Yellowface

I must stop believing hype and awards when it comes to books. This book features not a single likeable character. It finishes suddenly with no closure. A depressing read that constantly felt on the edge of a good story but never quite made it.

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.

I had to keep reminding myself that NO, I did NOT want June to win and come out on top, that she is a despicable selfish person that deserves every horrible thing that she gets.

R.F. Kuang does a really great job at pointing out the toxic things that (some) publishing companies will do to try to make it look like they're all for diversity and for leaving you to really have to stew and think about how far was too far with what Claire does. It was a very uncomfortable read, but in a good way.

Overall, I found this to be a good read, but it did feel like it was just a little too long and the ending threw me for a bit of a loop, and not in a good way. Definitely not mad that I read it, though! Still fully worth the 4 stars to me!

This tale from a deeply unreliable, envy-driven narrator is more of a sharp satire of liberal racism than its publishing industry setting. It's at its least compelling when discussing Twitter drama, but there's ample snark just underneath each turn of phrase, and more than enough ratcheting tension to have kept me turning the pages.

I did not think it was possible for one tale to have so many twists and turns that it became a spiral, one that was out of control. Sadly, that is what this story does. The writing is wonderful, the literature aspects are strong. But, I am completely dizzy. The "me too", "culture wars" aspects of this tale are simply too much for me.