Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

926 reviews

issymaae's review against another edition

dark 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: Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and War

okaychanly's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-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

3.75

Overall, I liked it more than I disliked it. I understand June is written as a narrator to be hated, as she's very obviously prejudiced against Asian people (specifically Chinese). It was so satisfying to witness her faults and failures at various points in the story. I understand why this book has captured the attention of so many people. R.F. Kuang is a talented author, and it was interesting to get a glimpse into the publishing world through this almost subversive lens. Yet at the same time, I had a hard time getting through some of the book because of the narrator and the lack of likable characters in general. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and War

jessismoore's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking

It was hard to tell what was meant to be satire or not and especially what the author wanted you to believe or not when you’re done with this book. The main parts I felt were exaggerated were the narrator’s rationale behind her decisions but otherwise it felt believable and genuine but I know it’s a satire so that threw me off several times. Other than refusing the sensitivity reader, and then later refusing to add Athena to the credits of the book were her two main mistakes. To me this made the line of “what’s ok to say by whom” when talking about history or someone else’s story in general, more blurred, definitely not any clearer. It was certainly a critique of the publishing industry and kind of surprising that was allowed and the book wasn’t blocked or a refusal to advertise for it after release. Overall I’d recommend it as something a little different and harder to define to a genre (other than fiction).

mereho'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, and Cultural appropriation

marim139's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

I overall enjoyed this book. It was a very interesting way to talk about race, cultural appropriation, and the literary world. However, I was let down by the ending. It felt like it all came tumbling out so quickly. I feel like there are typically more clues that gradually build on each other and you can start to see the pieces come together right before the crescendo at the end of the story… but this didn’t happen in this book. I wouldn’t read this book again, but I am glad I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

laura_cat's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Suspect I may have rated it higher if I’d read vs listened to the book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

sophiestbr's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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

Such a well written book that had me squirming and uncomfortable with how I felt about the characters, situation, context and choices. Was it an easy feel good read? Not at all. Was it meant to be? Not at all, and that’s why it was so good. 
Not a full 5* in my opinion because it started to drag a little with repetitiveness towards the end, and 
*not a spoiler but if you don’t want to go into the ending with possible preconceived notions stop here* 
the direction the penultimate chapter goes in felt oddly out of place and served cliché soap opera vibes that didn’t feel like it matched the caliber of the rest of narrative. 
It was, overall though, a memorable read that I think will stick with me for a long time to come.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emlo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

This book pulled me in from the very start, but somewhere in the middle i lost focus. I think it was the extended Twitter commentary that I struggled with, then the ending seemed pretty perfect because of course June would do anything to stay relevant. It's a very clever book with some hot topic criticisms of the publishing industry, how non-white voices are marginalized in every stage of the publishing process, and how lazy stereotypes are substituted for authentic inclusivity. It's an uncomfortable book to read as you are trapped in June's head, an oblivious woman who lacks self-awareness, is very casually racist, and doesn't really care that much about the people around her, only on her time in the spotlight. All the other characters are presented through the warped lens of June, so everyone just seems awful, and you're left kind of screaming at the audacity when time and time again June fails to do the decent thing and really doubles down on her terrible choices. Very, very clever to give the reader such a visceral reaction to a character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Mental illness

jmb1951's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

ellacostello's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

As a whole I loved the book 
Unsure about the ending I would have liked to see more into the possibilities of this new published book and the outcomes of the drama… although I’m sure the rounds of both good and bad would have been the same as throughout the book 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault