day. Here's where the flaws surface: the characters are only the beginning of the issues I saw in Yellowface, because they were so flat. The only thought I can think of is that June is racist since she wrote a work of fiction about Asians even though she's white, and Athena, the Asian, did nothing wrong (but that is untrue, as seen later.) I didn't give Yellowface three stars only because of the unlikable characters (somehow I could bear with them), but I gave it that rating because of other problems.
June rides high on her success, but eventually, questions arise, and soon enough, she gets caught and cancelled online. Yellowface relies heavily on social media, creating multiple layers of self-awareness since it included professional reviews, BookTube, Bookstagram, BookTok, Goodreads (even The Choice Awards) and most prominently, literature discussions on Twitter, sorry I mean X. Did I mention Twitter changed to X? Yellowface is outdated already. June calls Athena's prose frustrating and inaccessible which perfectly describes the writing style that uses unfamiliar words like praxis and anti-miscegenation laws (anti-interracial marriage legislation.) The only commentary Yellowface provided me is that racism is unacceptable. I get it. Could you tell me more? Unfortunately, it has nothing else to say. I appreciated Yellowface for shedding light on cultural appropriation in fictional works, but it could've used more nuance by concentrating on minorities besides East Asian Americans like South Asians, Asian Australians, British Asians and Southeast Asians rather than focusing only on the first group.
The most imperative question here is who can tell a tale. Can a white person write about people outside their culture? RF Kuang thinks not because she used sledgehammer-like responses to answer the inquiry (which felt so preachy and heavy-handed, I heard thoughts from the author like, 'No, it's racist!') Also, why does Athena feel like an RF Kuang self-insert? Athena is so similar to the author, it feels uncanny. Yellowface doesn't work as a satire, because too many parts are realistic, save for some exaggerated sections. It doesn't work as a thriller, since it's slow-paced. Yellowface shines as a critique of the publishing industry when it exposes tokenism, appropriation and the difficulties authors of colour face when trying to publish. However, Yellowface missed out on the class aspect, and June infuriated me when she said publishing was a meritocracy (it clearly isn't.) Athena isn't successful because she's Asian, like June stated. Athena's only well off because she's rich, which the narrative forgot to mention. As for the discourse on social media, Yellowface could've done better as it was only looking at a terminally online person, and finally, it's a successful literary fictional composition, because no one knows what genre it belongs to.
As far as I know, I've covered everything concerning how RF Kuang could've improved her latest offering. Let me know if I left out anything else.
Score: Six points out of ten.
I own this book.
How come Yellowface won Best Fiction and not Maame? (which was better.) Let's cut to the chase: I wanted this novel for so long, after seeing it in my recommendations, but so many library patrons placed a hold on it that I had to buy it. Afterwards, I read and enjoyed it, but it could've been so much better than what I read. For starters, what is this story supposed to be? A satire? A thriller? A critique and discourse of the publishing industry? A discourse on social media? A piece of literary fiction or metafiction?
It starts with the first two characters I see, Athena Liu and June Hayward who are both authors. As a work of metafiction, it works well because an author wrote about some authors' experiences of publishing their works. As for everything else, it didn't work as well as I hoped, for reasons I'll explain later. After Athena passes, June steals her manuscript (a story about the Chinese in WWI called The Last Front) and publishes it as hers after significant edits, and she believes if she didn't do that, the work would never see the light of day. Here's where the flaws surface: the characters are only the beginning of the issues I saw in Yellowface, because they were so flat. The only thought I can think of is that June is racist since she wrote a work of fiction about Asians even though she's white, and Athena, the Asian, did nothing wrong (but that is untrue, as seen later.) I didn't give Yellowface three stars only because of the unlikable characters (somehow I could bear with them), but I gave it that rating because of other problems.
June rides high on her success, but eventually, questions arise, and soon enough, she gets caught and cancelled online. Yellowface relies heavily on social media, creating multiple layers of self-awareness since it included professional reviews, BookTube, Bookstagram, BookTok, Goodreads (even The Choice Awards) and most prominently, literature discussions on Twitter, sorry I mean X. Did I mention Twitter changed to X? Yellowface is outdated already. June calls Athena's prose frustrating and inaccessible which perfectly describes the writing style that uses unfamiliar words like praxis and anti-miscegenation laws (anti-interracial marriage legislation.) The only commentary Yellowface provided me is that racism is unacceptable. I get it. Could you tell me more? Unfortunately, it has nothing else to say. I appreciated Yellowface for shedding light on cultural appropriation in fictional works, but it could've used more nuance by concentrating on minorities besides East Asian Americans like South Asians, Asian Australians, British Asians and Southeast Asians rather than focusing only on the first group.
The most imperative question here is who can tell a tale. Can a white person write about people outside their culture? RF Kuang thinks not because she used sledgehammer-like responses to answer the inquiry (which felt so preachy and heavy-handed, I heard thoughts from the author like, 'No, it's racist!') Also, why does Athena feel like an RF Kuang self-insert? Athena is so similar to the author, it feels uncanny. Yellowface doesn't work as a satire, because too many parts are realistic, save for some exaggerated sections. It doesn't work as a thriller, since it's slow-paced. Yellowface shines as a critique of the publishing industry when it exposes tokenism, appropriation and the difficulties authors of colour face when trying to publish. However, Yellowface missed out on the class aspect, and June infuriated me when she said publishing was a meritocracy (it clearly isn't.) Athena isn't successful because she's Asian, like June stated. Athena's only well off because she's rich, which the narrative forgot to mention. As for the discourse on social media, Yellowface could've done better as it was only looking at a terminally online person, and finally, it's a successful literary fictional composition, because no one knows what genre it belongs to.
As far as I know, I've covered everything concerning how RF Kuang could've improved her latest offering. Let me know if I left out anything else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Racial slurs
Full trigger warnings: Death of a daughter and friend from choking and a father from suicide, racist and sexist slurs, cultural appropriation, physical assault and injury, blood, grief and loss depiction, near-death experience, hospitalisation, suicidal thoughts, emesis, gaslighting, bullying1intothewoods1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
June really was delusional right to the very end. Her blaming of everyone else but herself had me baffled... but really that's reality for some people like June.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Racism
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Abortion, Colonisation, Islamophobia, and Suicide
obsessivebooklover's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, Toxic friendship, and Racism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault
Minor: Suicide
spookylettuce's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Alcohol, Death, Cultural appropriation, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Alcoholism
Minor: Racial slurs, War, Death of parent, and Suicide
aharper's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Rape
Minor: Suicide
sissizc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, Bullying, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Cultural appropriation, and Racism
Minor: Suicide and Rape
jelkebooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.0
I absolutely flew through this novel. It was just such a compelling read, and I absolutely did not want to put this down at all. The story was just so incredibly captivating, and the main character was a trainwreck you just couldn't look away from.
The characters within this book are so incredibly unlikeable. I feel like no one is actually a person I would root for, which could potentially be our main character's bias speaking as well, but I actually quite liked how morally grey this book was. It feels hard to explain, but it just felt like a great thought excercice to see these characters be the hero in some situations but the villain in others. It never was really clear cut, and I liked that. June was absolutely insufferable though. She was so incredibly self-centered. Everything everyone ever did was a personal attack to her. It got so exhausting, especially because the only person behind her own downfall was herself. However, it was incredibly interesting character to follow throughout the book. There are definitely some situations were you can sympathise with her a little, but I like how overall R.F. Kuang didn't make her likeable at any point in this book.
I also really liked the discussions in here around the publishing industry, and how a publisher will be by your side no matter what as long as you are still making them a shit load of money. It was also interesting to see someone get completely sucked into social media drama. Part of that is definitely June's narcisistic tendecies, and obsession to be liked by anyone and everyone (because she's just the most amazing to have ever existed). I just thought it was interesting to see someone just completely spiral because of what's being said on Twitter, despite those same things not really being reflected in real life. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does to me.
Anyway, I really liked this book. I just thought it was really well crafted. It was a really interesting character study, while also having some great commentary about cancel culture, and the publishing industry. I just thought the ending was incredibly abrupt. I literally checked back a couple of time to make sure it was really the end. It made things fall flat a little bit. I feel like the book ended when it was such on a high tension wise. It just felt odd.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
Minor: Rape and Suicide