Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Yellowface

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

sophiesmallhands's review

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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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singalana's review against another edition

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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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laurajordensharris's review against another edition

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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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madapatru's review against another edition

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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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hdkroon's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.5

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paigerini's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

As someone half white and half Thai/Chinese, I found this an interesting book. (Spoilers)

One of the complaints I have seen in other reviews has to deal with the fact that June is unbearable, which she is and is supposed to be. June is horrible for stealing Athena's manuscript and taking ownership of all of her research and hard work and is definitely racist, but I would also hate Athena if I ever met her in real life. She was judgmental and hateful towards other Asian people in her field and stole the stories of others. Even June picked up on the fact that she was disingenuous, despite Athena's enthusiasm. The whole point of this novel is to show that both sides (June and Athena) can be cynical and rotten as well as genius, and I found myself hating and feeling sympathetic for both characters.

Another one of the complaints about this novel is that the whole premise seems extremely melodramatic, yet I believe that this is also the point. June should have stayed in therapy, but the result of not doing so leads to her anxious and self-pitying perception of herself and the world around her. Being in such a tough situation and such a competitive industry as publishing and writing without therapy or medical help would deteriorate even the strongest of people, so it makes sense that June (the narrator) freaks out and constantly makes mountains out of molehills.

I connected to both June and Athena in different ways, but I also do not like both of them. Growing up mixed with my dad being second-generation American (who didn't bother teaching me about the culture at all), I found it hard to interact and find things in common with Asian kids. I didn't know a second language, had the same struggles with parental pressure, and had all AP and honors classes, so I felt like an intruder - too white or too American. However, I found a group of friends of all sorts of people who couldn't care less about what ethnicity I was and just liked my company. I liked how Athena was a brilliant writer who wanted to share untold stories, but she also seemed elitist and almost too proud and too focused on the fact that she was Asian. I liked how June obviously knows what she does is wrong but doesn't stop it due to the pressure to be successful, but she is also definitely racist and constantly makes bad decisions, not utilizing the team she's been working with.

I think that this book is a thought-provoking commentary on the link between diversity and success in the real world, and I think it is definitely worth the read, especially if you want to go into the publishing and writing industry. I didn't like the ending too much, but leaving it open-ended lets the reader infer whether she fades into obscurity or tumbles violently into a fiery pit. Overall: 4/5 stars, reading this as a mixed person was sort of weird but sort of captivating at the same time.

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_ren's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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

3.5

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katlinstirling_reads's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.0

A bit disappointed with this one.. I wanted to enjoy it but I think it’s a BookTok book that is unfortunately overhyped, which is a shame because the story/plot is there. The genres are ‘thriller’ and in the acknowledgments ‘horror’ but this book is far from either, it’s more of a drama in my opinion. I actually really enjoyed the bookish aspect and although I’m not sure how true those parts were I did like to read about the publishing process and huddles authors have to face.

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