Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier

50 reviews

elderwoodreads's review

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

5.0

This book is my second best read of 2023. While I don't share the character's main struggle of teen pregnancy there were times where it felt like the author pulled thoughts straight from my teenage mind. If you're a fan of "girl vs the void" stories this is definitely for you, if you liked Milkfed by Melissa Bromer this is for you. I definitely know it won't be everyone's cup of tea but it certainly is mine and I look forward to rereading it. 

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mdwsn27's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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basonok's review against another edition

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dark funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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suveva's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

Very confusing, but still catchy 

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mapleleaf_rag's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

5.0

Was not expecting it to be this good. Cried. 

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ptitirodactyle's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If you like coming-of-age stories that explore sapphic obsession & parent-daughter relationships with a slightly insane MC, this one is for you!

I’d heard mixed reviews about this novel, so I was a bit sceptical as to if I was going to like it or not. Thankfully, I ended up really liking it. 

In this story, we follow an 18 year old Korean-american who remains unnamed until the last chapter. She is pregnant and works as a pizza girl. She becomes obsessed with one of her clients while also struggling with the death of her dad and basically her whole life. She lives with her supportive boyfriend and mother.

The depiction of hanging on to an obsessive and intense sapphic crush in order to avoid the fact that  your life is crumbling was incredibly well done. By that I mean, I was able to relate to the main character’s feelings minus
the alcoholism, the pregnancy, the stalking and showing up at Jenny’s house with a gun, etc.


Coming-of-age stories tend to incorporate a lot of cliches, which this story didn’t rely on. The characters had their unique personalities & motivations.

The length and pacing were perfect  and made it a very fast pleasant read.

I think I read this at the perfect time in my life. It made me feel a lot of emotions and reminded me of why I like reading so much. I still understand how this could be not for everyone.

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kittkat's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Mir ist grad aufgefallen, dass ich das Buch nie bewertet habe und es ist mir auch jetzt im Nachhinein schwergefallen…

Unsere Hauptfigur ist jung, schwanger und verzweifelt… Die Geschehnisse kurz zusammenzufassen ist eigentlich fast unmöglich, aber wenn man das Buch lesen will, ist es eigentlich besser nichts zu wissen.

Sie tut eine Menge Sachen, die man nicht tun sollte, vor allem wenn man schwanger ist und einen sehr supportiven, liebenswürdigen Freund hat. 
Man kann nicht mal als Leser nachvollziehen, warum sie so ist, wie sie ist (man denkt sich teilweise „ja gut sie ist einfach bisschen verwirrt und deprimiert“ aber das macht‘s nicht besser…).
Aber gleichzeitig ist sie auch irgendwie relatable🧐. Wenn sie mal ohne wirklichen Grund alle verflucht und hasst, das kennen wir doch alle 🙃.

Nach und nach merkt man auch, dass sie ihr Leben immer weniger im Griff hat und schon halber am Durchdrehen ist. Ich sag nur 📉📉📉🕳️…

Das Buch ist auch sehr… interessant geschrieben. So viele widerliche Metaphern und Vergleiche habe ich noch nie in einem Buch gelesen. Das ganze hat sich angefühlt wie eine lange Kurzgeschichte. Äußerst seltsam, aber unterhaltsam 🤷‍♀️ Würde ich nicht unbedingt für Zwischendurch empfehlen, die Themen sind schon sehr hart 

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booksandbabble's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

CW: firearm, drinking while pregnant, drunk driving, child neglect 

This book was one that I picked up as it was a nominee for a book of the month in one of my book clubs. I have found it quite difficult to get my head around to write a coherent review. This may be my traumatised Autistic brain doing a Nope, or it may just be that I found the whole narrative a little incoherent.

The main character is a half-Korean(?) 18 year old, fresh out of school and newly pregnant.  She is aimless and unfocused and clearly lonely. Despite having a handsome and popular partner who is driven to train up, get a good job and support her and the baby, she is .. just not feeling it. It's probably because she's way more into women than men but has never really stopped to identify what she wants from her life, and she feels pretty stuck with her options.

This emotional and messed up girl becomes obsessed with a middle aged woman who orders pizza from the place she works. Both women are clearly not quite coping with life and each seem to feel like they are rescuing the other, though it feels like they would be a lot better off if they focused on saving themselves.

As a fairly risk averse caregiver and rule-follower, I'm anxious all through this book as the main character leans hard into being her alcoholic father reborn despite having a baby on board.  I can't quite wrap my head around the why of some of this woman's decisions.. or maybe they are more impulses than decisions, because there seems to be very little logic engaged with. The whole hot mess is quite unsettling. It does make me stop and think a bit about how I was when I was an odd and dysregulated teen, but I don't think I ever, even in my worst meltdowns, got quite this close to a psychotic break. 

I dunno that I got anything good from this book.. but it was certainly.. something.



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