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Yolk
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From New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters switching places and committing insurance fraud to save one of their lives.
Jayne Baek is barely getting by. She shuffles through fashion school, saddled with a deadbeat boyfriend, clout-chasing friends, and a wretched eating disorder that she’s not fully read ...more
Jayne Baek is barely getting by. She shuffles through fashion school, saddled with a deadbeat boyfriend, clout-chasing friends, and a wretched eating disorder that she’s not fully read ...more
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Emergency Contact ★★★★★
Permanent Record ★★★★★
cover, premise, everything... perfection already.
Blog | Instagram | Youtube | Ko-fi | Spotify | Twitch ...more
Permanent Record ★★★★★
cover, premise, everything... perfection already.
Blog | Instagram | Youtube | Ko-fi | Spotify | Twitch ...more
[28/07/20) - and then god said to mary "thou shall always have beautiful book covers" and so it came to be.
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May 14, 2020
Angelica
marked it as to-read
I'm here for the tragic family drama
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Oct 30, 2019
Sana
marked it as to-read-so-bad-it-hurts
This has tragedy siblings written all over it AND I WANT IT
Choi is great at writing for/about young folks without being condescending or it feeling “educational”. She tells good complex multilayered stories. I really liked this one. I loved the sister stuff it made me really emotional. The love story stuff was great too, she knows how to write about crushes and starts of relationships. Choi just gets it. Her stories and characters are really human in the best ways. It goes on a little long but it’s good overall.
Jul 24, 2020
Cesar
marked it as to-read
As much as I didn't like Emergency Contact, and even though I didn't read Permanent Record, this one sounds a lot more promising and heartbreaking so I'll give this a chance.
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ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Yolk in exchange for an honest review.
While I know some of Choi's previous YA books have focused on NA protagonists, they have a distinctly more YA feel that justifies the classification. This book is definitely more NA and because of that, I was about to relate to it less where readers in the NA stage of life would probably be able to relate to it more.
Yolk is a very character driven story, following our protagonist after finding out her "perfect ...more
While I know some of Choi's previous YA books have focused on NA protagonists, they have a distinctly more YA feel that justifies the classification. This book is definitely more NA and because of that, I was about to relate to it less where readers in the NA stage of life would probably be able to relate to it more.
Yolk is a very character driven story, following our protagonist after finding out her "perfect ...more
all of this author's covers are just soothing perfection
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OMG I need this so much. I have loved Choi's work since Emergency Contact, so underrated and brilliant and cannot wait for this one
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Dec 21, 2020
Sacha
added it
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. I’ll post that review upon publication.
In the meantime, I’m not sure why this is being marketed as YA; to me, it’s very clearly New Adult. I’ll be positively reviewing it as such in the near future.
In the meantime, I’m not sure why this is being marketed as YA; to me, it’s very clearly New Adult. I’ll be positively reviewing it as such in the near future.
Yolk, by Mary H. K. Choi, is an intimate look into the lives of Korean American sisters Jayne & June Baek. I finished this book in one sitting (400 pages!!) because I could not put it down -- the sisterhood between Jayne and June is so multilayered & complex & the honesty of the characters struck me in a way that I couldn’t stop reading.
The main character, Jayne, is a mess. She’s selfish & unlikable, the younger sibling/19 year old who has a lot of unresolved issues. She steals, drinks heavily, ...more
The main character, Jayne, is a mess. She’s selfish & unlikable, the younger sibling/19 year old who has a lot of unresolved issues. She steals, drinks heavily, ...more
Nineteen year old Jayne is doing the best she can in New York City, even if that involves skipping class and tolerating her mooch of a roommate-with-benefits. Her older sister June lives a much more lavish life in the very same city, but the two have avoided each other since Jayne moved there from their Texas hometown. This wall of silence ends when June tracks Jayne down to tell her something that can't wait any longer: she has cancer. Yolk is a testament to how deep the roots of sisterhood run
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WOW WOW WOW. New favorite Mary HK Choi book. This book is devastatingly good. This tale of two sisters (and there's a bit of romance too, don't worry) is SO relatable and honest and dark and wonderful. And the way Mary writes NYC is brilliant and real. Ugh, I loved this.
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Sep 09, 2020
Katelyn
marked it as to-read
Please be on NetGalley soon
Really sharp and beautiful. The sisters are sublime. NYC is terrible and wonderful. The writing — oh it’s so good.
i love a book that makes me sob nonstop for the last 50 pages
**Trigger warnings for eating disorders (primarily bulimia) and cancer**
This might be my favorite book of the year. I saw so much of myself in Jayne: her struggle with herself and her body and feelings of home and family. I'm finding it difficult to articulate just how much this book means to me but here are some of my overall thoughts:
Choi has an exquisite, sardonic sense of humor in all of her books and this one perfectly balances between subtly humorous and serious. I highlighted at least 30 ...more
This might be my favorite book of the year. I saw so much of myself in Jayne: her struggle with herself and her body and feelings of home and family. I'm finding it difficult to articulate just how much this book means to me but here are some of my overall thoughts:
Choi has an exquisite, sardonic sense of humor in all of her books and this one perfectly balances between subtly humorous and serious. I highlighted at least 30 ...more
June leaves her stifling life in Texas for fashion school in New York City where she’s miserable in an illegal sublet with sometimes lover/always horrible roommate Jeremy. Dodging contact with older sister Jayne, who’s finding success in the NYC corporate world, June tries to find herself through a series of unsatisfying friendships and short-term romances with white guys, all the while struggling with bulimia.
First generation Korean immigrant ties from her hometown are strong, and when Patrick ...more
First generation Korean immigrant ties from her hometown are strong, and when Patrick ...more
Jayne always imagined life would be different when she moved from her parents' home in Texas to New York for fashion school. But instead, she's got the same boy problems, the same lack of direction, and the same disordered eating she isn't ready to confront. Her older sister June lives in New York too, but feels worlds away in her fancy apartment and cushy finance job. But when a cancer diagnosis leads them to commit insurance fraud, they must relearn to navigate their sibling relationship as ad
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Wow. Do you ever have any of those books that leave you feeling #rekt to the point of contemplating life for a half hour after reading? This is one of those books: one that will leave your head spinning and your heart wanting to stay with Jayne and June.
Jayne and June grew up as restaurant kids and total opposites, grappling with their Korean identity in a Texas school system. Now that they live in NYC, both are trying to find their way independent of one another— until suddenly Jayne needs her ...more
Jayne and June grew up as restaurant kids and total opposites, grappling with their Korean identity in a Texas school system. Now that they live in NYC, both are trying to find their way independent of one another— until suddenly Jayne needs her ...more
I enjoyed Yolk immensely, just as I did her previous two YA realistic fictions. One of the things that strikes me about the way Choi writes her characters is that they are so well-rounded; they're not perfect, in fact, sometimes I dislike them, but that's what makes them so real. It's not so much that you are rooting for them, but you are following them on their journeys. I love that Yolk included relationships both romantic and familial. Having a sister myself, I thought their banter was writte
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Like everything Mary H.K. Choi writes, Yolk deals with new adults trying to figure out life. Of all her novels, Yolk’s protagonist Jayne is dealing with the most serious mental health crisis, disordered eating (anorexia and bulimia). Readers should know before they read this one that there are vivid descriptions of bulimia in this novel.
At its essence, though, Yolk is about family. It’s about Jayne’s relationship with her older sister June, and both of their relationship with their parents, esp ...more
At its essence, though, Yolk is about family. It’s about Jayne’s relationship with her older sister June, and both of their relationship with their parents, esp ...more
Ooof. Be prepared to have your stomach in knots, the entire time during this read. Jayne and June, estranged sisters, TX transplants, both living in NYC. They are two sides of the American Dream, one successful, the other a mess. June, reaches out to her sister after a cancer diagnosis and despite the fraught relationship, the two support each other. What really comes through, is the contentious relationship that siblings share as well as their collective shared history. But, layered underneath,
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I didn’t know what to expect from this book but it certainly wasn’t to feel seen in a way that I don’t often feel in books. Obviously I am not a Korean woman so in that sense the experiences are different, but her depiction of life in New York, the relationship with food and body image and a constant feeling of inadequacy spoke to me in so many ways. I am an only child but I wish I had a sister like June or Jayne, these two women who through a lack of communication or having the words to communi
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I absolutely LOVED this book! It’s the perfect read for any college aged student, or older, who’s a little lost and has too many thoughts rummaging around in their heads. Mary H.K. Choi writes these characters as if they’re people you can pass on the street. They and their experiences feels so real, even if they’ve got problems you can’t personally relate to. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to find themselves not knowing how the ending is going to turn out!
I loved this book so much. It’s smart, funny, real. I could easily imagine it being made into a film I would watch repeatedly. Choi’s earlier books are already a hit with my independent readers, and I expect this one to be much beloved as well. And I can’t wait to get a copy for my mom.
Jul 03, 2020
Solace_In_Reading
marked it as to-read
7.3.2020
how did I not know Mary H.K. Choi was writing another book!! hell yeah!
how did I not know Mary H.K. Choi was writing another book!! hell yeah!
My tears are bittersweet and there’s something poetic about November 19th being an important date in this book and me finishing it on November 19th.
I loved this story of sisters. All the love, hate and “I can’t believe you!” Echo through the pages while what happens makes you laugh & cry with tears of joy.
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Mary H.K. Choi is a Korean-American author, editor, television and print journalist. She is the author of young adult novel Emergency Contact (2018). She is the culture correspondent on Vice News Tonight on HBO and was previously a columnist at Wired and Allure magazines as well as a freelance writer. She attended a large public high school in a suburb of San Antonio, then college at the Universit
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