peach_haze's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- 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
5.0
This book was simply put, a phenomenal, racial satire.
Since I heard about The Poppy Wars, I’ve been looking forward to reading a R.F. Kuang novel and grabbed YELLOWFACE up the second I saw it in the store. The plot intrigued me but I had no idea just how much I would be entranced by the writing style and storyline. I’ve never particularly been a fan of contemporary works; a genre I go to only after fantasy, thriller, and/ or romance. Yet, the sheer audacity of the MC, followed by her constant deception and drive to self-righteousness made it difficult to pry myself away from the masterpiece. I scoffed, laughed, and snorted while reading. I loved hating the MC, watching her dumpster-fire of lies finally catch ablaze and being shocked again and again as she tried to put it out with a broken garden hose or adding gasoline - choosing whichever would give her the most clout. From start to finish, I was amazed at Kuang’s writing. I was able to see deeper into the horrors of publication and of cultural and racial insensitivities regularly practiced by people everyday.
I look forward to reading Babel next, and following that, the Poppy War trilogy.
Since I heard about The Poppy Wars, I’ve been looking forward to reading a R.F. Kuang novel and grabbed YELLOWFACE up the second I saw it in the store. The plot intrigued me but I had no idea just how much I would be entranced by the writing style and storyline. I’ve never particularly been a fan of contemporary works; a genre I go to only after fantasy, thriller, and/ or romance. Yet, the sheer audacity of the MC, followed by her constant deception and drive to self-righteousness made it difficult to pry myself away from the masterpiece. I scoffed, laughed, and snorted while reading. I loved hating the MC, watching her dumpster-fire of lies finally catch ablaze and being shocked again and again as she tried to put it out with a broken garden hose or adding gasoline - choosing whichever would give her the most clout. From start to finish, I was amazed at Kuang’s writing. I was able to see deeper into the horrors of publication and of cultural and racial insensitivities regularly practiced by people everyday.
I look forward to reading Babel next, and following that, the Poppy War trilogy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Racial slurs, Violence, War, Rape, Alcohol, and Death
becca_w_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Cursing, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug use, Hate crime, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol and Blood
shannonswick's review against another edition
funny
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
4.0
Fast read and entertaining. The main character is intentionally hard to connect with, but very interesting hearing it from her point of view. The ending just didn’t wrap things up enough for me!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Death
mromie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
DC heavy book with references that made me quite nostalgic. Thought-provoking and made one consider questions on the meaningful/less-ness of cancel culture, the ultimate harsh reality of people just trying to make it in the world and ripping others to shreds just to achieve it. No saints here, that’s for sure
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
sundayfever's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- 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 interesting read. Don't usually read books where I can't relate to the narrator at all. It read fast and light but the subject matter is not light. Weird but interesting to be inside the mind of a white person who won't admit they're wrong. Especially when the author is AAPI.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Torture
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
annabananadel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to other lands. Writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much.
Okay, hear me out. I’m probably not their target reader especially since I’ve been just reading romance nonstop - hence, my rating. I can see why it’s a cult favorite recently but it just didn’t appeal to me as much as it did for other people - BUT, a big but there, I actually enjoyed reading through it eventhough it took me some time. I don’t know what’s up but whenever I read thrillers, there’s usually a writer involved. But this one is a big writer story because it’s how Yellowface came to be, maybe?
I love how R. F. Kuang told June’s story and how she let us dive into her mind throughout the whole story - from her friendship with Athena, her writing process in how she evolved Athena’s story, to how it went downhill for her. It’s actually intense the last few chapters where you’re actually feeling the craziness coming out from the book to real life because she wrote it in a way that you’re going thru it with June. It’s actually mesmerizing just thinking about it. Just the story for me is what let me down a bit or maybe okay, thinking about it now while writing this review, it made me think how we’re in a villain FMC. I just didn’t know it was a thing before this book. Plus points for that. I guess that’s why I’m actually hating June more than any FMC I’ve ever read.
Made me want to read more R. F. Kuang books, tbh. And actually writing this review + thoughts about buying more of her books, made me feel like one of those people online June is reading about…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Racism
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Rape
Minor: Islamophobia and Suicidal thoughts
cemsreadingcorner's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- 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
5.0
June, the main character in this book, was horrible. In fact, most of the characters in this book were horrible. I usually DNF books with terrible characters, but this one was enjoyable because June’s awful behavior was acknowledged by people in the book. She got a lot of hate on Twitter for what she did. What also made this book enjoyable was the fact that I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. The story was intriguing. It kept me on the edge of my seat. Even after reading the story, I still don’t know if June was a villain, or was right for what she did. She’s an unreliable character, but her friend wasn’t that great of a person either. So, did she deserve what June did to her? Did she have it coming? I recommend this book to anyone who wants a page-turner that will thrill you. Because even though it is not a thriller, it’s suspenseful. Keeps you at the edge of your seat. I’m excited to read more books from this author. I definitely want to read the second book in this series if she writes one. 👍🏼👍🏼
Friday, November 24, 2023 at 7:25 PM
Friday, November 24, 2023 at 7:25 PM
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Death
alysereadsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-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
3.5
Listened to the audiobook of this - and the narrator did an amazing job of capturing the unhinged behavior of the main character. I found its themes to be similar to Disorientation. It sparks an interesting discussion about voices of AAPI and POC, specifically in the literary realm.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Racism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
imperaitrice's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Deadnaming, Sexual harassment, Grief, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Bullying
becausebrenna's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
I don’t know if I’ve ever hated a protagonist more, but Kuang’s writing is so effortlessly readable that I couldn’t put this down. It’s a critique of publishing, of white liberal America; of frenzied twitter discourse pile ons, and of mining your own and others profit for trauma. It was equally parts funny and infuriating. The ending felt a bit unsatisfying, but the whole book made me want to scream about how horrible and unreliable June is, so I felt that it fit with the theme.
I think I also agree to an extent with some of the criticism- Kuang writes about what she knows. However I don’t inherently think writing about what you know is a bad thing - while not fully interrogating how your experience/ your area of research expertise can be limiting, it is executed well enough to not detract from the book imho. I also agree that the satire is heavy handed-again, not something that took away from the book for me.
Regarding some of the characters in this book essentially as mouthpieces to deflect critiques that she has received on her own work-that an area I’m out of my depth on, though I do agree.
I think I also agree to an extent with some of the criticism- Kuang writes about what she knows. However I don’t inherently think writing about what you know is a bad thing - while not fully interrogating how your experience/ your area of research expertise can be limiting, it is executed well enough to not detract from the book imho. I also agree that the satire is heavy handed-again, not something that took away from the book for me.
Regarding some of the characters in this book essentially as mouthpieces to deflect critiques that she has received on her own work-that an area I’m out of my depth on, though I do agree.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Death
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Suicidal thoughts