I haven't read a Korean Translation in quite some time, so their was a learning curve in comprehension. But a witty read and appropriate followup for fans of I don't feel bad my mom died

Catapulted into bestseller status by the South Korean boy band BTS, this memoir relates the difficult journey of a young woman working through anxiety and depression. Alternating between transcripts from her therapy sessions and micro essays, Baek Sehee reveals the hard, repetitive work of trying to feel better. This short, but impactful read will resonate with readers teetering between the “state of being not-fine and not-devastated at the same time.

I read a physical copy of this book and I have to say this book made me very, very emotional. There were several times I had to stop and put the book down to just... process what I was reading. A great, poignant and timely novel about life and self help.

Loved this one! I'm not a big self-help enjoy-er but this format actually did feel like it helped me, even if it was sort of second hand psychiatric help hahaha!

A solid addition to the mental health memoir genre. A recommended purchase for collections where similiar titles are popular.

2.5 stars // I had higher hopes for this book, but it ended up being somewhere between "just okay" and "good." I love the candidness of the author sharing her journey with depression and other mental health issues. I could relate to a lot of what she felt. What I did not like was the psychiatrist. I felt like they didn't do much to move the patient forward and some of their advice was off-putting to me.

I was so looking forward to reading this book. The concept of a book that is both a memoir and a self-help journey within the context of South Korea’s mental healthcare system was enough to make me add it to my TBR right away… not to mention the great book title.

Unfortunately, the formatting here doesn’t work for me at all. Almost the entire book is written in transcript format between Baek and her psychiatrist. This isn’t a direct quote from the book, but to give you an idea of the format and style of nearly every page, it looks like this:

Psychiatrist: Did you think about what we discussed before?

Me: Yes, I did, but I still don’t know what to do exactly.

Psychiatrist: Well, have you thought of the various outcomes of each decision?

Me: Yes, I have, but… (two paragraphs about a very specific decision making process the author thought through)

It’s just not… compelling to read? I mean, don’t get me wrong, therapy is great and I think it’s a great process to go through when you’re down mentally and need to work through things. I just don’t know how helpful therapy that is specific to one person is going to be for readers. It turns out being a fly on the wall can be a bit of a drag.

I totally get and respect that it would be difficult to put yourself out there in the context of your therapy sessions and have readers judge that. But these transcripts are things that have been (hopefully) beneficial to the author, not something that I think is going to make the average reader say, “Oh wow, I hadn’t thought of it that way.” There isn’t even enough personal reflection outside of the transcripts for us to see how the author really felt about this experience.

That isn’t to say that readers won’t be able to relate to some of the things the author says in therapy sessions, but I think if you’re experiencing something like a depressive order, a reader will still need to get personalized help after reading this. My only hope would be that maybe releasing these transcripts as a book can destigmatize therapy for some folks and they can seek help if they need it.

I could see this being helpful for someone who has no experience with mental health treatment and wants to dip their toes into the world of therapy from afar. As far as working for me as a self-help book OR a memoir — neither, unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, whether because of the structure, the translation, or the writing itself, this did not work for me. The framing device of conversations with a therapist without description or inner monologue felt cold, stilted, and distant, which was doubly disappointing when the stated intent of the author was to connect, and also I found much of the subject matter to be theoretically relatable. It's possible that I am not the right reader, and this might do wonders for someone new to the idea of therapy and low grade persistent depression.

Though this was a quick read, it was packed with a lot of takeaways to think about. Like Baek Se-hee, there are many others who suffer from depression and anxiety but to read someone’s very personal therapy sessions along with their thoughts and reflections was intimate. However, so much of what I read in the book was relatable. I loved how the book was divided: a portion of it was the therapy sessions and some reflective thoughts, and the second portion of the book included a deeper and more poetic reflection on those therapy sessions. I liked how it was written and how personal it was. It made me feel not alone in how I felt in the certain situations and discussions Baek Se-hee had with her psychiatrist. Lastly, can we talk about the title? I loved it. The title itself reflects the book accurately and it’s such a creative and clever title.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC!

This book really didn't work for me. I'm so surprised to see that it's been such a hit in Korea. The very dry transcription style format made me feel completely disconnected from the author. There are so many better, much more raw and honest books that explore mental health. I thought this was a complete miss.

Say what you will about kpop, but BTS members have recommended some incredible fiction and nonfiction. This is the latter.

Sehee has a good job, family and partner support. Why then is she depressed?

This isn't severe clinical depression. It's the sort of day to day lows we learn to live with. Why do we learn to live with this? What makes this okay?

I enjoyed the discussion style format of this book. Asians aren't known for seeking mental health. This has traveled with them as they've emigrated.

Growing up in an Asian-American household, mental health wasn’t a thing we discussed. I feel like this is prevalent in many immigrant cultures. We need to start talking about this. Mental health is just as important as physical health.

"I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki" may be a good read for people who've never actually gone to therapy but keep saying they will. I thought this would be a refreshing view on mental health, but then as I read through the book, I felt myself shrinking away. I don't have exactly the same issues as the author but part of me was amazed at how public she chose to be with this book. I was also left thinking, that's not the way things worked out for me in therapy and I'm not sure how that'd work. It may be a cultural difference, but may also be a difference in therapeutic approaches. It's not horrible, but it's not for me.

I was really interested in this book the second I heard about it. The concept is, not new necessarily, but a bit different from what's out there right now. I thought the dialogue format was kind of cool. There were parts of it that I loved and thought were beautifully worded; and there was a rawness to it that added a whole other facet to the storytelling. I found it very relevant and some of the points made by the psychiatrist were really interesting and poignant. But it did fall a little flat for me though. I think I wanted more of a resolution or to have the micro-essays after the dialogues expanded on a bit more.

I had high hopes for this book, and perhaps in the future this book could be just what I need. However, at this point in my life, after all the therapy and work I’ve done myself, I could not continue this book beyond the halfway point. It was insightful at some parts, but it was also very difficult for me to read. There were moments I felt a visceral negative reaction to while other parts were too uneventful be rather dull. It’s a DNF or a possible on hold temporarily.

I think this book will resonate with others who are currently going through similar struggles as the author is throughout this book. The writing is easy to follow, albeit a bit repetitive in format no structure. Overall, it wasn’t a bad book at lol - just not the right book for me.

I had mixed feelings aboht this book. I applaud the author for being vunerable and sharing their experience with the therapist, but at the same time i just got out of a 20 year relationship with a narcissist and some of the things the author says triggered me because I feel they are a bit narcissistic. Maybe I'm just sensitive because of the emotional abuse I suffered so long, but it really rubbed me the wrong way.

I found the style very simplistic for such a complex topic. I'll give it points for reliability and honesty.

This book is really unlike anything I’ve ever read before!! It’s a little like Esther Perel’s podcast with entirely reproduced transcripts from therapy sessions. It’s very interesting to read and very relatable, but because it’s such an experimental style, it’s hard to know where it’s going at certain points and it can be a little repetitive.

This book was not what I was expecting. In the best way! I really liked the concept of this. Having insight into her conversations with her therapist was very interesting. The only negative thing for me was some of the conversations with the therapist were boring. However, overall I really enjoyed this. I really like Sehee and her honesty throughout her story. I found her so relatable and saw myself in her. I really enjoyed this translation and her story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed the format of this book, it being mostly conversations between the author and her therapist that she recorded and transcribed over the course of her treatment for depression. Some of the things her therapist tells her were really helpful to read and they made the author realize her feelings were completely normal and that she was not alone in feeling them. Her therapist also helped her to understand other people's perspectives and learn to recognize when she was overthinking something. It was a really short book, but it made me a lot less hesitant to seek out therapy as it was a good insight into the author's feelings on the process.

Baek Sehee's bestselling memoir I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022) lured me in with its multicolored, illustrative cover, mental health themes, and her relationship with her therapist. (I am also a fool for a clever title!) I was especially curious about how recording and reporting her sessions would play out in the narrative structure of the book, as well as their therapeutic relationship.

With studies in creative writing and several years working in publishing, Sehee wields her pen succinctly, especially when directed towards her mental health, habits, and harmful patterns. She understands that something is amiss (not "normal") with her thinking, but she continues therapy to explore the layers and nuances that led to her depression and anxiety, as well as how to cope with them along the way.

Thank you to Beak Sehee, Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley for the eARC.