Yellowface

(not provided)

Wonderfully contrived to make you care about what horror the dislikable narrator will justify next, in a savage and very online swipe at publishing, representation, and authorship.

Kuang's villain is so good that at points I started to wonder if this was a horror novel. The character's continued ability to justify her actions is really well done.

I didn't like the ending until I did. Overall, I flew through this. It's really entertaining.

This has been on my "To Read" list since Ellie Game's arresting cover caught my eye. I skimmed the blurb and wanted to read it even though it didn't feel like my "usual sort of thing".

thomasrigby.com/posts/book-review-yellowface-rf-kuang/

I like the premise, the plot, the narrator and the discussion about cultural appropriation. The writing flows nicely. The pop culture references and the tweets were fun at the start too, but eventually it got too repetitive for my taste. I get that the main character was spiraling, but it felt tedious towards the end. At times, the villain-ness of the main character felt too heavy-handed, verging on rage-bait (or was it just too close to home?). And the ending didn't do the book justice.

Yellow Face is a reflection of our society today and of its contradictions. Kuang takes a thought-provoking critical look at the entire literary industry and the effects of racism, privilege, and cultural appropriation. Its gripping plot makes the book a compelling read that you can hardly put down.

Creo que el thriller psicológico contemporáneo pega mucho más con el tipo de prosa rabiosa e implacable de Kuang. El comentario sociopolítico acompaña mucho mejor esta historia que Babel y, aunque se sigue atragantando de lo obvia que es, consigue hilvanarlo mejor con la trama.

My God...this was so good. It made me mad, confused, and so...so satisfied. Juniper is one the most annoying characters that doesn't think she's racist...when in reality she's close to being that. Using words like "You people" and completely describing Chinese women as stereotypes...when she doesn't even realize what she's doing. I love the way R.F. Kuang wrote her and this book as a whole. You hate Juniper...but can't stop reading, you're interested in her downfall, and I think that's masterful.

This is a change of pace from the author's other work and it feels somewhat self-referential, but through which character? The story had me hooked, even though the protagonist, if you can call her that, is not exactly sympathetic, and I feel like I've met that person, but after a while, I feel like I could be that person, and everyone in publishing sucks, anyway. Which is the general message I'm getting (in a more clever and entertaining format than all my complaints about the one computer book I published).

No idea how to review this. It was like being unable to look away from a car crash.

I loved Kuang's fantasy work, so I was pleased when this was a gripping read. Not sure on the content / messaging as a satire. This book covers many topics and I feel uneducated on so much of it.

Interesting insight into being an author and into publishing especially in today's world of social media and "cancel culture"

This got more shocking with every page and in the end I couldn't put it down. There is so many other turns this could have taken as well. The reader can really step inside the protagonists head and see how she is justifying her actions to herself. We also see that basically evey character is flawed and acts for their own benefit. This was also an interesting insight into the publishing industry and how authors and books are picked and Bestsellers are made.