Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

45 reviews

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

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

_ren's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

vaykay's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-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: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Minor: Biphobia, Hate crime, Incest, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

amysdr's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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 and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Islamophobia, Medical content, Stalking, and Abortion

emilywemily6's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

This was so good, I listened to this entire audiobook in just one day. It’s cringey and realistic, with lots of micro aggressions and covert racism. It was a fascinating read, and as a white person, I could see the slippery slope of racism/appropriation. This is a book I will think about for a long time. I didn’t prefer the ending (this book almost felt like it would end up as a literary horror but it didn’t go quite that far). The main character kind of descends into madness but I wanted more. Such a good read that talks about the sins of the publishing industry and the impact of race. The author did a beautiful job making me both hate the main character and feel for her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Racism, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Mental illness, Medical content, Alcohol, and Classism

abbysingh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Racism, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Violence, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Colonisation, and War

jenniferbowman's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Stalking, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

k8lynn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

i loved this book and simultaneously hated every single thing Juniper did. she was a cery unlikeable character and i did not sympathize with her morivations whatsoever. it was challenging to read the POV of a "villain" doing something so ethically wrong, and i really wanted to see her get what she had coming to her, but certain people always seem to get off scotch-free. i really enjoyed how this was written, i especially enjoyed the audiobook form, and i felt engaged right off the bat from the first chapter/athena's death scene. this a great read, especially for those who hate plaigarists and people who try to be someone they're not because it challenges you to see from the other side. the ending didn't fall flat for me; if anything it just showed how Juniper will not stop her toxic ways.

also, reverse racism is totally not a thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

ceceska's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective tense fast-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

5.0

O.M.G. Ce livre était absolument FABULEUX. Je n'en reviens juste pas à quel point ce livre était bon. C'est un 5 étoiles SOLIDE. Je vais le dire tout de suite même si d'habitude je le met à la fin de mon review : je recommence ce livre à TOUT LE MONDE. Vous devez lire ce livre!

Ce livre suit l'histoire de June, une femme blanche, qui vole le manuscrit non publié de son amie asiatique suite à son décès. Le manuscrit porte sur le rôles des travailleurs chinois lors de la Première Guerre mondiale. Elle publie le récit de son amie en le faisant passer pour le sien, mais en y faisant quelques modifications...

Les thèmes de ce livre sont : le racisme, la solitude, la jalousie et l'appropriation culturelle. Ces thèmes sont explorés dans un long monologue fiévreux et dérangé de la protagoniste.

Ce livre était unique puisque la majorité de celui-ci était le fil de pensées de la protagoniste, June. Les dialogues sont peu nombreux mais sont très efficaces. Dans ce cas-ci, moins de dialogue a rendu l'histoire très intéressée puisqu'on voit bien la psyché de la protagoniste ainsi que le raisonnement qui la pousse à prendre des décisions chaotiques.

J'ai beaucoup aimé détester June. Je ne sais pas quand est la dernière fois que j'ai autant détesté une protagoniste d'un roman. June était extrêmement raciste, méchante et qui pense que tout lui est dû. Elle est absolument horrible. Chacune de ses décisions est pire que la précédente. J'ai adoré ça. 

Ce roman m'a tenue en haleine du début jusqu'à la fin. J'ai eu des réactions de surprise à haute voix plusieurs fois pendant ma lecture. Je n'en revenais simplement pas des événements qui se produisaient. 

Ce roman était très bien écrit. J'ai beaucoup apprécié ma lecture. Le rythme était très rapide, ce que j'apprécie énormément. Je ne m'attendais pas du tout à cela considérant que la majorité du livre est ses pensées.

Bref, encore une fois, je recommande ce livre à TOUT le monde.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Deportation