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willow1113's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Rape, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol
btrz7's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol
audreading's review against another edition
- 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
I actually started noticing so many stories like this one coming up on Twitter while I was reading. We always wonder, with these celebrities who go off the rails with bigoted rhetoric, how their thought process works and how they get to such a place. Yellowface shows you just that. I can’t tell you how many times I was screaming at the page and wanted to type out an argument just like I would online.
The book also shows an interesting peek into the publishing world in almost a meta way (except we would never want to relate R.F. to June). This is a struggle we readers don’t have to think about too often! We just lap up the books with no real appreciation for the fight that goes into getting honest work onto the table.
I only take off half a star for this book because the ending wasn’t my favorite.
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol
winterwoodbooks's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
ninahuynh's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
daisyfont's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Murder
kristinj1's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Minor: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Although my review may be full of basic bookish rambling about the perpetual spiral of the so-called delulu in regards to the main character who is a writer, the writing in this book by the witty R. F. Kuang is so sharp, timely, and addictive that you certainly feel like you’re delulu too. (Okay I’ll stop using that word now.)
So this novel is basically a ridiculously well-written reddit thread of “AITA for stealing the manuscript of my dead Asian friend and passing it off as my own since I’m a woman, but I’m also very much a cishet white woman?”
GIRLLLLL. Kuang crafted such a punchy, visceral novel about race, loneliness, envy, and the pros and cons of the publishing industry. I was glued to every page, almost like watching a train wreck. It’s like, chapter after chapter, our white MC (June) goes deeper and deeper into her web of lies and you’re like “there’s no way she gets away with this” in a non-Scooby Doo villain kind of way, and then SHE DOES!! She just keeps at it!! The secondhand embarrassment and utter frustration was so real, especially in the way that could absolutely happen in real life, which is messed up but also shows the reality of diversity in today’s society—not always as advanced or progressive as we perceive it to be when it’s not directly related to us. This narrative was such an interesting piece on how far someone will go to save their reputation, when said reputation is a fabricated construct in and of itself. Fascinating.
Parts did remind me of “American Fiction”, which is another great example of the assumptions made about POC writers, just in a sort-of opposite form. In any case, I highly recommend both.
TL;DR June Hayward is kind-of the Hannah Horvath of this story, but somehow even worse. If you liked HBO’s “Girls” for the writing and not for the characters, this book is for you.
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Gaslighting
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
metanav's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Racism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
1010sheehy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Colonisation