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Yolk Hardcover – March 2, 2021

by Mary H. K. Choi (Author)

1,230 ratings

Editors' pick Best Young Adult

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“Sneaks up on you with its insight and poignancy.” —Entertainment Weekly

From New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters and how far they’ll go to save one of their lives—even if it means swapping identities.

Jayne and June Baek are nothing alike. June’s three years older, a classic first-born, know-it-all narc with a problematic finance job and an equally soulless apartment (according to Jayne). Jayne is an emotionally stunted, self-obsessed basket case who lives in squalor, has egregious taste in men, and needs to get to class and stop wasting Mom and Dad’s money (if you ask June). Once thick as thieves, these sisters who moved from Seoul to San Antonio to New York together now don’t want anything to do with each other.

That is, until June gets cancer. And Jayne becomes the only one who can help her.

Flung together by circumstance, housing woes, and family secrets, will the sisters learn more about each other than they’re willing to confront? And what if while helping June, Jayne has to confront the fact that maybe she’s sick, too?

From the Publisher

WARNING: California’s Proposition 65

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sneaks up on you with its insight and poignancy.” —Entertainment Weekly

“[Choi] has a knack for capturing the frenetic, vibrating voices and perspectives of young people as they enter and navigate the world.” —Conde Nast Traveler

* “Insightful and intricately constructed…an appreciably personal-feeling narrative about cultural identity, mental and physical health, and siblinghood's complications.” —Publishers Weekly, starred

“What lingers longest is the resonating, multifaceted story of Jayne and June Baek…[Choi’s] openness—personally, culturally, geographically—gives her narrative a seamless, insider fluency; her writing is consistently assured, her dialogue nimbly tuned, even her pain potently channeled through Jayne's struggles.” —Shelf Awareness Pro

“This poignant story underscores self-sacrifices that prove to be life-sustaining in the name of sisterly love. Intense, raw, textured.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Choi pushes the boundaries of young adult fiction.” —Booklist

About the Author

Mary H.K. Choi is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record, and Yolk. She is the host of, Hey, Cool Job!, a podcast about jobs and Hey, Cool Life!, a micro-pod about mental health and creativity. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, The New York Times,and GQ. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Follow her on Twitter @ChoitotheWorld.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1 chapter 1
Depending on where I focus and how much pressure I apply to the back of my throat, I can just about blot him out. Him being Jeremy. Him who never shuts up. Him being my ex. He whose arm is clamped around the back of the café chair that belongs to another girl. She’s startlingly pretty, this one. Translucent and thin. Achingly so. She has shimmering lavender hair and wide-set, vacant eyes. Her name is Rae and when she offers her cold, large hand, I instinctively search her face for any hint of cosmetic surgery. Her lids, her lips, the tip of her nose. Her boots are Ann Demeulemeester, the ones with hundreds of yards of lace, and her ragged men’s jacket, Comme.

“I like your boots,” I tell her, needing her to know that I know, and immediately hating myself for it. I’m so intimidated I could choke. She smiles with such indulgent kindness I feel worse. She’s not at all threatened by me.

“I got them here,” she tells me in faultless English. I don’t ask her where there might be.

Jeremy says I’m obsessed with other women. He might be right. Then again, someone once described Jeremy’s energy to me as human cocaine, and they were definitely right.

“Mortifying.” He shudders, blotting his slick mouth with a black cloth napkin. Jeremy’s the only one eating a full-on meal here at Léon. A lunch of coq au vin. I draw in a deep breath of caramelized onion. All earthy, singed sugar.

“Can you imagine failing at New York so publicly that you have to ‘move home’?” He does twitchy little scare quotes around the last bit. He does this without acknowledging that for him, moving home would be a few stops upstate on Metro-North, to a town called Tuxedo. A fact he glosses over when he calls himself a native New Yorker.

I watch Rae, with a small scowl nestled above her nose, purposely apply a filter on her Instagram Story. It’s her empty espresso cup at an angle. I lean back in my wicker café chair and resume lurking her profile, which I can do in plain sight because I have a privacy shield.

It’s the typical, enigmatic hot-girl dross on her main feed, scones cut out onto a marble surface dusted with flour, her in a party dress in a field. A photo of her taking a photo in a mirror with a film camera.

In an image farther down, Rae is wearing a white blouse and a black cap and gown. Grinning. It’s a whole different energy. When I arrive at the caption, I close my eyes. I need a moment. I somehow sense the words before they fully register. She graduated from Oxford. It’s crushing that most of the caption is in Korean. She’s like me but so much better.

My will to live leeches out of my skin and disappears into the atmosphere. I should be in class. I once calculated it, and a Monday, Wednesday, Friday course costs forty-seven dollars, not counting rent. Counting rent in this city, it’s exactly one zillion.

“Yeah, hi.” Jeremy flags down a passing server. A curvy woman with a tight Afro turns to us, arms laden with a full tray of food. “Yeah, can you get me a clean glass of water?” He holds his smeared glass to the light.

“I can,” she says through her teeth, crinkling her eyes and nodding in a way that suggests she’s garroting him in her mind.

“That’s not our server,” I whisper when she leaves. As a restaurant kid, albeit a pan-Asian strip-mall operation that charges a quarter for to-go boxes, I cringe with my whole body. Jeremy shrugs.

I check myself out in the strip of antique mirror behind Rae’s and Jeremy’s heads. I swear my face is wider now than it was this morning. And the waistband of my mom jeans digs into my gut flesh, stanching circulation in my lower belly and thighs. I can feel my heartbeat in my camel-toe. It’s a dull pain. A solid distraction from this experience. I wonder if they were talking about me before I arrived.

I eye the communal french fries. Saliva pools in the back of my gums. Ketchup is my kryptonite. Especially swirled with ranch dressing, which I’ve trained myself to give up. The Raes of the world would never. Or they would and it would be quirky and wholesome.

Her leg is the circumference of my arm.

I smile at the room in a way I imagine would appear breezy yet bored in a film about heartbreak. I love this place. You’d never guess that a dumpy French restaurant from the seventies would be the new hotspot, but that’s the other thing Jeremy’s good for: knowing the migratory practices of various clout monsters. That and ignoring the tourists as he sweet-talks Oni the hostess into ushering us past the busy bar and into the seats in the way, way back.

Someday I’m going to eat a meal in a New York restaurant by myself without burning with shame.

“I have to get this dog, right?” interrupts Rae, lifting a fry to her mouth. When she chews, a pad of muscle pulses at her temples. She leans into me and shows me a Pomeranian puppy. “I want a rescue, but look at him.” She strokes the photo with her thumb. “I don’t know if I can wait.”

I glance at Jeremy, who’s paused with his fork raised to his mouth. “What time is our thing?” he asks her.

“What thing?” It’s out before I can think.

Rae’s eyes flit to Jeremy’s and skitter back to me.

They let my question hang in the air like a smell.

“Oh, don’t worry,” I recover, smiling stiffly. “I have plans.”

“No, come!” exclaims Rae, squeezing my forearm for emphasis. “God, I’m so awkward.” She laughs at herself ruefully. “It’s just an intimate gathering at a dear friend’s home. It’s a safe space, so I have to make sure it’s okay.” Her eyes narrow meaningfully, placing an open palm on my leg. “But if it’s a no, I hope you can respect that it’s nothing personal.”

“Honestly,” I tell her, convinced that all her friends are sylphlike and terrifying. “I have to leave right after this.”

Jeremy pushes his plate away. I hand him my water before having to be asked. His eyes dart past me to beetle all around us. Party eyes. Shiny. Hard. Roving for people to say hello to. I get it. I love New York precisely for this reason. The culture. The vibration. The relevance. The crackly frisson of opportunity. When we first met, it was this gleaming, hungry aspect of him that I liked best. His magnetism was contagious, especially when he motormouthed at you about his grand plans. You felt like you were on his team.

He pulls his sunglasses out and cleans them with my napkin. Not so long ago he was beautiful to me. Partly because he’s tall. Not even New York tall but objectively tall. Over six feet. But it was his ambition that drew me to him. I’d never met anyone who could talk at that pace. It was astonishing. But now, I can see him how others might. His straw-blond hair and skin tone blend his features together in a vague soup, blurring an already uncertain chin.

But then he’ll say something so quintessentially, winsomely New York that I’m scared to let him go. And he knows everyone. From models to door guys. Once we ordered weed to the house and it turned out he played basketball with the delivery dude. When they gave each other a pound, I was so envy-struck I could barely speak. It doesn’t help that on the rare occasion Jeremy introduces me to his friends—their eyes glaze over in disinterest.

Jeremy calls himself a poet. And a performance artist. But, for him, neither of these things particularly mean anything, and combined they mean even less. Mostly he focuses his efforts on a literary magazine that I’ve designed pages for but never seen in real life. In short, he’s a bartender at Clandestino over on East Broadway. I try not to think about how much money he owes me. And how we shared a bed for months and then stopped.

The only time I don’t hate him is when I think he’s mad at me.

“I’d rather die than go home,” I say to no one in particular.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; First Edition (March 2, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1534446001
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534446007
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL680L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.03 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.4 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #634,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,269 in Anxiety
- #2,275 in Teen & Young Adult Science Fiction & Dystopian Romance
- #3,615 in Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Customer Reviews:
1,230 ratings

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Mary H. K. Choi

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Mary H.K. Choi is a writer for The New York Times, GQ, Wired, and The Atlantic. She has written comics for Marvel and DC, as well as a collection of essays called Oh, Never Mind. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record, and Yolk. She is the host of Hey, Cool Job!, a podcast about jobs, and Hey, Cool Life!, a podcast about mental health and creativity. Mary grew up in Hong Kong and Texas and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner. Follow her on social @ChoitotheWorld and read more of her work on choitotheworld.com.

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and funny, with strong family relationships and emotional depth. The writing style receives positive feedback, with one customer describing it as a masterpiece, and customers love all the characters. The book explores eating disorders, with one review noting its frank discussion of the topic, and customers appreciate its beautiful design. The heartwarming aspect receives mixed reactions from customers.

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Enjoyment Family dynamics Writing style Book design Eating disorder Likability Heartwarming

22 customers mention "Enjoyment"22 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable and funny, with one mentioning that the dynamic between characters was particularly hilarious.

"...They all had their flaws, but they were all lovable. I loved the aspects of Korean culture that Choi wrote about...." Read more

"...her sister and mother are all at once complicated, tender, difficult, humorous, and heartwarming...." Read more

"...It made me ugly cry, laugh my ass off, and continuously reread phrases out loud to my partner because they were too lovely not to share...." Read more

"...It was an incredible reading experience. I only gave it 4 stars because the ending felt almost incomplete...." Read more

13 customers mention "Family dynamics"13 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's portrayal of family dynamics, particularly how it explores familial relationships and strong family ties, with one customer noting its honest approach even when tackling tough topics.

"...This book touches on so many things that just cut so deep. My 20 year old self needed this book. Jayne is a mess, there’s no denying that...." Read more

"...A lot in this was really realistic, and I liked the whole family situation...." Read more

"...I thought that the in depth exploration of the family dynamics between each of the girls and their parents was so good...." Read more

"...I love that she illustrates the bond between the sisters slowly, and the distinct Asian American culture 2nd generation Asian Americans are subject..." Read more

13 customers mention "Writing style"13 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, describing it as a beautiful novel with a good story, and one customer notes the beautiful dialogue.

"...Choi wrote a freaking masterpiece with Yolk. I loved all the characters. They all had their flaws, but they were all lovable...." Read more

"...This story is less plot driven than it is character driven, but honestly, I think that's what makes it so personal...." Read more

"...It’s a good book, it just isn’t really for me. The cover is beautiful and would look great on a bookshelf." Read more

"...disordered eating, but I thought the author did an amazing, nuanced job of crafting that aspect of the main character's life and I appreciated such..." Read more

11 customers mention "Book design"11 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's design, describing it as beautiful, with one customer highlighting its wonderful food images and another noting how it makes the content personal.

"...I also absolutely loved the beautifully unique cover...." Read more

"...characters were wonderful and loved a lot of the focus - the wonderful food images, which were cleverly used to hint at the eating disorder, and how..." Read more

"...than it is character driven, but honestly, I think that's what makes it so personal...." Read more

"...It’s a good book, it just isn’t really for me. The cover is beautiful and would look great on a bookshelf." Read more

7 customers mention "Eating disorder"5 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate how the book handles eating disorders, with one review noting its frank and nuanced approach, while another mentions it provides a humanizing look at bulimia.

"...the focus - the wonderful food images, which were cleverly used to hint at the eating disorder, and how the eating disorder was introduced so subtly..." Read more

"...main character's life and I appreciated such an intimate and humanizing look at bulimia...." Read more

"...There are no teenagers in this book. This book is frank in its discussion of eating disorders and sex and infidelity and sickness...." Read more

"...touched on a multitude of topics—cancer, family, immigration, and eating disorders (TW). Of course there’s some love involved...." Read more

7 customers mention "Likability"5 positive2 negative

Customers love the characters in the book, with one customer particularly appreciating Jayne as a main character and another noting the emotionally layered relationships.

"...Choi wrote a freaking masterpiece with Yolk. I loved all the characters. They all had their flaws, but they were all lovable...." Read more

"I thought the characters were wonderful and loved a lot of the focus - the wonderful food images, which were cleverly used to hint at the eating..." Read more

"...The characters arent very likable at first. Maybe that's the author's point. Everyones flawed and has a story. I was hating this book so much...." Read more

"...Complement her characters with emotionally layered relationships, especially family dynamics...." Read more

15 customers mention "Heartwarming"10 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed reactions to the book's emotional content, with some finding it heartwarming and beautiful in a heartbreaking way, while others describe it as depressing.

"...character has with her sister and mother are all at once complicated, tender, difficult, humorous, and heartwarming...." Read more

"...They feel like friends. They feel real. They feel like they could have been you, had you been in their shoes...." Read more

"...This is a truly beautiful book in a heartbreaking way...." Read more

"...was expecting drama, family secrets, and hope, but tbh this book was kind of depressing, with very little scenes with happiness...." Read more

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Bookish Becks
Beautiful book, must read
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2021
Verified Purchase

Omg, this book! I picked it up because it was on RO Kwons list of 43 books by women of color in 2020. I also absolutely loved the beautifully unique cover.

This book follows Jayne, a Korean-American living in New York, as she navigates emerging adulthood. She has a history of disordered eating, and self destructive behavior with men and with herself. Struggling through fashion school, and life in general, Jayne is forced to deal with reality when her sister, June, is diagnosed with uterine cancer. They weren’t very close to begin with, but Jayne finds herself living with June and being her support system.

This book touches on so many things that just cut so deep. My 20 year old self needed this book. Jayne is a mess, there’s no denying that. But she is also in that time in life where you make all kinds of bad decisions and you learn about yourself and others. I can empathize with this time period because I struggled through it as well. Jayne and June’s relationship was pretty strained, but like sisters, they were able to come together when it was needed. Their dynamic was actually pretty hilarious, especially with June. The dialogue between them was gold. I just felt such a connection between these characters, and they jumped off the page for me.

Choi wrote a freaking masterpiece with Yolk. I loved all the characters. They all had their flaws, but they were all lovable. I loved the aspects of Korean culture that Choi wrote about. The relationship between Jayne and her family, the way the love is mixed with pain, the desire to know, but also the distance between her and her mother. The reality of being an Asian American woman in a very white world.

There is so much about this book I don’t even have the space to talk about. I absolutely loved it. Choi is a genius and I already bought her first and second books cause I just wanted more.

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Bookish Becks

Beautiful book, must read

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2021
Omg, this book! I picked it up because it was on RO Kwons list of 43 books by women of color in 2020. I also absolutely loved the beautifully unique cover.

This book follows Jayne, a Korean-American living in New York, as she navigates emerging adulthood. She has a history of disordered eating, and self destructive behavior with men and with herself. Struggling through fashion school, and life in general, Jayne is forced to deal with reality when her sister, June, is diagnosed with uterine cancer. They weren’t very close to begin with, but Jayne finds herself living with June and being her support system.

This book touches on so many things that just cut so deep. My 20 year old self needed this book. Jayne is a mess, there’s no denying that. But she is also in that time in life where you make all kinds of bad decisions and you learn about yourself and others. I can empathize with this time period because I struggled through it as well. Jayne and June’s relationship was pretty strained, but like sisters, they were able to come together when it was needed. Their dynamic was actually pretty hilarious, especially with June. The dialogue between them was gold. I just felt such a connection between these characters, and they jumped off the page for me.

Choi wrote a freaking masterpiece with Yolk. I loved all the characters. They all had their flaws, but they were all lovable. I loved the aspects of Korean culture that Choi wrote about. The relationship between Jayne and her family, the way the love is mixed with pain, the desire to know, but also the distance between her and her mother. The reality of being an Asian American woman in a very white world.

There is so much about this book I don’t even have the space to talk about. I absolutely loved it. Choi is a genius and I already bought her first and second books cause I just wanted more.

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3 people found this helpful

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Japan Reader
Really good - curious why it's a YA book
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
I thought the characters were wonderful and loved a lot of the focus - the wonderful food images, which were cleverly used to hint at the eating disorder, and how the eating disorder was introduced so subtly at first it could almost have been missed. A lot in this was really realistic, and I liked the whole family situation. Not quite sure what I think about the ending but I think it works.

What puzzles me is why this is a "YA" book. The events involved and the huge usage of F-bombs really seems more like a book aimed at slightly more mature audiences. I'm imagining it was some kind of marketing decision, but it seems strange.

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3 people found this helpful

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Carolyn Mann
favorite book of the year so far.
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2021
Verified Purchase
content warning: cancer, eating disorder.

This book is about two estranged Korean American sisters who are brought together by painful circumstances. June has just found out that she has cancer and Jayne has had an eating disorder for years, additionally, she is a bit lost in her early adulthood while she views her older sister as so much better than she is.

This story is less plot driven than it is character driven, but honestly, I think that's what makes it so personal. When you read this, it feels like reading every ugly and beautiful thought that a real early 20's girl would have. Living in Jayne's head made me feel sick, sad, and then finally relieved. This girl goes THROUGH IT.

I thought that the in depth exploration of the family dynamics between each of the girls and their parents was so good. I ate those chapters up even as they made me cry so much that I couldn't see properly. At the end of the day though, the most iconic dynamic is June and Jayne. As Jayne notes in the last few chapters, even when June hates her, she loves her the most. If that isn't what a true sibling relationship is, I don't know what is. Mary HK Choi has gone and obliterated my heart again. I need a nap.

Also shout out to the full page of Gilmore Girls opinions that the girls have.. that was everything to me. J told Mary on Twitter and got an RT 🙏🥺

This is my favorite book of the year so far and also it has the best cover so far this year hands down.

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11 people found this helpful

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Andrew Zdeb
Great book, just not my cup of tea.
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
If you’re looking for a plot driven story, this isn’t it! Choi invites you into her flawed characters slowly and realistically. I was expecting drama, family secrets, and hope, but tbh this book was kind of depressing, with very little scenes with happiness. Jayne is a mess and if you’re not in a good mental headspace yourself, the negativity can seep through the pages. The book slowly builds on EDs and by the end is explicit and may be extremely triggering. I love that she illustrates the bond between the sisters slowly, and the distinct Asian American culture 2nd generation Asian Americans are subject to. It’s a good book, it just isn’t really for me. The cover is beautiful and would look great on a bookshelf.

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One person found this helpful

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Paige B.
Mary HK Choi's Best Yet
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2021
Verified Purchase
This was such a beautiful, engrossing story. I've read all of Choi's books and this is my favorite. Her prose is exquisite, and the sense of strong place she establishes in the NYC setting is lovely and layered and made me miss living there during some parts of the story, and glad I left at others.

The characters and family dynamic are wholly satisfying. The relationships the main character has with her sister and mother are all at once complicated, tender, difficult, humorous, and heartwarming.

I also appreciated that this book deals with cancer but doesn't get too clinical. And I don't know a lot about disordered eating, but I thought the author did an amazing, nuanced job of crafting that aspect of the main character's life and I appreciated such an intimate and humanizing look at bulimia. (I think I read somewhere that the author has also struggled with disordered eating.)

I loved loved this book and I want everyone to read it and talk about it.

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2 people found this helpful

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Nikitha
The cover + book is so slay 😍
Reviewed in India on November 1, 2022
Verified Purchase

The media could not be loaded.

I won't write about the book's plot, Mary K Choi has never disappointes me.
I'll focus on the delivery and packaging of the product. Talking about the cover, it has small folds and scratches that I hated, because the cover is so glossy and gorgeous. Please do pay attention to the copy you may receive. So yeah Bezos wth??? Rest assured, the pages are great, the delivery was quick and smooth. I also had a good time annotating this book too.

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Nikitha

The cover + book is so slay 😍

Reviewed in India on November 1, 2022
I won't write about the book's plot, Mary K Choi has never disappointes me.
I'll focus on the delivery and packaging of the product. Talking about the cover, it has small folds and scratches that I hated, because the cover is so glossy and gorgeous. Please do pay attention to the copy you may receive. So yeah Bezos wth??? Rest assured, the pages are great, the delivery was quick and smooth. I also had a good time annotating this book too.

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Sonam Rathore
Emotional and thought provoking
Reviewed in Germany on August 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
If you’re looking for a book that will make you feel deeply and think critically about family and self-worth, Yolk is a must-read. It’s a beautifully written story that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
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What I loved most about Yolk is how real and relatable the story feels. The author doesn’t shy away from tackling difficult topics like body image, mental health, and the pressure of societal expectations. The dialogue is sharp and authentic, and the portrayal of the sisters’ bond—full of love, resentment, and everything in between—is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

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Sarah Smith
So fetch
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2021
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Mary H.K. Choi writes young adult books in a style or tone akin to how Clueless and Romeo and Juliet and Mean Girls are teenagery films, smart and witty and just well good. Give me Cher and Dionne as an option and it’ll win 90% of the time. Although give me Sister Act as an option and it’ll win 100% of the time. I LOVE Sister Act, but I’ll expound on the extensive joy that is Delores some other day.
Yolk, is the story of two sisters, Jayne and June, of Korean descent (I don't think that’s what I’m supposed to say, heritage maybe, first generation immigrants?) they live in New York and they aren’t at all besties but June gets sick and melodrama ensues, except it doesn’t, well maybe a little. It’s a nuanced portrayal of at least 4 important things. We have race, the everyday things you wouldn’t even think to consider if you are in the predominate ethnic category, all the tiny micro aggressions faced by those who aren’t of the default setting. Eating disorders, specifically bulimia which is not merely alluded to but weaved into the very fibres of this novel, Choi’s depiction of this isn’t like any I’ve seen written about before. It’s not the cliched portrayal you tend to get and I doubt you’d find a more brutally honest rendering. Really. Much like the eating disorder it’s insidious. Choi doesn’t just throw it in all of a sudden. Rather it’s hidden and gradually you see all the little signs, you’ll see it if you know what your looking for and it gets harder to miss as the novel progresses. It’s worth reading just for that, for the understanding of the ramifications of a disorder that really isn't talked about, at least not with the comparative ease that anorexia is often addressed. And I’m not saying anorexia is a walk in a park AT ALL, I’m just saying there is often a little more shame attached to bulimia. And don’t be throwing The Crown at me, I’d bet all my kidneys that Princess Diana’s battle with bulimia didn't run such a tidy arc, and she certainly didn’t just decide to stop one day and that was it. That sort of shite is damaging and wrong and they lose their participation points for reinforcing false notions that these things are as simply resolved as by the exertion of will. And now I'm getting off my soap box. Other items of woe contained in this book; there is cancer of a specifically female form along with other things in that neck of the woods. Family, how things can be perceived incorrectly, and how lots of little things can shape a person, affect their self worth, bullying in any number of forms and the lasting effects of that, healthcare and affordability. All of that sounds properly grim right? Like really why would you read a book that sounds that miserable. But the thing is, it isnt miserable. I dont know what Jedi mind trick Choi pulled but you don’t come away as bereft as you might think considering the content here is at quite the juxtaposition with the chipper yellow cover. Instead you’re left with that slightly warm feeling you get from certain alcoholic beverages and I’d like to hope an understanding of things that are very rarely spoken openly of. So fetch.

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Hillary
Trigger Warning: Eating disorder
Reviewed in Canada on April 1, 2021
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This book was so good I couldn't put it down. I think what made me emotional was siblings never being able to make rice correctly and it coming out not looking like rice. I loved how the viewpoint was so detailed and vivid, it really represented the true nature of New York, and is what makes you want to keep reading!

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Anônimo
muito bom!
Reviewed in Brazil on September 7, 2021
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a história das irmãs e os tópicos discutidos nesse livro são realmente muito bons! Chorei no final! Leiamm

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Yolk Hardcover – March 2, 2021

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5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book, must read

Beautiful book, must read

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4.0 out of 5 stars Really good - curious why it's a YA book

5.0 out of 5 stars favorite book of the year so far.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great book, just not my cup of tea.

5.0 out of 5 stars Mary HK Choi's Best Yet

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4.0 out of 5 stars The cover + book is so slay 😍

The cover + book is so slay 😍

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5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional and thought provoking

5.0 out of 5 stars So fetch

5.0 out of 5 stars Trigger Warning: Eating disorder

5.0 out of 5 stars muito bom!

Beautiful book, must read

Really good - curious why it's a YA book

favorite book of the year so far.

Great book, just not my cup of tea.

Mary HK Choi's Best Yet

The cover + book is so slay 😍

Emotional and thought provoking

So fetch

Trigger Warning: Eating disorder

muito bom!