Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

928 reviews

lonicae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

Gut-wrenching storytelling that made you look different at yourself as reader and the publishing process. I didn't really like June or what she did, but sometimes I wondered if and what I would have done differently. But sometimes she had me (figuratively) screaming at the pages.

I really enjoyed this book and it is really well written. You somehow get sucked into June's mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and War

s3ag0at's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Stalking

Minor: Racial slurs

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

kbifolck's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

2.5

This book made me so uncomfortable and I appreciate that the author wanted readers to feel that way. Between all the social media and general media vitriol mixed with June's lack of awareness or real thought put into her actions, I was seriously stressed out reading this! I can't articulate it but something was missing for me and I couldn't get totally into this...maybe some more depth to Athena or June. Some areas of their friendship were fleshed out later and I loved that but it was late and even then I wanted more depth there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

kitten_nugget's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

blomil'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

4.0

 very tight and fast narrative that was just a little spooky in an interesting way, i had fun with this. i also wasnt expecting so much insight into the book publishing industry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Vomit

leilorenzo's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

The name-dropping was quite jarring, especially in the audiobook version, and it felt unnecessary to move the story along. 
That being said, it was interesting to get the story from the POV of a "bad" character, since we don't usually get that. This way, it provides challenging views and forces you to care for someone who you normally wouldn't care for.
It also made me want to write!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

kinreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

4.25

Impressive and thought provoking story telling. I hated the main character and found myself talking at her through the whole book but I also couldn't put it down. Also created lots of questions when disagreeing with the main character but also disagreeing with ending antagonist too. Really well done, got all the emotions going. loved to hate it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

emiliejade_bigelow's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Suicidal thoughts