I Want To Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki
Review by Edrienne C. and Yuschebelle T., age 16, Aklanon in Philippines
Source(https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2022/07/04/i-want-to-die-but-i-want-to-eat-tteokbokkiby-baek-sehee-review)
Baek Sehee’s I Want to Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki book is a personal story about her
suffering from depression which allow the readers especially the teenage girls to relate and console
themselves with her experience. She wants the readers to feel the connection to one another as they
read through the pages and help them answer their hidden thoughts, “What to call it? Depression?”
From its book cover, you can notice a teenage girl lying in her bed crying as she have been
wanting to eat Tteokbokki (a Korean popular food) and blended with a color of yellow and purple that
is an illustration of the title itself which can simply be understood and could easily influence a young
girl to read the book because it was illustrated aesthetically and is related to Korea which most young
girls have a soft spot on.
This was Sehee’s first-ever book that was published in Bloomsburry Publishing costing 775
pesos that became the Runaway Korean Bestseller. The book was organized in narrative form where
she converse with her psychiatrist, it is written in chapters that consist motivational quotes in every
chapter and also, contains a table of contents. It has a genre of autobiography and memoir which is a
nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories.
In addition, the theme of the book which is the division of purple and yellow, interconnected
with the means of inspiring readers to acknowledge their innermost thoughts and also, enlighten them
with wisdom of who they are and enter their spiritual growth. It describe the feeling of having endless
self-doubt, persistently low self-esteem, and hopelessness, and longing for finding something that could
free her from heavy thoughts. Sehee expressed her thought to “hopelessness” which boiled down to
“But if she’s so hopeless, why can she always summon a desire for her favourite street food, the hot,
spicy rice cake, tteokbokki? Is this just what life is like?
To sum up, Sehee’s book greatly captivates the attention of readers even just seeing upon its
cover book as it is simple yet aesthetic, while its content is undeniably relatable. Hence, this is indeed
a favorable book for teenagers as it can motivate them to speak freely about mental suffering, answer
their hidden thoughts, and make them feel they are not alone.