Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

788 reviews

uncica's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective 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

I wanted to love this book soooo much, especially because Kuang is an amazing writer.

It started off as a 5-star read - very unique and different - but I liked it less and less as the book progressed. I'm not sure if it was the book's fault, but I entered a massive reading slump, so I struggled to finish it over the course of a whole month, even though it was a fast-paced read.

What I liked:

I liked that the MC is straight up immoral in a sea of morally questionable characters. Her constant ability to find an "excuse" in order to "justify" plagiarizing her friend's work

(over and over again)

through blatant racism made Yellowface very thought-provoking. Kuang definitely made me reflect on my own biases.

Another intriguing aspect of the book is that it shows us how the writing and publishing process works on the back end, and just how competitive it can be.

Yellowface made me chuckle a couple of times, though the humor was mostly dark.

What I didn't like:

After a while, the book became repetitive, in my opinion, and I could pretty much predict what was going to happen next. That being said, I still don't know how I feel about the ending - don't love it, don't hate it. Since Kuang decided to go with

Athena's ghost

in order to expose Juniper, I almost wish she leaned fully into the narrative and made the book more

fantastical. (Note that I have a high preference for fantasy books, so I'm very much biased here.)

I just find the ending a bit anti-climactic given all the build-up.

Another thing that poked my eyes was that Kuang used the same quote about translation in Babel. Yes, the quote did fit in Yellowface, but I just did not like the recycling.

Otherwise, I do recommend you read Yellowface if only for Kuang's brilliant writing style.

Content Warnings

dbb523's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

liviburke1's review against another edition

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dark funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

hkcooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

vanessaeco's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

basil_touche's review against another edition

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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

5.0

Such an engrossing read that's a biting satire on authors, racism in the publishing industry and the isolation of social media. This is fantastic example of an unreliable narrator that, while awful, feels like a she's a real person who's lack of acknowledgement of her white privilege and bigotry makes her dig herself deeper into her own pit. It becomes a trainwreck that you can't look away from.

The ending is going to stay with me, how it dawns on you as it reaches the end that

Juniper has doomed herself to an endless spiral of delusion, blaming everyone but herself. Trapped in isolation and irrelevancy.

It's sad in a way and feels very true to life (there were several online scandals of recent memory that this book reminded me of) but also doesn't beat around the bush that all of this is her fault. Not to mention that she really doesn't have talent and keeps plagiarising asian authors

(a part where she tries to come up with new pitch ideas only to realise that she's copied her asian high school students made me break down with laughter)

I do wish that we could have learned more about Athena, there was a lot about her family history that is mentioned briefly but I suppose that's part of the narrative; her voice was stolen from her, we'll never truly know her, mostly only how June saw her. There's so many layers to this book I'll be thinking about for quite some time. I will absolutely be checking out Kuang's other novels.

Content Warnings