Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh

10 reviews

nighttgarden's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I related to Junie a little. Maybe it's cause my name is Juniper. But she was really relatable when <SPOILER>she thought about killing herself.<SPOILER>

Anyways, it's a beautiful book and is educational (in the story and real sense) about the The Korean War.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Abandonment, Death of parent, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Bullying, and Panic attacks/disorders

caroreads22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

A painful but beautiful story. Oh does a great job of portraying complex histories and modern issues in an accessibly way for YA readers. I especially appreciated the family relationships, which showed a dynamic I don't often see in YA lit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Abandonment, and Violence

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Hate crime

tania_mybookishsecret's review

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Racism, War, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Islamophobia and Death

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Bullying, Hate crime, Mental illness, Violence, War, Abandonment, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Death

hellodarlinggirl's review against another edition

Too sad, I had to stop

before the first family member died in present day. I found the war sickening, but bearable but that hit to close to home.

as it hit too close to home with what is happening now in my life. Someday I sincerely hope I am able to finish it, great book otherwise. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying

jackelz's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

How can we protect our children from the horrors of the world? And people wonder why I don’t want kids. 

 

Junie Kim faces racism at school and she must decide whether she will stay silent or speak out. 

 

She also learns of her family history and the struggles they faced in Korea during the war; her grandfather’s compassion and her grandmother’s determination were so inspiring. I love how Junie found the strength and courage she needed by sharing their stories. 

 

"Instead of seeing us as these horrible words, see us as people." 

 

This was a tough one; I took it slow and had to take breaks to digest the content. But I do highly recommend reading it, because reading about experiences that are vastly different than our own is how we learn. 

 

Themes: current political climate, the Korean War, mental health, friendship, family, grief, resilience 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death and War

bronsonmh's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I thought this was a very powerful middle grade novel. Junie is such a great main character. She is a young girl who loves her family, but also suffers from anxiety and depression privately for awhile until she gets help. It is all because of the bullying and racism she faces at school. When she gets an assignment for school to do an oral history project she decides to make a video interview with her grandparents who were both children in the Korean War and how each of them experienced something similar and something different. During this time she helps her friends put something together to teach their fellow students about racism and how it is bad. I like how the author intertwined Junie's story and her grandparents. I think this book is something both middle graders, young adults, and adults should read. If middle schoolers read this I think they should read it with their parents so that there can be an open discussion about everything that happens in the book. From racism,  mental health, to the Korean War. I listened this via audiobook and thought it was great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: War, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Death, and Grief

sgt_ducky91's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Racism, and Grief

kindredbooks's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

Sometimes you know before you read a book that you’re going to love it. Sometimes you even get some tissues (or a dry sleeve) ready. Sometimes a book touches your heart, breaks it, and then heals it. Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh was all of the above for me. 

Based on stories and experiences of her own grandparents and family, and through extensive research into the Korean War, Ellen Oh brings a touching and heartbreakingly sweet novel about a young girl, Junie Kim. It is as much Junie’s story as it is her grandfather Doha and her grandmother Jinjoo. As Junie struggles with her mental health, especially after racist graffiti appears at her middle school, she finds strength and support from her family. Coinciding with a history assignment, Junie begins to listen and record her grandfather’s stories about his experience during the Korean War. His story is one of strength and compassion in the face of so much going wrong. Later, Junie also gets to hear her grandmother’s story and learns the lengths to which her grandmother has protected her family. Finding strength from both grandparents, Junie is able to find the courage needed to face what is going on in her life.

Such a beautiful story and I lost track of how many times I shed tears while reading it. It is at once a story that will break your heart but will also give so much hope that things can be better as long as we stand up and speak up for what is right. 

TW: racism, racial slurs, bullying, suicidal thoughts, mental illness, anxiety, war, death, violence, abandonment, gun violence, grief

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Death, Gun violence, and Violence

mezzano's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Many Americans are not taught about the Korean War and Korean-focused discrimination in our present or history. Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh is at its heart, a story of 12 year old Junie learning how to find her voice in a world that does not want her to speak. Within its pages, we also hear the harrowing stories of Junie's grandparents who survived the Korean War as children. As Junie Kim learns more about her family's past, she learns valuable lessons about herself and the importance of fighting for what's right.

This story is deeply woven with the importance of intersectionality, but never feels forced or preachy to the reader. In the present, Junie must deal with frequent bullying from white classmates amidst a school-wide investigation to find someone committing hate crimes on school grounds. The hate crime targets Junie and the rest of her friend group, which includes a Black and Jewish student. With the help of her grandfather's stories, Junie is able to figure out a way she can make a difference in a way she feels comfortable with. The book also discusses about mental illness, interracial discrimination, and how American racism looks different depending on what race you are. There is also a small blurb about LGBT acceptance (although no one is explicitly LGBT in the novel). I was deeply impressed by the amount of nuance packed in this story, and it's great to see books like this in a middle-grade fiction aisle.

Finding Junie Kim reminds me of other inter-generational stories such as Min Jin Lee's Pachinko and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. There are heavy descriptions of trauma and wartime sacrifices made in order to keep family together. When reading this book, know that the grandparents' stories covers extreme violence, political unrest, and character deaths (some of whom are children). In Junie's story, racism, hate crimes, slurs, and mental illness are center stage. Despite all the hardships both Junie and her grandparents endure, it is their love for each other that keeps the family woven together. There is a part of the novel where the grandfather expresses how Koreans were able to endure hardship through their sense of community and resilience, which I would consider central themes to the overall novel. Junie thrives only after seeing the professional help she needs for her mental illness (major depressive disorder with suicidal idealization) and has the patient support of her family and friends.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts are my own. I would highly recommend any reader interested in this book to preorder Finding Junie Kim or pick it up at a local bookstore on May 4, 2021. Due to the severity of some of the content in this book, I would highly recommend reviewing the content warnings before reading the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, and Police brutality

Minor: Racial slurs, Torture, and Xenophobia

Suicidal thoughts, self harm, mental illness:

Junie attempts to swallow a bunch of pills after feeling isolated from her friendships. She does not swallow any pills, but drops them on the floor and goes to bed right afterwards. Her parents see the scene and think she has committed suicide. She seeks help from professionals, who diagnose her with depression, give her the medication she needs, and set her up with counseling.

. Racial slurs, Hate crime, Racism, Antisemitism:

At Junie Kim's school, a student and potentially another person outside of school grounds use graffiti to repeatedly threaten and show hate for Jewish, Black, and Asian students. Some slurs referring to Asians are stated directly in the book.

Racism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Gore, Police brutality, Torture, Child death, Child abuse:

In the grandparents' stories, the war between the citizens of Korea and USSR/USA involvement lead to a civil war which indiscriminately killed people of all ages simply due to whether or not someone sided with the North or the South. Children are killed and questioned by policeman along with adults. In some cases, this lead to child abandonment and abuse. There are descriptions of murdered bodies on the ground and of people being buried alive.

. Medical content, death, grief:

The grandfather suffers two strokes, the second of which kills him while in the hospital. Junie and her family grieve the loss together.

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