Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

193 reviews

wet_towlette's review

medium-paced

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

4.0

I have never read a story that has such a hypocritical and annoying main character that I enjoyed reading this much. Like this girl was crazy and as much as I wasn't rooting for her it's hard not be impressed by the shit she's pulling off. Also, that was the perfect ending for a character like this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Death of parent, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, War, and Sexual assault

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Death, Classism, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Vomit, Mental illness, Bullying, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Racism

hannah_lilli's review

dark mysterious 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: Death, Toxic friendship, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

jourdanicus's review

dark tense 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

3.5

I had heard good things about this one, but I guess it just wasn't for me... I can't tell if it's genius and I'm just not clever enough to pick up on it, or if the execution of the premise fell flat.

For such a character-focused book, the characters felt like they lacked depth and nuance. I mean, maybe that was the point, but if that's the case it made the book feel like a too-heavy handed attempt at satire. Either that or Kuang is just VERY good at writing extremely unlikeable characters.

For me there was also too much content that consisted only of the main character scrolling and reading social media... I read books to get away from that, not continue to be immersed in it for at least 50% of the book 😅

This book was still very readable despite the fact that it couldn't seem to decide what it wanted to be. Again, maybe that's the point given the internal conflict of the main character, but really it just made things kind of confusing.

I did like the twist of *how* Athena died, that came as a surprise to me... But then the rest of the story felt like it dragged. I wanted more surprises!

3/5⭐ for me - I liked it enough to be able to finish it but not much more than that - plus an extra half a star for respect to the author in case this one just went over my head LOL.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Racism

Minor: Death of parent, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

winterwoodbooks's review

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Biphobia, Bullying, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, and Sexism

florenceassetto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-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

4.25

this was SUCH an easy read and i am so thankful it has dragged me out of my reading slump! the authorial voice in this one sounds exactly like a bitter white woman on twitter (so much so i had to google the author just to be sure) and the premise of the book is both so well crafyed and so well executed! honestly an incredible first time read, so much tension and so much expectation but i loved it!! would definitely recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Death of parent

hanngigi's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent and Suicidal thoughts

ninahuynh's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

Ok. How do I start?! I have so many feelings about June and how the book ended. I found it funny with the

ghost elements (with Candice, the hallucinations and social media accounts

. Is it trying to comment on how out of touch she is with reality? All I know is Juniper Song Hayward needs help ASAP, especially before she taps into another novel.

Overall, I like the book. There were just some parts where the writing was a biz clunky for me and I had to re-read the sentence several times to understand it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Death of parent, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and War

ausnein's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault and War

Minor: Death of parent and Suicide

joanna_banana's review against another edition

emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is a juicy page-turner! The commentary on racism and cultural appropriation is a must-read. Reminded me a bit of The Other Black Girl - a thriller set in the publishing industry with racism and in that case cultural assimilation as its central theme - but Yellowface is entirely its own. The ending was excellent, unpredictable, and I loved the first person voice, very effective for this story that feels so real it’s hard to remember you’re reading a novel and not Juniper’s tell-all memoir.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Abortion and Blood