Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

122 reviews

kirstensbabel's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

i think this book is very weird. it tries to do A Lot. there is so much commentary, coming from so many different people (including the authors own voice) thats it sometimes hard to figure out whos opinion is whos and as someone who has no experience or knowledge of these kind of things (i am very white ha) there is no relating. 
I think personally, that it kind of launches on what Babel was doing, very centered around words and writing, except in a contemporary setting and about plaigerism (on a very unserious note, this is what we were afraid of when our teachers in middle school said we couldn’t plagiarize off of wikipedia). I do think that Babel is a wayyyyy better book, which i think also is a bad thing for yellowface. it was never going to be able to live up to her magnum opus. 
The main character is not…. good. Shes rude, arrogant and very racist. Which is how she is supposed to be. Except the narrative is also very manipulative, so sometimes i almost found something she said relatable. None of the characters were very likable though. 
The third part was probably the best, because of the

slowly going insane and seeing ghosts

. It is very clear that this book is half autobiographical, which only plays on the paradoxical aspects of this story.

Especially with June writing her own story and then not and then in the end actually writing a fake story, like a book in the book

This is probably the most meta book i have ever read. the references where very dated, some even from her previous novels

the act of translation is always an act of betrayal quote suddenly being there

On the other hand, I am a writer and a reader. i watch booktube and booktoks, and dream of participating in the world of publishing one day, so i loved all the anecdotes about publishing and writing. I have anxiety, but didn’t relate to the way that it was written in here, but thats my problem.  
The book was divided in three parts: 

1. stealing manuscript and deluding that it is hers 2. twitter comments 3. going insane

But, staying with my truth, i was just there for the drama. finished half of it in one day lol. 
3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Murder

martyrbat's review against another edition

mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Xenophobia, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

paytonsbooknook's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was a shit show—it’s not bad but damn there is a lot to unpack in this book. From the beginning this book talk about so much. I also did not think this book would talk about Palestine as much as it did. But there a lot of racism and so much more but I loved this book and the main character was so unlikable like so much I did think about dnf this book. But I think that this book is a very important and interesting book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Cultural appropriation

asophiet's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense 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

4.75

Such a well written book that had me squirming and uncomfortable with how I felt about the characters, situation, context and choices. Was it an easy feel good read? Not at all. Was it meant to be? Not at all, and that’s why it was so good. 
Not a full 5* in my opinion because it started to drag a little with repetitiveness towards the end, and 
*not a spoiler but if you don’t want to go into the ending with possible preconceived notions stop here* 
the direction the penultimate chapter goes in felt oddly out of place and served cliché soap opera vibes that didn’t feel like it matched the caliber of the rest of narrative. 
It was, overall though, a memorable read that I think will stick with me for a long time to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jmb1951's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

navayiota's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Brilliant, like everything else she writes. I felt pulled to continue the story at every second of the day. 
Kuang inspires me to write, every word she lays on the page is like a string pulling at my heart, urging me to follow along. Her work makes me believe, for a second, that I too, could create something amazing. And at the same time I feel unbelievably silly and inexperienced. That's all I have to say. A Must-Read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

sophiesmallhands's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racial slurs, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

laurajordensharris's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

madapatru's review against another edition

tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cursing and Vomit