Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

533 reviews

basil_touche's review

dark reflective 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

Such an engrossing read that's a biting satire on authors, racism in the publishing industry and the isolation of social media. This is fantastic example of an unreliable narrator that, while awful, feels like a she's a real person who's lack of acknowledgement of her white privilege and bigotry makes her dig herself deeper into her own pit. It becomes a trainwreck that you can't look away from. 

The ending is going to stay with me, how it dawns on you as it reaches the end that

Juniper has doomed herself to an endless spiral of delusion, blaming everyone but herself. Trapped in isolation and irrelevancy.

It's sad in a way and feels very true to life (there were several online scandals of recent memory that this book reminded me of) but also doesn't beat around the bush that all of this is her fault. Not to mention that she really doesn't have talent and keeps plagiarising asian authors

(a part where she tries to come up with new pitch ideas only to realise that she's copied her asian high school students made me break down with laughter)

I do wish that we could have learned more about Athena, there was a lot about her family history that is mentioned briefly but I suppose that's part of the narrative; her voice was stolen from her, we'll never truly know her, mostly only how June saw her. There's so many layers to this book I'll be thinking about for quite some time. I will absolutely be checking out Kuang's other novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Violence, Mental illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Racial slurs

Minor: War, Suicide, and Death of parent

amybartoli29's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Bullying, War, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Stalking

picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual assault

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

alphabetmafiamember's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Stalking, Grief, Gaslighting, Bullying, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual violence, Mental illness, and Vomit

Minor: Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Murder, Death of parent, and War

bella_mcnabb's review

challenging funny 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

4.5

It was not what I was expecting. A very interesting way to write a book and perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Stalking, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts

ceceska's review

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

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

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

pazfauxster's review

mysterious reflective 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

3.75

A speculative and engaging read revealing the dirtier sides of the publishing industry with a generous shelping of commentary on modern social media culture.

The book was very insightful and I liked how real the characters were. On the one hand, not a single one of them seems very likable. On the other hand, sometimes you catch yourself empathising with one or the other, then halt and think: they're kind of a horrible person, though. Does that make me a horrible person, too?

It tackles the racism and the capitalistic greed of publishers, and it's also speculative and keeps you on your toes. After reading (or, rather, listening to) the book, I stumbled upon the author's instagram and couldn't stop thinking how much of this stuff she had to experience firsthand.

Whenever I see a book trending on tiktok now, I will wonder if the author will once commit a social faux pas that will send their entire career tumbling down. And perhaps it's a cruel thing to think, but so is the publishing world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Toxic friendship, and Bullying

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

jessife's review

challenging dark lighthearted reflective 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

3.0

Read this in two days, found it pretty gripping. It has its flaws but overall I found it thought-provoking in its expose of micro-aggressions, and was interested in the insights into the publishing industry. Having a very unlikeable narrator could be jarring 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Rape, War, Xenophobia, Grief, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Racism, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts

historicalmaterialgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

4.0

This was like watching a car crash! I could not look away. Though I can see some minor flaws with pacing or when/how we meet certain characters, overall this is such a readable and timely look into the publishing industry, social media and how white women constantly paint ourselves as innocent victims. Whether it was loving on "kale chili" or complaining about service workers, sometimes this book got too real with its portrayal of white people. Like, borderline gave me secondhand embarrassment. What I got most from this book though was the conversations and reflections I had as I read it. Worth the hype!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship