Reviews with content warning for Cultural appropriation - Yellowface

Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

1296 reviews

ashisurana's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious 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

Content Warnings

gabthebookworm's review against another edition

4.5

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

maeveco's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

stormeno's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Holy fucking shit, what an ending! Absolutely not where I expected that to go. The book was a bit slow to start, but it really moved once the plot picked up! I truly felt immersed in the main characters emotions with all their complexity and contradictions.

Content Warnings

cinnamon_birch's review against another edition

5.0

challenging 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

Yellowface is one of the best-written books I’ve ever read. Kuang unapologetically delivers a truly loathsome main character as a vehicle to critique and analyze internalized white supremacy, the publishing industry, social media, and the darker parts of being human.

Have you ever encountered a character that you absolutely hate, and as you go along hating them, you realize that many of the things you hate about them are things that you have struggled to overcome in yourself? 🙋🏻‍♀️ Juniper Song Hayward is despicable and infuriating, and she takes it to a level that is horrifyingly realistic while her inside thoughts run unchecked all over every page (for a recent, real life example of this kind of unchecked white audacity & theft check out the Hair Cliques situation over on Threads 😒).

The most disturbing thing about June is that her inner monologue is such an accurate depiction of the ways racists think: in stereotypes, assumptions, differences, and victimhood. I’m grateful to have some amount of humility that has allowed me to listen, learn, and work on my anti-racism. Juniper Hayward, however, has all the self-awareness of a headless chicken and the character arc of a pancake. (I’m sorry, that was dark but I couldn’t help myself.) On that note, pancakes have been officially banned from my home. 🚫🥞🙅🏻‍♀️

Pretty much every character in this book has their flaws in all-caps, but Juniper is THE WORST. I’m sorry for this comparison, but she’s like Harry in the 5th book when he’s all like, “But I’m the chosen one 😩🥺😭,” and refuses to acknowledge the work everyone else has done to get him to this point.

I’ve only read one book before this one in which I hated everything happening on the page but couldn’t stop reading. I will be thinking about this book for a long time, remembering to ask myself [in the voice of Dwight Schrute]: “Would Juniper Song do that? If the answer is yes, I do not do that thing.”

Content Warnings

aroraback's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 70%

I don’t like unreliable narrators, and the main character gives me anxiety

Content Warnings

chillerunterwegs's review against another edition

4.0

challenging 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

Content Warnings

shauneebroadley's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

honestly at this point i wouldn’t be surprised if some white person did something like this

Content Warnings

hibie's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really really enjoyed this actually - very fun and easy read and the way you can literally see the obtuse stubborn blindness the protag has to her own prejudice and harmful behaviours was frustrating but so engaging. Pretty bleak outlook on publishing though. Rest in peace to my dreams of writing </3

Content Warnings

jenna36's review against another edition

4.5

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I had heard that this book had mixed reviews, but I was absolutely riveted. It was so profoundly disturbing to be inside this person's head, but even more disturbing that I found myself believing that this was a person who could (and probably does) actually exist. R.F. Kuang's writing always hits for me, and this book is no exception. She is a diabolically brilliant author, especially when crafting the main character in this novel. Being in the villain's head and seeing all of her excuses and explanations was fascinating.

Funnily enough, I also saw the seeds of Kuang's recent novel Babel in this book, and I feel like a lot of the themes found in this book recur there in a different way.

Content Warnings

More...