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koreanlinda's reviews
179 reviews

Suzume 1 by Makoto Shinkai

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I ended up reading this book during my recovery from surgery, and it was a perfect pickup. The world where Suzume lives took me away from my reality for a much-needed mental respite. The storyline is quite YA; it's all about a teenage girl growing up and finding the truth about her childhood. However, the fantasy side of the story was fascinating, and knowing that this story also exists in animation, it was easy for me to visualize the whole way through the book. What moved me the most was the author's ingenious way of imagining the backstory of Japan's experiences of frequent and detrimental earthquakes. I look forward to watching the animation.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in March 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda
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Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This was such a fortunate find in the library. Victoria Ying tells her own story of an eating disorder through a teenage protagonist Val. She is a Vietnamese American with a mother who micromanages her daughter's eating. I have a mother who obsesses over other's judgment of appearance and eating, so I related to Val's struggle. It took me a long time to love my body, stop dieting, and focus on more important parts of my life. 

I hope this book and similar stories are read widely among young people. I think the pressure to look good on social media is ever so high. It takes a lot of self-care and community support to fight off that pressure.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in March 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda
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Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science by Marina Budhos, Marc Aronson

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challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring tense slow-paced

4.0

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100°C: South Korea's 1987 Democracy Movement by Choi Kyu-sok

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I really enjoyed reading this book. Of course, it is not all happy feelings, and in fact, the first half of the book made me feel quite depressed. However, it gets more hopeful afterward. People who were fed government propaganda later learned the truth about the dictatorship and joined the democracy movement. The ending made me cry a lot. It was moving to witness so many people coming together for a common cause. 

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in March 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda
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Birding Is My Favorite Video Game: Cartoons about the Natural World From Bird and Moon by Rosemary Mosco

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adventurous funny informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

4.25

This book is full of fun facts and witty jokes about creatures and critters in nature. I highly recommend that you read a couple of pages during your work breaks. 
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.25

It is a short essay, full of passionate push for gender equality (mostly in Nigeria, and maybe also in the US). I ended up leaving a lower rating because of the author's binary view on gender and repeated insistence that men are physically stronger than women. The book was published in 2012 when nonbinary gender identities were not as well known as now; however, the author's extreme divide between men and women effectively erased people outside that binary and made it hard for me to stay focused on her narrative. I would recommend other feminist books that have more "updated" views on gender.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in Feb 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda
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Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.
I had a hard time processing information on pages. Alison Bechdel cramps each page with stories, information, and images. It's dense, much denser than most graphic novels. 
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The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

4.25

I felt lots of pain by reading this book. The book is ridden with violence that Thi's family experienced in Vietnam. Thi's mother is the one who gets lots of focus for her pain from repeated miscarriages as well as pregnancies and deliveries during the war. Although the story and graphics are compelling, I could not shed so many "whys" while reading it. Why did Thi's mother keep getting pregnant in environments where it's dangerous for the mother and baby? Why did Thi's father not take care of his children in the absence of Thi's mother? It is hard to blame anyone in the story because they are all victims of extremely traumatic experiences; however, I couldn't help but feel resentful for adults with responsibilities.

I learned a lot about what Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans went through in the last few generations. I recommend coupling this book with Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna, which talks about a painful part of Cambodian history around a similar time as this book. 

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in Feb 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda

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No One Else by R. Kikuo Johnson

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emotional inspiring sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher Vol. 1 by Tama Mizuki

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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