Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Quero morrer, mas também quero comer tteokbokki

I really don't get the hype with this book. Whilst it's incredibly courageous of the author to be so vulnerable in sharing her reflections and direct transcripts of her therapy sessions, the whole thing just did not feel very profound or even necessarily emotive or interesting to me.

I may be biased as I work on a psychiatric ward with people at high risk due to mental illness, but I didn't find myself able to see her experiences as having a significant impact on her life or functioning to warrant that amount of input from a psychiatrist - maybe it's cultural distance but the psychiatrist almost seemed to create dependence for the author, medicalising all her (actually very normal) difficulties and reducing her sense of efficiency and over-medicating her. The author almost felt unreal, a character of exaggerated dependent personality and someone in need of a therapist who could empower her to make her own choices and develop her ability to look outside and beyond her self-perception and self-obsession.

Again, harsh, but it also felt like she was trying way too hard to be profound and just couldn't hit the mark at all. The writing was disjointed and over the top at times, giving the narrative a very wishy-washy feel.

I personally wouldnt recommend this book to anyone struggling with low mood or feelings of depression or anxiety. What I would say is: find your trusted person. Tell someone about your struggles but let it be someone who can gently encourage you to remember how effective you are in finding ways through. Rather than reaching for a book because it's plastered all over Instagram, reach for a person, seek out human connection and never forget that you have a unique and important role to play in your own recovery and self-growth. There is always hope.

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luffe_zolo's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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ameliabee33's review against another edition

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dark emotional

4.25

As someone who has struggled with mental health, reading Sehee's own struggle and her personal thoughts throughout her appointments was as deeply triggering as it was deeply freeing. I felt extremely seen by this book. I saw, what I consider, the worst parts of myself in her. I was shocked to hear that I have never had an original/singular experience 😅 I am truly, and honestly, not alone.

I can't say that this was particularly an enjoyable read for me. While I felt very much seen, and represented, like I mentioned it was somewhat triggering for me. Sehee isn't incredibly likable but she is incredibly raw. She doesn't hold back from being an unlikable narrator, her thoughts are not always good and filled with a desire to do better. Sometimes mental health is ugly. Healing is ugly. The way to being better is ugly.

I believe that this is a great book for those who want a deeply personal look at mental health, mental health in women, and the road to improving (whatever that looks like).

Please read the tws though before reading!

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risten's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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leighwitz's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

3.5

I adored this book. It's bite-sized and easy to follow, so I read it in one day. There is nothing profound about the author's experience or about the therapist. In fact, I was not particularly fond of the psychiatrist at all. But the normalcy of it all was exactly what made it work. This is not a story of somebody overcoming depression; it's simply a snapshot of a person living with depression. There's a simplicity and matter-of-fact attitude that resonated with me, and I liked that we got an inside view of the narrator's difficulty with beauty standards, fatphobia, etc. The ending section after the transcriptions felt a bit disjointed from the therapy transcriptions and I wasn't sure what to make of that, but I still enjoyed the writing.

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ausra's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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