A review by corriespondent
Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

dark funny reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I felt pretty ambivalent about Yolk by Mary HK Choi as I was reading it, but after finishing the last couple chapters and closing the book, I think I… like it? Or appreciate it? Jayne is a Gen Z-ish Korean American living in New York, living a somewhat chaotic life and not really enjoying any of it, struggling with anxiety and an eating disorder (content warning). But she finds out that her kind of estranged older sister, June, has cancer, and this brings up all kinds of themes around immigrant families and the traumas that bind and divide them.

This book made me feel old; I mentally clucked my tongue at these younguns making terrible life choices in a Tinder world while feeling a kind of helpless compassion for them. I found almost all the characters rather unlikeable for most of the book, but they grew on me (and grew over the course of the book). And there is something kind of ironic or… freeing? to read Asian American characters who are not a model minority and a mere shiny sidekick. 

So - I’m glad I finished it, but I am not sure I would read it again.
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