koreanlinda's reviews
212 reviews

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

4.25

This is a big and thick book, quite hard to lift it to your eye level to read; however, after reading it, I believe every page is justified to be there. The art style is not to my taste, but it works well to deliver the message. Katie Green suffered for a long time from an eating disorder and other mental illnesses during her childhood, which put her in a vulnerable spot for sexual abuse. It is painful to follow the trace of her challenging journey of suffering and recovery, but sharing such a story must help readers with similar experiences. Check it out from your library or request it, especially for K-12 school libraries.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in September 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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Illegal by Andrew Donkin, Eoin Colfer

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challenging dark tense fast-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? No

4.25

This is a realistic depiction of refugees fleeing Africa in precarious conditions. It's captivating even for an adult reader. I strongly recommend it.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in September 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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If Anything Happens I Love You by Michael Govier, Will McCormack

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was another lucky find in the library, the graphic novels section. I was already feeling sad that day. It was overcast, I felt quite sick, and I couldn't get much work done. My heart was full of sorrow, seeking a way to release. Then I read this book and bawled my eyes out.

My maternal grandmother in Korea suffered from chronic illness and then suffered more from suicide attempts before she died. I live with the fear of dying by suicide with a history of mental illness in my family and my fair share. What makes me not want to depart yet is the separation from my loved ones: the heart-aching love that this book describes.

I recommend this book to anyone who is grieving. I also recommend the 12-minute animation on Netflix by the writers with the same title. It carries the same story but the reimagined graphic in motion is quite beautiful in a different way.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in September 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

Content Warnings

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today Vol. 1 by Hitsuzi Yamada

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Did not finish book.

Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A fascinating story in a stand-alone manga. It's a story of two teenage manga artists, but their time warps and intertwines beyond imagination.

Chéri, My Destiny! by Okoge Mochino

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The plot is rather simple and predictable; however, the characters are adorable. It has a few pages of explicit sex scenes.

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Fifteen Seconds without Sorrow by Shim Bo-Seon

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

I read this book twice, once in its original language, Korean, and another translated into English. Although some poems, such as "A Poem in -ing," partially lost the beauty of wordplay through translation, the translation sufficiently captures the tone of the poems: deep sorrow.

When I discussed the book with two of my friends (my attempt to understand the poems better through their thoughts), we all confessed to its difficulty in comprehension. Shim, Bo-Seon's poems feel like one hand reaching down to the earth to grasp the escaping reality and the other hand floating above into a fictional world. Often they feel dreamy. One of my two friends described it as looking at a beautiful piece of art through an opaque window.

Instead of struggling to understand the poems completely, I settled with feeling the emotions they evoked: again deep sorrow. If you are looking for a book of sad poems, this would be it. Shim's poems don't fall flat as a whine or a helpless cry. There is stoicism in dealing with the sorrow in daily life. Also, Shim's sorrow originates from various sources including past love, loss of father, and societal issues.

A side note:
Be aware. The way Shim describes his female ex-lover and his feelings for her can seem misogynistic. As a man who was born in 1970 and grew up in South Korea, it is not surprising. "South Korea has the worst gender pay gap among the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development according to 2022 data... This marked the 27th year straight that Asia's fourth-largest economy recorded the most severe gender pay gap among the member states." (Source: The Korea Herald) In addition, gender-based violence against women is rampant.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in October 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

Content Warnings

To Strip the Flesh by Oto Toda

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.

The story was too simple for me. The only reason for the protagonist to resist SRS was to be the daughter their parents wanted them to be. It was not quite believable.

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Ashes by Álvaro Ortiz

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

What a fascinating story! Ortiz is not only good at drawing unique illustrations but also at telling an imaginative yet believable story. They especially excel at showing the characters' psychology and dynamics among them. It is a story of friendship, life challenges, poverty, loss, and grief. All this hard stuff is portrayed in a comic style lightheartedly so the readers can access it without getting too absorbed. I read it in one sitting, which made my evening a pleasant one.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

Content Warnings

The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don't Want to Live Anymore by Andy Riley

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

This book was a pleasant surprise from a library bookshelf. Two people I showed the book to were aghast at its content, but I found it refreshing and amusing. All the pages in this thin graphic novel are filled with various ways the bunnies find to kill themselves. They get sliced in half and exploded into pieces, but none of the methods succeed. Yet they keep trying one after the other.

I found the book amusing because it reminded me of traditional slapstick cartoons where the characters are invincible such as Tom & Jerry. They experience extreme violence inflicted by each other, but it doesn’t leave unscathed. That is part of the fantasy that makes cartoons and comics, far from our real world.

Suicide is a topic of my interest in my daily life. I often get suicidal thoughts, and what I can do is sit with the ideas, observe them and study. I write about them and read others’ writings about them. For people with suicidal thoughts, suicide is a knife that we carry around to protect us from the worldly sufferings. If not careful, it can cut into us at any moment.

Bunny’s pursuit of ending their life resonated with me. It made me question. “What is causing you pain? How are you coping? May I help you?” The bunny’s endless trial at committing suicide all turn out futile. But that’s how I sometimes feel with my attempt at continuing to live. The world seems to be turned against me, blocking my way all the way around except for a backdoor for escape. Don’t we all sometimes feel that way?

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in June 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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koreanlinda's reviews 212 reviews

koreanlinda's reviews
212 reviews