Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

63 reviews

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

3.75

Fuck I wish I wasn't an only child.

I hate contemporary references in books with a passion but this one isn't that bad.

My only issue is Jayne is constantly said to be an emotional character but reading through I can barely get a sense of her thought process. She does things / takes actions at random,

for example: kicking out jeremy, going with june to the doctor,

and there was no build up or explanation as to why she decided to do those things. Actually it didn't have to be explained, but those moments felt random from a character whose thoughts we're exclusively able to read. Makes the character feel plot-driven as opposed to character-driven, but the story as a whole doesn't feel the same.

I guess my other issue is misused AAVE. But also... Asian American? From Texas? New York transplants? Color me shocked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Self harm, Vomit, Abandonment, Blood, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Fatphobia, Infertility, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia

Minor: Racial slurs and Stalking

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

jesus christ what do you do when a book just reaches into your heart and stomps on it like i knew this book was going to be sad but it really just decided to not hold back anything and cause me so much pain. absolutely raw, authentic, and painful, this book was excruciatingly gorgeous. i really can't explain all the feelings i have finishing this because there is just so much to unpack wow.

i'll finish this review when i stop crying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Eating disorder, and Vomit

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, and Fatphobia

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

seoulatte's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Dysphoria, and Vomit

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual harassment, Death, Child death, Blood, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Bullying, and Alcoholism

bubaubz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Eating disorder, and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, and Bullying

km4's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Alcohol, Medical content, Fatphobia, Bullying, and Self harm

readwithserena's review against another edition

emotional 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

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Cancer

Moderate: Sexual content, Bullying, Vomit, Infertility, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Racial slurs, and Infidelity

knit_the_resistance's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Really well written. I hated both of the characters so much in the beginning, but the arc of their development makes it worth sticking with them. It all makes sense in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Cancer, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Dysphoria, and Bullying

niki_x's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cancer, Eating disorder, and Blood

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Alcohol and Bullying

moviemagus's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Vomit

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Child abuse

anna__b's review

challenging emotional funny slow-paced

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

4.5

well first of all, i am very shocked that this book is classified as young adult, because it did not feel like a ya book at all in either the writing style or the topics covered and i’m not sure i could’ve handled this book well during my teenage years. but as an adult, i thought the treatment of the heavier topics was done really well, and even though i can’t personally relate to some of the more specific circumstances, like being a child of immigrants or having an eating disorder, as an older sister a lot of this book felt very real. the characters weren’t always likeable and they did bad things, but they felt very realistic and i could always understand and empathize with why they did the things they did. i also really liked patrick and i enjoyed the romance subplot, which isn’t something i can always say about ya books. the author’s descriptive writing is also amazing, and the way she’s able to capture the feeling of the different settings within the book was so vivid and impressive. 

although i liked it a lot, this didn’t quite make 5 stars for me because, while generally i did enjoy the writing style, it took me a while at the beginning to get used to it and there were times where it went a little too pop-culture for me and i cringed. i also felt like some things in the ending were wrapped up a little too neatly and quickly - although of course the actual ending of the book is very open-ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Vomit, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Bullying, and Blood