Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

27 reviews

jessismoore's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking

It was hard to tell what was meant to be satire or not and especially what the author wanted you to believe or not when you’re done with this book. The main parts I felt were exaggerated were the narrator’s rationale behind her decisions but otherwise it felt believable and genuine but I know it’s a satire so that threw me off several times. Other than refusing the sensitivity reader, and then later refusing to add Athena to the credits of the book were her two main mistakes. To me this made the line of “what’s ok to say by whom” when talking about history or someone else’s story in general, more blurred, definitely not any clearer. It was certainly a critique of the publishing industry and kind of surprising that was allowed and the book wasn’t blocked or a refusal to advertise for it after release. Overall I’d recommend it as something a little different and harder to define to a genre (other than fiction).

singalana's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

gabriellejon's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

This is a narrative about personal jealousy, racism in publishing and interrogating race politics 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Classism

The entire narrative of this book is about a White American woman excusing and justifying her actions against a college friend and writer colleague who is Chinese American plus the varying moods and swings in action to conceal what she is doing. We are in the mind of the white woman character the whole time and it’s intentionally uncomfortable to be in this character’s head. Pace yourself if you need to though this novel isn’t that long.

linneak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

torturedreadersdept's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

glassflowrr's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective 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

3.0

I love that Kuang pulls no punches in her writing and this felt like an escalation of that trait. Her characters are over-the-top but feel grounded in what's most likely real experiences the author has had in the industry. June oscillates wildly between gut-wrenching guilt and extreme narcissism in a very compelling way. I finished the book in one day. 

This book does suffer from Kuang's typical pacing issues in the third act and leaves some threads a bit under developed, but overall a strong read and highly recommended if you already like this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

zadsavage's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

tessvosper's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide

Minor: Ableism, Blood, and Death of parent

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

This knocked my fucking socks off. Yellowface is as funny as it is horrific with a "protagonist" at the center who is truly foul in every sense. As awful as June Hayward is, her perspective never becomes tiring or less baffling to read. R.F. Kuang is so brilliant to have brought something like this to the table and I can't wait to make everyone in my life who hasn't read it yet move it to the top of their lists.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder, and Lesbophobia