Though there were times I genuinely wanted to dislike this one (with complete and valid criticisms), I found, in the end, that I couldn't. It's charming, and a little sad, and sometimes triumphant, and, I think, a little bit like life.

This is such an amazing book. Jackie deals with difficult family dynamics, over-bearing parents, difficult friendships, and so much more, all while trying to win a cooking show. You'll fall in love with the characters and want the book to keep on going.

wow! i am blown away by this book!! it was just so fun and exciting and thrilling and wonderful!! thank you so much to netgalley for letting me have an early copy!!

I inhaled this book! To be honest, for a youth librarian, I don't read nearly enough YA--I think that I usually feel that YA can be too angsty and heavy, and while I think it's super important when you're that age to have access to those stories, as an adult, I find myself feeling more fatigued by it than anything.
This book had a lot to it, and though it dealt with lots of serious topics, I found the tone to be primarily light and easy to read in one go. And it had one of my favorite tropes--reality TV! It's strange, because I'm not a reality TV fan in real life, but there's just something about reading about it from a contestant's perspective that I can't get enough of.
Now...while I did love and inhale this one, I did think there was kind of a lot going on. We talk about AAPI hate, Covid, incarceration, tough family dynamics, first/second/third gen families, friendship obstacles, a little romance, and so on....I didn't feel like everything got the attention it deserved because of this. I honestly think there should've been EITHER the friendship drama or the romance component--I didn't feel very invested in either because they felt like afterthoughts.
I also thought the ending was pretty stilted. While I figured it wouldn't be a happy ending with a bow on top, for me, it all just...finished. And I felt really no resolution for the things I actually cared about in the book. I also didn't love that it ended with one of those "comment section"/epistolary styles where there were a BUNCH of social media comments--some were relevant to the plot, and others were to showcase the differing support/hate of minorities. Which is important to the story, but I also really didn't love that plot things had to be "dug up." As an AAPI first-gen, it's already sort of exhausting to see this hate in every day life--I don't need to read dozens of fake online comments to know that it exists.
Even with these issues, I did really enjoy this book and found it to be a quick read.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. I really enjoyed this book. I love a good cooking competition and wish we had the ability to transport food from page to table already though!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So I need to be 100% upfront here. I am such a sucker for NYC localized media. I will probably always be a little salty about not going to Townsend Harris or Brooklyn Latin, but my own school did have me on the Ivy grind with the highest GPA and endless APs and clubs and professional goals. Jackie Oh is an incredibly relatable character for any overachiving highschooler who thinks that a 92% is barely medicore. I see you, I am you, and I encourage you to sleep more than four hours a night. This book nailed the conversation about how the pandemic hit so many beloved small resturants in the city (RIP Jay & Lloyd's on Ave U), the chaos of the city, and the particularly unique fusions that come from so many people from all over the world making their homes here.

I can't talk about this book without talking about the rise in AAPI hate and racism from COVID. Ever character is touched by racial bias, from the judges always pushing Jackie to go in the expected ethnic direction with her food to her parent's challenges at work to be recognized for their sacrifice to KT trying her absolute best to distinguish herself as a college applicant in a system meant to make her outcompete her own community. Without spoilers, there is so much more that Park weaves into the narrative with finesse.

The story was well paced, with the show's confessionals and recipes adding to the reading experience intead of confusing the reader. I also loved that after a korean phrase was introduced and translated, it was able to just be on its own for future use. Park isn't excluding non-Korean readers, she is teaching us and expecting that we are smart enough to learn.

I'm pretty into Korean immigrant-themed YA lately, so I immediately requested access to What's Eating Jackie Oh? and I was very pleasantly surprised at how it differed from a lot of other books I've read in the genre. It centers around Jackie's competition on a Chopped-style kids cooking show, and the ways that the competition transforms how she understands herself and her history. All of the food and cooking focus was very very fun and made me very hungry.

Food books are my favorite. Of course I had to get my hands on What’s Eating Jackie Oh.

The food element is so much fun. I live for reality cooking competitions. I loved reading about Burn Off! Also, all the recipes are in the appendix for anyone who wants to try them.

Outside of the cooking competition, this reads like a teaser into various social issues. I say ‘teaser’ because this book takes on so much. It may even be too much.

Incarceration, food insecurity, racism, hate crimes, cultural expectations…all of this is condensed into one book. After their introductions, there are no solutions to any of these issues. In fact, they almost seem to get worse as the book continues. But maybe that's the point. These issues are unresolved in the real world and the book as well.

Bottom line: Maybe I just couldn't handle the heat...

I loved that it showed the balance of pursuing the dream, it uses the cooking perfectly in this. Patricia Park writes a great overall story and worked as a young adult novel. The characters felt like real people and I enjoyed going on this journey with them. It was written well and I was invested in what was happening.

thank you to netgalley and Random House Children's, Crown Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read this book. I loved the characters journey on finding herself

This book was really good! It was so interesting to read about how the main character learned more and more about herself and what she cared about. I also loved reading about the cooking show, that was super interesting!

I really enjoyed this one! Patricia Park included complexities throughout to show Jackie's life. I recommend this book and can't wait to read a finished copy.

What's Eating Jackie Oh?, by Patricia Park, is a cute YA novel with a nod to cooking shows. Lots of fun banter among family and friends. Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

This was more of a 4.25-4.5, as a disclaimer. I really love Patricia Park's writing. It really felt like Jackie was actually a teenager, which is always something I look for in a YA. I also love a book set within a cooking competition, even though I feel like I've read it a million times already (I eat it up every time though). The only reason I knocked my rating down a little was the abrupt ending with a lot of questions still unanswered about Jackie's life.

This is one of the cases where I think the writing and character will work for the target audience, but not for adults. I don't think based on the narration we get from the main character within the first chapter that I will love this book. I would want to get a physical copy for my library when this is released if I can find it for a reasonable price!

When I was a child there were very few books with Asian American protagonists, let alone Korean American ones. My mind is blown that I just read a YA book with entire Korean phrases in it! Love what the author is doing here and, as always, representation is so important. A fantastic book.

This is a really fun book that involves good food, family, and cooking shows. But we also get a glimpse into a serious side of a post COVID world in a diverse setting.
I really liked Jackie and how close she is with her family and how much she loves food and cooking.
This is a really great read, that many besides teens will enjoy.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

this was such a fun book! I love a good cooking show or theme and this was so good! it was funny and exciting and i loved it

4.3

As someone that grew up watching cooking competition shows like Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay, I’ve always had an appreciation for culinary adventures taken on TV. As a young black girl, I found myself always rooting for the black and brown faces I saw competing on TV. I knew what it took for them to get on national TV and risk being called any number of slurs, just to receive validation and a platform where they could do what they loved. If there was no black contestant, I’d root for the oftentimes lone female contestant. And on the boring days I’d turn on the Food Network and watch four white men compete against each other, I’d cross my fingers and pray one of them was from New York. At least then there was something I could connect with. “What’s Eating Jackie Oh?” by Patricia Park weaved all of these feelings into a cohesive narrative that had a profound impact on readers. It was also funny as hell! Audiences will certainly relate to Jackie as a protagonist, someone who will stop at nothing to achieve her dreams — even if it means flunking a class. I was surprised by how mature the story became in the last half, with what many may see as a “Debbie downer” ending being a sad reality of living in this Post-Covid landscape as a member of the AAPI community. All in all, “What’s Eating Jackie Oh?” is a thought-provoking novel that takes a stand against Asian hate and serves up a side of tasty recipes to boot.

You know you are going to get some pointed jabs of microaggressions when you get a book written by the author of the wall street journal opinion piece about not wanting to be a model minority.

Jackie Oh is a second generation Korean-American, who loves to cook French food. She also has learned to make food from leftovers, working in her grandparents deli, where they make mostly American food.

She and her grandparents love to watch a show call Burn Off, where contenstnets have to make food from whatever is around. Jackie always like to see if she can do the same. And then, she gets a chance to be on the teen version of the show.

Throughout the story, we are shown the microagreesions that happen to any minority group, that people who are not that minority don’t notice, or can’t see. Such as being called the name of the only other asian in the room, as though they both look alike, and are from the same background, which they aren’t.
We are not our stereotypes, and this is brought out again and again with this book. Jackie cooks French food, and they tell her she isn’t cooking her heritage. And as she points out, her heritage is New York, where she was born and lives.

Sad but pointed book. All the violence that has been happening to Asian Americans is brought up, because it is part of the problem.

But on the fun side, all of Jackies recipes are included in the appendix.

I enjoyed the story, despite the pain, and I wish there was a sequel so we can see how Jackie got on with her life.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out the 30th of April 2024