yellowface has a high goodreads rating (4+ stars) so the negative reviews were more interesting and my thoughts on how the book was received 

yellowface being marketed as a satire made some ppl dismiss it just bc it wasn’t...funny? idk

a lot of ppl were mad yellowface wasn’t a ‘teachable moment’ type of book which is funny bc r f kuang openly criticizes books like the help that are good objectively are basically books on race that hand hold white ppl and teach them racism bwad :( wah wah. like ofc the book w a hard headed white protag is not gonna have a teachable moment? they wanted a mystical elder asian woman to explain racism to her so bad

few ppl complained that r f kuang didnt dig deeper into discussions within the asian disapora specifically i saw one person mention how we need to talk abt asian americans dating white which is.......i mean why expect that from this book w a short sighted WHITE protagonist? the point is literally that she can’t grasp the diaspora...cmon now 😭

like i said before secretly a lot of readers were mad june wasn’t redeemed from being a racist 😭😭😭😭😭😭 no comment

if the author is similar to any character then kys is not a take i expected to see. where was this vitriol when the after series came out gaklgaklglkga

oh saw a few comments abt how june was very 2d and she was cartoonishly evil with no insight as to why she is the way she is. which is one of the weirder comments like i don’t think they read the book fully. june is literally just a defensive white woman that uses mental health as a shield. and theres a lot of time dedicated to how she feels inadequate, and is seeking the approval from the book community she never got from her mother. as a creative june is very relatable and what she does isnt even that outlandish it’s happened before white ppl steal bc they feel like they’re owed something or that the world is out to get them bc for once the attention isnt on them

one critique that i do agree with is that the book hammered u over the head that june is racist and that plagiarism is bad. and she asks over and over again why can’t she tell stories of other cultures and no one in the narrative even comes close to the point that its fucked up shes telling stories from other races when the ppl who directly were affected by what she’s stealing only have a fleeting chance of getting their story told despite MULTIPLE instances of it being possible. even if june didnt accept it its weird that she never got the obvious answer to her stupid ass question. the subtext abt why it was bad was there but its weird that multiple times she breeches that subject and no one ever gets the chance to challenge her