Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Yellowface

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

375 reviews

leechachatotheright's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I will say that this book was very thought provoking, a social commentary on racism, diversity, etc. I gave it a 3 as it was a good read in its writing itself and does tackle an interesting perspective but, I don't think I'd recommend this to a friend to read. The first two thirds of the book was very inticing, but the ending felt like

"This, really? Is that all? You haven't learned anything."

and honestly, that may be the point of it. I find the narrative very different from anything I've read before, but maybe that's also why it felt flat at the end. I don't mind endings not having the whole

character learns from their mistakes trope, if anything, it is kind of refreshing to see this perspective.

But alas, the ending did feel a bit inconclusive to me, though I understand the intention of it. I don't know if I'll read it again, but I'll definitely say it was a unique read and I didn't put the book down until I was finished. I basically wanted more from the ending.

Content Warnings

singalana's review against another edition

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challenging 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

3.5

Oh boy, this book was a rollercoaster, but the ending knocked the rating down.

Yellowface is a contemporary literary novel about diversity in publishing. In this novel, June Hayward, a failing white author, witnesses the death of her former classmate and a successful Chinese-American author Athena Liu. On an impulse decision, she steals Athena’s manuscript and decides to present it as her own.

The novel explores the publishing industry, calcel culture, plagiarism, racism and diversity in literature. The main character, June, or Juniper Song, as her publishers market her, is so oblivious to her racial biases and the fact that what she’s doing is wrong that it beggars belief. But the thing is that every single character in this book is more or less unlikeable. And all of them are fleshed out almost as caricatures of the people they are representing. On the plus side, all the characters get the same harsh treatment, but it renders them so unlikeable that it was painful to get through this work.

This book displayed the worst side of people, especially on social media, and I feel that there were interesting discussions to be had there. However, I felt that Yellowface almost condoned the lynch mentality and cyberbullying that is so pervasive in our current climate. Yes, the main character is shitty, and yes, what she did was wrong, but does it REALLY justify sending death threats to her through social media?

The main character showed a glimmer of awareness in the last third of this book, but the ending ruined that. I suppose this book was meant to criticise the publishing industry, but the ending shifts the tone into something resembling a crime novel and feels a bit like a cop-out. This book could have been an excellent discussion about racism, stereotypes and cancel culture, but in the end, it ended up lacking nuance.

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hi_its_micah's review against another edition

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challenging 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

Content Warnings

kiarra_s's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective 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

How far will a yt woman go to claim a body of work that doesn’t belong to her? The limit does not exist! 🥴

I’m still shocked at how hard the main character doubled down on her lies/ played victim to the entire audience. Kudos to the author for delivering a satirical novel that highlights racism, tokenism, and cultural appropriation!

Content Warnings

jennazim's review against another edition

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dark 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

5.0

Content Warnings

elisalasater's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.5

Content Warnings

ariana_m's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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 was so irritating but I couldn't put it down. I liked the satire and the little mystery, thriller thing at the end. I loved the writing style, it felt like diary entries. I also liked how the fourth wall gets broken many times. The fmc gets -1000 points. I hate her but that's the point. She was unbearable, delusional, annoying, racist and simply awful. The way she tried to justify all of her actions was interesting to say the least. She acted as if she was the victim of something when she literally plagiarized a book, changed her name to sound racially ambiguous, leeched off of Asian culture but hated certain aspects of the culture all at once. She also called her own eight year old niece a "basic bitch in training" which is crazy. The fmc was insufferable but again, that's the point.

I also think while this book is work of fiction, things like this unfortunately do happen in the publishing industry all the time. They have happened for years and are still happening right now in current time. This book highlights all of these issues and topics really well in a way that easy for people to take in. This was my first time reading a R.F Kuang book and it won't be my last!

Content Warnings