A review by adreini26
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee

challenging emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.25

Whenever I'm talking with my other bookworm friends or just reader friends I always have a habit of emphasizing just how much I dislike and don't read Non-Fiction of any kind. And a major part of this entire category is self help books. I can preach out loud to every single person I meet just how much I dislike self help books and the entire genre altogether. But this particular one literally altered my brain chemistry. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘛𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘬𝘣𝘰𝘬𝘬𝘪 by Baek Sehee is perhaps the only book from the non-fiction category that I would never regret picking up. It's a beautifully written work of literature that talks and explains so many different emotions, aspirations & talks about one's own feelings towards their way of living despite the supposedly "miserable" aspects of their life in a way that is understandable and humane in every way. It is rich with knowledge that might be not known to many, especially active sufferers of certain mental illnesses, especially depression. 

Something that I've always found horrible in self help books is how the authors always manage to present such an idealistic life and an almost unrealistic way of living, sometimes so much hard to follow that a normal person or those who have problems with consistency in routine would perhaps never be able to cope up with. But Baek Sehee demonstrates a perfectly humane way of dealing with all negative emotions. She shows that lapsing back into bad habits is always okay, but what matters the most is how we tackle it and process it and improve ourselves. 

Moreover most of the time in these books every prospect or habit or requirement of living a good and healthy life is given as a necessity or a commandment, something I severely detest from someone who is as much of a human as I am or ever will be. Many a times for me this sounds pretentious and narcissistic just for the cause that they could handle their miserable lives or past habits in a way that was better or more efficient that most. Baek Sehee however humanizes such feelings. She, through her writing, tries to make readers understand that what they are going through is not a permanent things but instead only a season, that nothing is incurable just of we keep trying. With beautiful metaphors and an amazing translation, this book was truly one that kept me going. 

I can firmly say That I doubt I would ever be picking up any other non-fictional read in my life once again as much as I can firmly say that this book was one of the best reads of my life. So even though I picked this up just for the sake of the pretty and cute cover, I stayed cause the author won my heart with her writing and modesty. Thank you to the author and the team who made this book possible. I hope to read more.