Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

29 reviews

finn_nn's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Infertility, Sexual violence, Drug use, Grief, and Child death

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

What a fucking fantastic book. I relate so much. She went through such horrible things, I just wanted to hold her. The audacity of some characters. I felt it in my soul. As much as the last chapter wants me to love June and their mum, I would never forgive them. I want to imagine a bright future for Jane. She deserves it. My fucking heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism and Infertility

purpleblueraiin's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Vomit, Body horror, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Sexual content

inkandmuses's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Cancer

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Vomit, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs

vlntnmz's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Medical content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Cursing

Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Miscarriage, Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, and Adult/minor relationship

keesreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Sexual content

womanwill's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, and Fatphobia

invaderlinz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Self harm, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Eating disorder, Drug use, Cursing, Cancer, and Bullying

nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Jayne Baek is a college student in New York with a long-term eating disorder and an estranged older sister who lives just a few miles away. When June shows up at a bar in Jayne's part of town--according to the unspoken rules they've established--Jayne is furious, embarrassed to see her sister while simultaneously trying not to feel too awkward about third-wheeling her roommate (who she sleeps with intermittently) and his date. June, after all, seems to have everything--the confidence, the high-paying job, and the beautiful apartment; however, when Jayne takes her up on the invitation to have a drink together, she discovers that June has only one wine glass...and a uterine cancer diagnosis.

Thrust back together under the weight of this news and June's insistence on keeping it secret from their parents, the sisters realize how much they've missed each other and how much they rely on their relationship. Choi manages to portray their interactions and reactions in such a wonderful, honest, not cheesy way. June and Jayne apologize for past infractions, but the way that siblings do, honestly, but without overdoing it and with more of a focus on just moving on. As they attempt to take care of each other, dancing around the severity of both June's cancer and Jayne's bulimia, they continue to nag and argue about little things. They want to gossip about crushes and sex, complain about their parents and the restaurant they own, avoid church and painful memories of high school, and smoke in the car without getting caught. Choi navigates this balance of serious and every day so well, and Jayne and June come to life as truly human characters.

That said, I just didn't care that much about them. I appreciated the story and the important conversations that Choi began by telling it, including discussions of disordered eating, sibling relationships, and anti-Asian racism. I greatly admire Choi's skill as a writer and her ability to establish complex characters, but it still fell flat for me. As much as I sympathized with Jayne's insecurity and June's reckoning with her illness, I wasn't particularly compelled by either sister.

I definitely think this is worth a read, and I would love to recommend it and engage in conversation about it with some of my students, but it just didn't do it for me personally.

I received an educator's advanced listening copy of this book from Libro.fm. Thank you to Simon and Schuster Audio, Books for Young Readers as well as author Mary H.K. Choi. Opinions stated in this review are honest and my own.
Release Date: March 2, 2021

For another book on eating disorders, I highly recommend Molly Fennig's Starvation, which was published in November 2020.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Sexual content