نقدها
Very entertaining, very hard to put down. I felt like I was seeing a huge influence on Yesteryear while reading this. <spoiler>I was surprised that June did not intentionally murder Athena. Maybe I'm not interpreting the book correctly, but I was surprised that wasn't a twist at the end. I was also surprised in a "oh, is that all?" when Candice was revealed to be the one behind the reactivation of Athena's Instagram.</spoiler>
Never thought a story about plagiarism could be this intriguing. I loved it. This joirney with this story will live in my memory for a long time, I think.
In all honesty I listened to this on super speed and probably missed some parts. But it wasnt really what I was expecting? It wasnt -funny haha- as much as legitimately well done satire. Some satire is really extreme (Confederacy of Dunces etc) but this was not as extreme, which is actually harder to read, because June is much easier to imagine as a real life terrible person. And I just read another book that provided the same claustrophobic experience of being trapped inside the mind of an unlikeable narrator. I think I have less tolerance for that kind of reading experience at this stage of my life. So while it was well done, I did not enjoy.
Yellowface – R.F. KuangI had this book standing in my bookcase for over a year. But begin this year I decided to make a spinner so that I would get to my TBR and it was Yellowface that was the winner this time. Honestly I went in blind. I didn’t know the blurb. But I was surprised to see what this book was about. However I do not think I can give a proper review about this book as they talk a lot about Chinese history and racism within the Chinese/Asian community. I do not feel comfortable going into that subject as I have no knowledge about the history nor do I know how racism towards the Asian community feels, I do get the feeling reading this book I understand better but still it’s not for me to talk about this as if I have any knowledge on this subject. However I can speak about the white narrator in this book and she was literally insufferable. I couldn’t deal with how evil she was and the fact that you read her thought process and she really thinks that she is doing something good. Let’s be honest she didn’t!! I think Kuang did a really good job of showing us the ins and outs of the publishing/review industry and how difficult it is in this industry. I couldn’t stop reading this book. I know a lot of people were rooting for Juniper Song but honestly I couldn’t stop reading because I really hoped she would get busted by the mom or anyone. Halfway through it seems like the truth finally catched up to her however she talked her way out of it (BUMMER!!!!). I couldn’t feel any empathy for anything that was going on with our narrator. I hated her (well done Kuang for writing in such a way that I literally felt angry a lot of times). There is a part about Juniper and the things she had said to some people where I can give my opinion on and the thing that infuriates me the most is the fact that it’s so easy to steal a manuscript and make it your own. In my opinion, we can only write about our own histories and our own experiences and not about something we do not understand at all!. And that’s a thing that really shows in this book. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but that’s fine
Yellowface was such a shocking and unique book. I loved how it shows the dark side of publishing with envy and plagiarism, all written as a dark satire. It kept me hooked the whole time.This is an easy 5 stars for me, and I can’t wait to read more from R. F. Kuang.
For what it purports to achieve, it really did deliver. A great rage baity-twitter-angst type of read
i actually liked the ending. a book that rescribes how it's written is always kind of cheap, sure, but i felt it made sense for june.it absolutely feels like the self-centered thing she would write (and think is genius).it pushed my rating from 3 stars to 4!i thinl i agree with most reviews taht the middle part ist just meh, twitter drama, actually boring and only readable because its well written. but it makes sense that june would write it like that, so its okay?it makes sense for the book as a whole, but it still made me consider not finishing it several times.my final thoughts are, oh god, june is a terrible person.i was disgusted by her for most of the book, i pitied her, i was afraid ilthat i am like her and just don't notice it.watching her self destruct is like an accident, i just couldn't look away. i hoped she would realize something, just anything, and grow as a person, but it just got worse and worse.so, yeah, this is a good book, but im not sure i enjoyed reading it.
its good but not so good half of the book i keep asking whether she gonna get expose or not and another part have me confuse abit about the flash backthen some other thing i lazy to write about buti like itp/s: do author seriously take good read review so seriously if that so, im so sorry guys im sorry
This was an enjoyable read overall. I liked getting to know the characters and really appreciated the deep dive into the world of writing and publishing. The commentary on racism, stereotyping, and moral dilemmas was sharp and thought-provoking. That said... the pacing felt off for me. Even with the time skips, it dragged in parts and didn’t fully hold my attention throughout.
Well written with good humour, but I felt as though the ending didn't really match the mood of the rest of the book. I don't think that there was another time to truly understand and unpack the consequences her actions had on Asian people and there was a little bit too much focus on instead trying to sympathise with the white main character.
⭐️4-4.5Finished this book in one day.The last time I finished a book in a single day was two years ago.