Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

552 reviews

grunbean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

If I had a penny for every time I’d read a book by an amazing Asian author about yellow face this year, I’d have two pennies, but it’s cool that it has happened twice! 

I don’t think I’ve read a book where I’ve been so invested but so revoked by the main character at the same time. This isn’t a story of heroes, and every character can be viewed as shitty in some way. Which ultimately ties in to where this book goes!

This is a unique kind of horror, and I would really recommend trying it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Islamophobia, War, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Grief

the_wistful_word_witch's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

wow, Wow, WOW!!

This descent into madness with echoes of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart grips you by the throat from the very first page and sends you hurtling along a narrative that leaves you not only shocked at everyone's actions and audacity but guessing at the many ways it could possibly end... That is, until the actual ending knocks you right on your ass. Did June just lose her mind after watching Athena die so horribly and the whole book is just a tortured fever dream she's having while on a grippy sock vacation?? Has Athena actually come back as a ghost to haunt June?? You'll have to read the whole thing to find out because Kuang's brilliant prestidigitation in the form of an incredibly unreliable narrator keeps us focused on one thing while the truth sneaks up behind us, just waiting to push us down the stairs.

I pretty much hated all the MCs in this book, which is a new thing for me... But Kuang does an amazing job of capturing what it's like to be a white woman caught up in a maelstrom of her own making, within a cut-throat industry that's all about that superficial diversity. I was going through an array of emotions, getting sucked into June's just as much as my own were taking over. Yellowface just left me shaking my head and muttering, "wtf... why would you even do that??" about everyone in it.

I had a buddy read going on and it was so much fun because not only were we able to riff off each other as we moved through the book at relatively the same pace, but my reading partner really made me step back and look at things differently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Xenophobia and War

ajobin's review against another edition

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

3.0

I'm a big fan of Kuang's writing and I'm glad to have read it, however I can't say I liked it (?) just because June is sooo (intentionally) unlikeable. I did not necessarily have a good time reading it but there was a perverse pleasure in watching how low she would go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual assault

mjones14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Very very good. Only reason it's not a 5 stars is I found the ending relatively predictable. The voice in this steals the show - as someone who studied creative writing, I feel so exposed it was terrifying 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Grief, Colonisation, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Bullying

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Rape

Minor: War and Islamophobia

capriqueen's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

This was an electric read. Like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. Masterfully done, weaving in June’s insistence of not being racist with all her microaggressions and stereotyping she’s clearly unaware of. June’s mindset was disturbing and fascinating, with the constant self-aggrandizing, always shifting the blame so she was the victim, the insistence that the world was just stacked against her and what else what she supposed to do? 

As the book hurtled toward the end, I found myself wondering what ending would be satisfying. Would June learn her lesson, finally feel regret as she crumbled away. Would she end her life from shame, would she flee to a foreign country. All I knew was that it wouldn’t be a happy ending. And it wasn’t, and she didn’t learn, she just cling to the narrative she’s been telling herself, and I honestly think that’s the perfect ending. I pity her, her inability to self-reflect and process, and I think that causes the reader to look inward. Am I like her? How do I not be like her?

This is going to be a book I’ll think about for a long time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Death, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

abbysingh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Rape, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Islamophobia, Medical content, War, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Vomit

gandalf_a's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic friendship, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Grief, Bullying, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Racial slurs, Classism, Cursing, Alcohol, and Colonisation

bubski_mcboo's review against another edition

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

4.75

Watching the protagonist dig herself into a deeper hole at every turn was hard to follow, but I did so with morbid and rapt attention. Perhaps it's because I see a version of myself in her that I slapped down at eighteen and have kept firmly in check for over a decade. Is there a shitty Juniper Song in me? Is she in all white women? What a dark thought.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, War, Forced institutionalization, Incest, and Islamophobia

marissasa's review against another edition

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

3.5

This book is the definition of unlikable main character, to the point of being a horrible, racist, narcissist, entitled, crazy, dumpster fire of a character. The premise is interesting and hooked me because it genuinely could be something that happens in real life given the state of the traditional publishing industry and all the book twitter and booktok drama that happens nowadays. While it was fun to read along and cringe and gasp at how the narrator continuously gets herself into deeper and deeper shit, I do wish there was deeper social commentary and more objective points on how Athena wasn't a perfect person nor a good person at times. Since we only get to hear about her flaws through the biased eyes of the main character, some of the nuance about Athena being a very privileged, pretentious, rich kid with connections at the same time as being a well-loved talented author giving much needed representation in the industry is lost. I also don't think the book needed to be as long as it was, it did drag in some parts where the main character was trying to figure out to write next or was being paranoid. Overall, this felt like watching ugly drama that you can't look away from unfold so you end up staying for the whole thing with popcorn in hand.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Alcohol, and Bullying

sareidle's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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: Toxic friendship and Racism

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail