Reviews with content warning for Schizophrenia/Psychosis - Yellowface

Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

praaliine's review

challenging dark funny 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

4.0

let’s call it literary horror, because that’s what this was. and not horror in the way one would expect. i heard a creator say it read like a true crime documentary and i totally agree. i was extremely entertained while reading this and couldn’t peel my eyes from the page. i found myself howling with laughter at the sheer insanity of it all, with several moments where my jaw just hung wide open, it was like everyone was a victim and yet a transgressor at the same time. june hayward was simply delusional from start to finish and i couldn’t help but feel that this book was giving pretty little liars vibes. to me athena (as described by june and others) was so similar to allison dilaurentis in a way i can’t explain.

it’s the way june never stopped and kept crawling back like a cockroach that really got me

Content Warnings

larareads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

kaylamoran's review

Go to review page

dark 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

4.0

This is my least favourite work by Kuang so far. Which isn't to say it's bad, I loved it. I'd read her grocery lists. It just left me wanting a little more. She said it was the most unhinged thing she's ever written, and maybe that's why I was expecting even more crazy (not that it wasn't, it was. But I can't help but feel that Rin is more unhinged).
Kuang is SO GOOD at writing the descent to madness, and she does it again well here. The slow questioning of reality, and everyone's motives. Feeling like everyone is out to get you. The walls closing in. It's a bit heavy handed here, but it's a satire and its meant to be.

June is supremely unlikeable, and she's supposed to be. June is meant to be an entitled white woman caricature, but Ive genuinely met people who think and talk like her. At points in the book I physically cringed at her. Honestly, almost everyone in this book is unlikeable. I didn't like Athena either, and I'm not sure I was supposed to. I liked that she wasn't an angel, and stealing was STILL wrong. Victims don't have to be good people either.

Overall, I loved it. It would be just about impossible to read this and miss Kuang's point. She's incredible and I'm going to continue to gobble up everything she releases.

Content Warnings

mellowreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

So compulsively, delectably readable. I read it in one sitting, something I haven’t done for a long time. Somehow the story was both straightforward and easy to follow, simple on the surface, but with so much nuance and small blink-and-you’ll-miss-it commentary underneath. So so so smart, RF Kuang you will always be famous. I may add more thoughts later but I need to go to Sleep

Content Warnings

bookishfaye's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Thank you so much Harper Collins for providing me with an E-Arc for review!!

R. F. Kuang’s brain is really and truly everything. She really is my favourite author and weaves so much intricate commentary into everything she creates and she continues to change the way I read & consume books & media, and her books continue to absolutely rattle and shake up the genres with which they are published.

The fact that Kuang considers Yellowface a silly little gremlin pandemic book is SO WILD to me because in my opinion it packs a punch to the same degree as The Poppy War and Babel do, just in this case it’s more modern. The way this book breaks down ignorance, racism, white womanhood, false allyship, tokenization, fetishization, corrupt publishing, cancel culture, and more was so incredibly profound and it also reads as such a biting and witty satire and it’s absolutely brilliant!

Being inside the head of the protagonist June was one of the most viscerally aggravating reading experiences I’ve maybe ever had, but it also was so unbelievably entertaining and actually physically jaw dropping and gag worthy following along June and her absolute delusions and Caucasity & I was so enthralled by every aspect of this book. The way it also has some genre-bending psychological thriller and near paranormal horror elements thrown in there as well was such an unexpected surprise and I really and truly would read R. F. Kuang’s grocery list.

TW: Racism, tokenization, fetishization, SA/Rape (not a graphic depiction of the act, but the after effects and thoughts and trauma), death, violence, blood

Content Warnings