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A review by sararose_cozy
I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki by Baek Se-hee
2.0
My rating does not reflect the content of the book, rather my emotional experience/enjoyment of it. This being basically a memoir, it does not deserve a rating from me.
That being said, these are my thoughts and feelings on my reading experience:
- I commend the bravery for the honesty of showing one’s self so publicly to be scrutinized and reviewed by the world. The author admits to thoughts and feelings I think most of us wish to keep hidden: for example the extent of our issues with self-image.
- I think because of the honesty of these thoughts, I projected my own judgments onto the author, when I probably have some similar issues that need to be worked on. These judgments made me dislike listening to her sessions with the psychiatrist and ultimately dislike her. It’s more of a me-problem, though.
- it’s interesting reading how another person’s therapy session goes. My experiences with therapy have looked and sounded SO different. I was confused at why the psychiatrist was so quick to offer answers and solutions, when in my experience, I had to do the work through guided questions to come to solutions and answers by myself. These conversations felt like surface level stuff, and never got the real reasons behind why she was feeling this way. Most of my issues were tied to things in my past and it didn’t seem like the psychiatrist was interested in her past life as an explanation.
- it’s interesting reading this from a US-American/German perspective, because I think in how the conversations went and the issues that arose were based a lot in Korean culture. Sure, there are similarities to my cultures, but different for sure.
- it seemed like the psychiatrist had a diagnosis and medication for every little thing? I’m not against medication, but I am against the overuse and unnecessary prescription of medication. I am not a medical professional, so I can’t speak on if the suggested medication was actually needed or not, but from my experience and perspective, it seemed excessive.
I think overall it felt like reading someone’s diary with NO context about their life and circumstances. My experience with depression and anxiety looks very different to Senhee’s. We just have different issues. I was hoping to connect to the issues more, but because that didn’t happen, I didn’t “enjoy” reading this.
That being said, these are my thoughts and feelings on my reading experience:
- I commend the bravery for the honesty of showing one’s self so publicly to be scrutinized and reviewed by the world. The author admits to thoughts and feelings I think most of us wish to keep hidden: for example the extent of our issues with self-image.
- I think because of the honesty of these thoughts, I projected my own judgments onto the author, when I probably have some similar issues that need to be worked on. These judgments made me dislike listening to her sessions with the psychiatrist and ultimately dislike her. It’s more of a me-problem, though.
- it’s interesting reading how another person’s therapy session goes. My experiences with therapy have looked and sounded SO different. I was confused at why the psychiatrist was so quick to offer answers and solutions, when in my experience, I had to do the work through guided questions to come to solutions and answers by myself. These conversations felt like surface level stuff, and never got the real reasons behind why she was feeling this way. Most of my issues were tied to things in my past and it didn’t seem like the psychiatrist was interested in her past life as an explanation.
- it’s interesting reading this from a US-American/German perspective, because I think in how the conversations went and the issues that arose were based a lot in Korean culture. Sure, there are similarities to my cultures, but different for sure.
- it seemed like the psychiatrist had a diagnosis and medication for every little thing? I’m not against medication, but I am against the overuse and unnecessary prescription of medication. I am not a medical professional, so I can’t speak on if the suggested medication was actually needed or not, but from my experience and perspective, it seemed excessive.
I think overall it felt like reading someone’s diary with NO context about their life and circumstances. My experience with depression and anxiety looks very different to Senhee’s. We just have different issues. I was hoping to connect to the issues more, but because that didn’t happen, I didn’t “enjoy” reading this.