I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki is truly unique. I’ve heard so much about it and randomly picked it up at a book sale. This is part self-help and memoir and certainly if you’re intrigued you should pick it up. Keep reading this book review of I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki for my full thoughts.
Summary
Baek Se-Hee is a successful young social media director at a publishing house when she begins seeing a psychiatrist about her–what to call it?–depression? She feels persistently low, anxious, endlessly self-doubting, but also highly judgemental of others. She hides her feelings well at work and with friends, adept at performing the calmness, even ease, her lifestyle demands. The effort is exhausting and overwhelming and keeps her from forming deep relationships. This can’t be normal.
But if she’s so hopeless, why can she always summon a yen for her favourite street food, the hot, spicy rice cake, tteokbokki? Is this just what life is like? Recording her dialogues with her psychiatrist over a 12-week period, Baek begins to disentangle the feedback loops, knee-jerk reactions, and harmful behaviours that keep her locked in a cycle of self-abuse.
Review
I enjoyed I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki. Even though I don’t share the same symptoms – mine lie more in anxiety – listening to these conversations were very interesting. It’s a good look into the therapy process. I’ve only dabbled in therapy and still finding a good match, but I really enjoyed seeing these tips to stop intrusive thoughts. While it’s definitely focused on her journey, her issues, and her conversations, I can definitely see the ‘self-help’ part of the book. I do wish there was bit more memoir in the book as well as a common thread through I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki.
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I enjoyed the self-help element, but I do think this is best picked up chapter at a time. For me I was listening to it mostly while I was tackling a bit cleaning project and all at once it felt a bit too much to bite off at once. Jully Lee did a fabulous job at embracing the emotion in both Baek and the psychiatrist. I’m glad I finally read this one, but I’d be careful in who I recommend it to because I can imagine that for some the Baek’s conversations might run too close to home. Find I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.