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erinwolf1997's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism and Medical content
Minor: Addiction, Bullying, and Car accident
deadwhiterabbit's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Excrement, and Abortion
jennaweston's review against another edition
5.0
- The writing is so good. It almost reads like a poem, especially with the immense detail of every food item in this book.
- The mother daughter relationship is messy, but so real and I found myself relating to some of the ways Michelle reacted with her mother, even though we come from such different backgrounds.
- I liked how she would flashback to some of the hard years in high school, but not dwell on it as to not take the reader too far away from the present story that encapsulates a lot of Michelle’s message in this book.
- I love how she wrote without holding anything back that grief is messy, cancer sucks, and family can be really hard sometimes.
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction and Bullying
celticthistle's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent
wishlissa's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Infidelity, Medical content, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
It feels impossible to rate this book of another person’s grief. I considered this last night as I cleaned the kitchen, only two chapters left for this morning. Food is a means of connection in my family, too, although I won’t be naïve enough to say it is that way in every family. This book is poignant and beautifully written, made my heart ache, and ignited a craving for the unmistakable flavor kimchi I couldn’t satisfy at 1am. But when I go to the Asian market later to buy some, I will think of how my own parents show their love for us. And I will think of Michelle’s mom the whole time.ieotter13's review against another edition
5.0
the haverford and bryn mawr references towards the beginning were pretty cool to know — 100% a must read for bico students
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Abortion
martinatan's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Abortion, and Pregnancy
_annika__'s review against another edition
3.0
The issue I have with this book is personal, but perhaps relatable to anyone from a small town - I almost had to put the book down because I couldn’t stand the author continuously calling Eugene, Oregon (second biggest city in the state, a major PAC12 college town, an hour away from Portland) small, boring, and dull. Almost every single person I’ve met that’s lived in a <10,000 person town (and bigger, honestly) would KILL to be in Eugene. If the author would have said “I hated growing up in Eugene” I could’ve moved on, but she seemed to hate it specifically because it’s “small” and because there was “nothing to do.”
Every kid that’s suffered growing up in a 3,000 person town in the middle of a corn field somewhere in the Midwest - where 99.99% of the population is white and so strictly religious they unironically call Halloween “the devil’s holiday” and avoid you like the plague if you don’t go to their same church (imagine if you don’t go to church at all, and they repeatedly egg your house for it) - would have likely cut off a finger or two to grow up in Eugene or anywhere near it. I’m hoping the author bemoaned her adolescence in such a “small town” for dramatic effect and that she didn’t actually feel that strongly about it.
I understand teenage angst and depression and would have been more understanding if that was the main reason for feeling the way she did growing up, since most teens experience those feelings and at least at the time, likely no matter where you live, we feel like we don’t belong and we hate it there. But the amount of those feelings that she blamed specifically on the “small dull Pacific Northwest town” she lived in personally made my eye twitch. Growing up in a larger, modern, and progressive college town (often rated one of the most progressive cities in the entire U.S.) would be a privilege to sooo many.
Since the reader knows she’s writing this post-adolescence I was waiting for her to correct how she felt about this small town with “nothing to do” (aside from going to record stores, go vintage clothes shopping, get specialty Korean ingredients from a local market, and see Modest Mouse - just to name a few). Again, I acknowledge this as a personal issue taken with the book, but I assume most people that grew up in rural or small towns would struggle and also feel that a large part of the author’s adolescence and story is unreachable and I relatable because of this as well.
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, and Alcohol
mattyvreads's review against another edition
4.75
The story is heartbreaking and gorgeous. It is raw.
I enjoyed it immensely.
Graphic: Cancer, Racism, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Abortion
booksanna's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming and Bullying
Minor: Infidelity, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol