I have heard great things about Choi's works, that they are introspective, and portray relationships in very realistic ways, and this is exactly what I found with Yolk. The sibling dynamic between Jayne and June was eerily relatable - the power struggle between older and younger sister, the resentment held towards their different experiences being raised by the same parents, but the overall underlying knowledge that both of them would do anything for the other, and that this is the most important relationship they have. Their closeness grows and wanes in equal measure, and their dependence on one another goes from virtually nonexistent to literally life or death, which I thought really forced the cracks in their childhood, and more recent years as young adults, to be examined and reckoned with. I certainly didn't agree with their decisions at times, or their stubbornness and refusal to talk to one another, but that just made it all the more believable.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This book was incredibly heavy, and I definitely would suggest reading the trigger warnings., however Choi's writing is impeccable.
Definitely a book that has stayed with me and will stay with me for a long time .

This book was just not for me. I couldn't relate to the protagonists, two young Korean-origin sisters living in New York. Probably because I don't have any siblings of my own, their fights (as young-ish adults) seemed random, pointless, unnecessarily juvenile, and vitriolic. One of the main plot points - swapping identities - also seemed a bit implausible and contrived. I get that it was based on the casual racism that people of Asian-origin face in the States, but surely somebody would have noticed?

I did appreciate the trigger warning for ED and the descriptive passages re:ED in the book because I was unfamiliar with that. Still, it didn't move me to tears or anything. The book, on the whole, is hopeful and positive. I have no idea what the book title is referring to (there's only one scene with yolks of any kind). Maybe it's a play on the word "yoke". Since there's a play on their phonetic names as well. I do wish it was shorter, and the mysteries were solved faster than being dragged out right until the end.

Crying real tears :')

A truly beautiful book... <3

Things I liked about it;
- Jayne & June's sisterly bond, I like when family relationships aren't perfect but you can still feel the bond
- How real the characters feel, I kept forgetting they weren't real
- Family dynamics / complex relationships
- The illness rep... Both mental and physical
- How the characters are all flawed, and sometimes outright unlikeable, but the author does a great job of helping you to understand them and even root for them
- The scenes in the doctor's offices
- The writing style, I flew through this book
- Might sound silly, but the actual physical book... The paperback version is floppy and so comfy to hold and I always find that makes the reading experience more enjoyable... Call me crazy all you want!!

Pick this book up if you have a sister / sibling, you love character development, you want to see some mental and physical health rep, or if you just want a good frickin cry...!

DNF for me. I liked the writing style and the relationship between the two sisters, but I don't think I was fully prepared for the conversation about health issues and death (which is a particularly sensitive topic for me). I know plenty of people love this, so if you can get past the content warnings in place for this novel, I think you'll get something from it.

Firstly - I love Mary H.K. Choi's other books, so was very excited to read this. And it exceeded every one of my expectations.

I loved this tale of family, self-love/hate, home and belonging, navigating adulthood, mental illness, relationships, food, sisters...every aspect was so well-written and subtle when it needed to be. I cried about 3 or 4 times, the blazing honesty of Jayne's inner monologue and attitude, and her relationships with her sister and parents, health, and her own culture and personal history. Just so moving and funny and dark and effective.

I'll be recommending this book to so many people. I can't wait to read more by Choi!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this beautiful book.

Jayne is a young woman in New York city, juggling a design course, a sister she’s trying to avoid and a boyfriend who doesn’t seem to like her very much coupled with a pretty serious eating disorder.

Raised in Texas, with one foot in their Korean community and one in the Lone Star state, she talks about her childhood and craving to escape. Escape from the confines of her strict mother and being constantly compared to her older sister, Jayne. She is practically perfect in every way, top of the class, and fluent in Korean to boot. Jayne also takes every opportunity to belittle and exclude June from the family conversation.

Here’s the joy and intrigue in an unreliable narrator - and I believe that all stories told from one perspective are unreliable - you are never sure if what they are telling you is true or not. Jayne talks about her horrible housemates, who bullied her, shouted at her and ultimately kicked her out of the house. Piecing together what actually happened from moments of clarity and honest self reflection, Jayne was a terrible housemate - breaking things, eating all of their food, being drunk in her room and keeping everyone awake all night. Clearly, she needed help and support and empathy (and maybe her housemates started out like that) but they’re in their early twenties and not inclined/equipped to deal with that kind of mental health issue.

I have read some reviews talking about Jayne and how she is quite irritating - I felt like, perhaps as I’m a bit older, that she needed a big blanket and a cuddle (to start with). Her perception of herself is challenged throughout this too, as people she thought didn’t know who she was in NYC ‘peel away from the wall like a painting come to life’ and talk to her. This simultaneous need to fade into the background and also to be anything but ignored, is part of Jayne’s struggle with life and against her position.

Her relationship with June is complex and messy and frustrating, but also pure and deep and a love that perhaps only siblings can have. They seem to hate each other and yet, ultimately, there’s nothing they won’t do for each other. Those glimpses you see of Jayne through June’s eyes are beautiful, and indicate a world outside of Jayne’s worries and fears, one where she is loved and her family are so worried about her and the abuse she’s suffered from other people in her life and through her disordered eating.

It’s also comedic, and I definitely found myself giggling along to scenes in the book. There’s a running joke about June watching Gilmore Girls that has very specific references, and is very funny. Jayne’s internal monologue is quite dry and arch too, which lends a light heartedness to it which is welcome amongst the very real issues she’s facing. She has moments of social awkwardness which we all have, like when a potential boyfriend bumps into her in the supermarket while she’s wearing the clothes she borrowed from him and promised to give back.

That feeling of not belonging is identifiable I think in most people, but for Jayne it’s tied up with her duality in feeling both American and Korean and not quite either. Her obsession with New York city is centred around her feeling that she just needs to find the right place, in the world, for her to live and she’ll be happy. I think a lot of people can identify with this need too, it’s perhaps the most basic of human requirements (ignoring Maslow, of course).

Having readCrying in H Mart quite recently I can see the similarities in theme, although of course that was memoir and Yolk is fiction, although I suspect it’s rooted at least partly in Choi’s real life experiences. As a white woman, I am so grateful that I can read books centred around characters who are not white, a different perspective to my own or the ones I’m used to is so important.

Thanks to Netgalley and to for the DRC, as always!

9.1 on cawpile. hard to summarise but this was a really good read. I was going to do it as a 4.5 rounded down but that just didn't feel fair. Love the characterisation, this is definitely more of a character study, and I was very invested in June and Jayne!

4 ⭐ a beautiful take on sibling relationships

"It's crazy how lonely it is to be in a family."

Jayne is a 29 year old fashion student in New York. She is navigating the big city life, pretending to have it all figured out. She always wanted to come to New York and now she was there, what could possibly be wrong? Surely her toxic friendships and her horrible ex-boyfriend/roommate don't make her life easier, nor does her cold flat with cockroaches or her relationship with food.

June, on the other hand, lives in a nice flat, has a nice job, wears expensive clothes. She was always the clever one, the one bound to be successful. All was going well, except that she was fired and that inconvenient little thing, her cancer diagnosis.

Both sisters are lost and end up running back into each others lives, first out of necessity, then out of love.

A beautiful story about how we all have flaws and your family won't always make you overlook them. It can be lonely in a family unit especially with parents who never stop working and a sister who is so different from you. Nevertheless, "Humans need to share their darkest parts. Unburdening makes you closer to everyone."

Yolk is a story of family, particularly sisterhood, set against the backdrop of Manhattan. Jayne and June are not the closest of sisters, but when circumstance and a health crisis throws them together, their relationship is really tested. When Jayne's older, more accomplished, has-her-life-together sister June gets cancer and needs Jayne's health insurance, the two sisters start learning more about each other than they have in years. This is a serious read with lots of health talk, and a heavy focus on eating disorders. I enjoyed the writing style and the demonstration of the sisterhood and how it developed over the course of the book. I'm looking forward to picking up her others books.

This was such a beautiful book. The relationship between the sisters was written so well and the way the topic of a serious illness was covered was so well done.

This was not an easy book to read - quite a heavy subject matter, however presented in a young fresh and funny voice.
Two sisters seem to have a complex and quite toxic relationship, which was difficult to read. While the story moves forward the reader finds out the story of these girls and what they have been through. My heart ached for these girls, but overall it was not only a sad reading experience. Gilmore Girls references and the strong bond between the sisters was really the cherry on top of the cake (book). I loved Choi's writing and looking forward to reading her other books.

4.5/5

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, Atom for my e-ARC.

I must say though that this e-ARC was difficult to read, many words were glued together with no spaces in between and I ended up getting the paperback to finish it as I loved the book a lot!

loved emergency contact, loved yolk, love Mary H. K. Choi. Need I say anymore? READ THIS BOOK! you will not regret it!!!

I loved this book. The depth and care given to the portrayal of the sisters’ relationship was unique and lovely. I appreciated the nuances of each character - neither is especially “likable” per se, but you root for them to find happiness anyway. Finishing it gave me a warm feeling inside.

This was a heartbreaking read which truly resonated with me for days. I loved the writing, the characters and the gorgeous depth.

Some books feel like they've been written just for you, and this is exactly how this book felt to me. The relationship between Jayne and June felt so close to the one I have with my own sister. Jayne's struggle with her eating disorder was painfully relatable. The way she feels so lonely and sad, trying to make connections, was a punch to my heart. This book simply spoke to me on so many levels.

2.5 stars!
This book was so difficult to get into. I just wanted to finish it quickly as I wasn’t able to connect with the story. It just felt so bland for me and I was on a verge of DNF’ing it numerous times. However, I am quite glad I sticked with it honestly only for the last 20% of the book.

De las tres novelas mencionadas en esta entrada, esta es la única que mencionaba en mi entrada original sobre novelas que estaba anticipando. Y este soy asidua a los libros de Mary H.K. Choi, con los cuales tengo una relación amor-odio. Me gusta mucho los temas que plantea, pero a menudo me cuesta mucho conectar y comprender las motivaciones de los personajes, lo que me saca de la historia. En este caso, me ha pasado algo por el estilo, aunque también tengo que decir que a ratos me he visto muy representada en la figura de Jayne, la protagonista del libro. En este caso estamos ante un libro donde dos hermanas con una relación inexistente se ven obligadas a reconciliarse cuando a una de ellas le detectan una enfermedad que podría ser mortal. La exploración de las dinámicas familiares que hace Choi en esta novela es fascinante de leer, sobre todo para alguien como yo que es hija única y nunca ha tenido ese tipo de lazo afectivo con nadie. Poder ser testigo desde fuera de una relación tan disfuncional pero que a la vez está tan unida por años de recuerdos y experiencias compartidos es al mismo tiempo desgarrador e impactante. Es un libro de personajes, donde la trama es solo una excusa para juntas a las dos hermanas, pero como esa podría haber sido cualquier otra. Mis problemas principales han sido sobre todo mi incapacidad para entender la forma de comportarse de June, la hermana mayor, la necesidad de meter a un personaje masculino con el que desarrollar una historia de amor y la forma de comportarse de Jayne, algo que al mismo tiempo ha sido una de las cosas que más me ha gustado de la historia.

This book is about two sisters--one with mental health issues and the other discovering she might have a physical illness. The main character, Jayne, a Korean American young adult in New York, navigates her anxiety and the need to be... loved? seen? as she and her sister wait for test results to find out if the older one, June, has cancer. The blurb for this book said it's funny and emotional. Emotional, sure, but funny? I'd say it's depressing. I sensed the main character biting her nails without her actually biting her nails.

Things I liked:
- references to modern culture,
- the focus on the MC's inner life rather than her surroundings. Very often we didn't even know what the people and places around her looked like,
- the points it makes about Asian American identity,
- the end.

But there are some things I didn't necessarily like. I once said to a friend that Normal People is a book about straight people being straight. This book has a similar quality to it--the main character just cannot stop thinking about men as potential boyfriends. All the time, about everybody. And she lets an ex she never really broke up with (or apparently even dated in the first place) live with her and invite new girlfriends over even though she's hurt by it. People aren't like this, are they? Or do I just know people with more self-respect? If you suspect it's a relationship with another boy that brings her some peace and self-confidence, you're not wrong. I thought we were way past character arcs like these.

The book also takes the depiction of New York to the extreme. Imagine Gossip Girl on steroids. It's like New York is on a different planet, but maybe it is, I've never been.

I think I just can't handle the type of character (or person) Jayne is and this is why I didn't enjoy this book that much. Even though the book gets better towards the end, I just found Jayne unbearable.