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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee
182 reviews
jazzuar's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness
giuliawanders's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
I was inspired by how much the author opens up in this book.
I also thought it was really interesting to delve into the mind of someone who I don’t relate much to and to see how a different culture affects mental health.
I also thought it was really interesting to delve into the mind of someone who I don’t relate much to and to see how a different culture affects mental health.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Alcohol
robinks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
The concept was cool, but in practice, I didn’t like how the book was arranged. Each chapter was a random combination of commentary and conversation, making it hard to follow at times, and it was unclear what the timing of the sessions looked like relative to each other. Also, the last chapter suddenly switched gears into short essays, which I didn’t like. Additionally, as a therapist myself, Sehee’s therapist was giving so much advice and perspective packaged as truth that I did not agree with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Body shaming
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Classism, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Bullying
Minor: Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, War, and Animal death
loinereads's review against another edition
I got so BORED.
I really wanted to go through with this book as I am going to therapy myself, I thought it would be comforting to hear about someone else’s trauma and difficulties with self esteem and anxiety.
But the main character’s problems felt very frivolous to me. I absolutely lacked empathy and even though I can understand the extent of help this book could bring to some people, it’s just not for me.
I feel very respectful still towards the author because it mustn’t have been easy to keep track of all these sessions and confide through a book that can be read by so much.
As I listened to the audiobook, I just felt like I was feeling worse than ever (when in reality not at all! I am fine considering everything I’ve been through) but I kept comparing my own experiences to the ones told in this book and I kept making me feel worse.
I think it’s definitely a book for people who know something’s wrong with their approach of life and social engagement and want to have a starting point of understanding the causes and maybe even get some tools to deal with their existential dread but It might really be boring for people who understand their trauma and already have some tools to deal with them.
I really wanted to go through with this book as I am going to therapy myself, I thought it would be comforting to hear about someone else’s trauma and difficulties with self esteem and anxiety.
But the main character’s problems felt very frivolous to me. I absolutely lacked empathy and even though I can understand the extent of help this book could bring to some people, it’s just not for me.
I feel very respectful still towards the author because it mustn’t have been easy to keep track of all these sessions and confide through a book that can be read by so much.
As I listened to the audiobook, I just felt like I was feeling worse than ever (when in reality not at all! I am fine considering everything I’ve been through) but I kept comparing my own experiences to the ones told in this book and I kept making me feel worse.
I think it’s definitely a book for people who know something’s wrong with their approach of life and social engagement and want to have a starting point of understanding the causes and maybe even get some tools to deal with their existential dread but It might really be boring for people who understand their trauma and already have some tools to deal with them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Mental illness and Child abuse
gillthequill's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
2.5
2.5 Stars. This is not a book for everyone. That is perfectly fine. I wasn't sure what I was expecting from this book, but it wasn't transcripts of therapy sessions. Because of the book's nature, I knew I wasn't going to get a traditional narrative structure, and that's fine. I knew there wasn't going to be a neat, tied in a bow ending. But I was left with this constant feeling of "thank god I'm not living in her brain." Honestly, I was ready to rate the book lower... until I came across the final third. And the author clearly acknowledging lessons they've learned, the psychiatrist admitting the mistakes they made, and the small vignettes of the author's life were compelling. In fact, it made me realize how damn brave the author was for sharing these deep, thought provoking, sometimes very unflattering truths. That alone makes it worth attention, even if it didn't resonate with me. Someone will identify with this book and take great lessons from it, and that is fine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
montsett's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
han_amey's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Mental illness, and Alcohol
Moderate: Eating disorder and Misogyny
I was expecting more depth to this book. Every topic they touched on which I believed could have been interesting they never delved deeper on, and the therapist in the conversations if anything seemed a bit dismissive. The writing just seemed a little lazy, because the short passages of prose were well written, but the majority of the book was just transcripts from the (poorly delivered) therapy sessions.nenaveenstra's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
2.5
I bought this book, because I heard rave reviews of it on the internet, and because I was intrigued by the title; I assumed that this book would be about finding the little joys in life, but instead it was a collection of conversations with a psychiatrist, interspersed with bits of text that could have been Instagram captions. It was relatable at times, but I wasn’t really inspired or moved at all, I think because all of it was so vague. I bet the author felt really vulnerable writing this book, but it didn’t read as vulnerable, because no specific details were given at all. Details would’ve elevated this book from a collection of transcripts and blog posts, to an actual story.
Maybe it was too early for the author to write this book. A lot of this book consists of figuring out what’s wrong with her, why she is the way she is, and there’s no conclusion at the end. I respect that mental health is a journey, and maybe a never ending one, but I don’t feel like this book did anything at all. It didn’t break any taboos, it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, and it didn’t inspire me.
What it did do, however, was show how incompetent mental health professionals can be. It felt very reminiscent of some experiences I’ve had with psychiatrists in the past, and it was frustrating to read how the psychiatrist in this book jumped to conclusions without seeing the full picture, suggested the author had disorders she didn’t really have, and didn’t seem to give any advice that she could actually work with - and if they did, it wasn’t written down. I appreciated, though, that there was a note by the psychiatrist in this book as well, and that they recognised their flaws.
I related to the author’s experiences quite a bit, and it felt very obvious to me that she was neurodivergent in some way. Not to diagnose someone I’ve never met, but the issues she described were very reminiscent of autistic burnout and depression and anxiety are very often symptoms of ADHD. If you related to this book, too, you might want to look into that.
I feel like this book might be revolutionary in East Asia, and the autism and ADHD diagnoses might not be as common over there, but it did not function well at all in the context of the Western World, and The Netherlands specifically. I also think the way this book was marketed did it dirty. So, unfortunately, I’m only giving this two stars, even though I really wanted to like it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness
llau's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
alexandracpedro's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Minor: Suicidal thoughts