Amy Zhang - The Cartographers

Amy Zhang - The Cartographers 

3⭐

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Asian Literature, Mental Health, Philosophy 

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback Proof 

Publisher:  Harper360YA, Greenwillow, Harper Collins

Date Published: 16th March 2023

 Huge thank you to Harper360YA & Harper360  for sending me a proof copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

Struggling to balance the expectations of her immigrant mother with her deep ambivalence about her own place in the world, seventeen-year-old Ocean Wu takes her savings and goes off the grid. A haunting and romantic novel about family, friendship, philosophy, and love.

Ocean Wu has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together. She also decides not to tell her mother (whom she loves very much but doesn’t want to disappoint) that she is deferring—at least until she absolutely must.

In New York, Ocean moves into an apartment with Georgie and Tashya, two strangers who soon become friends, and gets a job tutoring. She also meets a boy—Constantine Brave (a name that makes her laugh)—late one night on the subway. Constant is a fellow student and a graffiti artist, and Constant and Ocean soon start corresponding via Google Docs—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. But everything falls apart when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.

Ocean, Constant, Georgie, and Tashya are all cartographers—mapping out their futures, their dreams, and their paths toward adulthood in this stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding the strength to control your own destiny.

My Review: 

I found this book to be a bit too much for me. Mainly it was too philosophical. Secondly, characters, apart from Ocean, are left unexplored, especially Constantine’s character. Lastly, from the blurb, it seemed to be marketed as more of a romance book, where two main characters are trying to find themselves as they navigate coming of age. However, it wasn’t the case. I struggled to read this book, even though some of the themes discussed are very important and interesting. It just didn’t keep me engaged.

The story follows Ocean, who instead of going to University in New York, decides to take a gap year to reinvent and find herself. She struggles with depression and mental health, as well as suicidal thoughts. She hopes that a year out will make her feel better and would get rid of the pressures that her family and society put on her, including going to university, getting good grades, getting a good job, etc. She shares an apartment with two completely different people, who no matter the differences become her great friends and supporters. One day, however, Ocean meets a stranger called Constantine and suddenly falls for him. Their conversations, deeply philosophical, carry on through Google Documents sheet, as Ocean falls more and more for Constant. She becomes obsessed with his replies, analysing and interpreting every word over and over again, whilst also starting to detach from reality and her friends...

It was too philosophical for a YA book. Also, those philosophical conversations between Ocean and Constant were rather long and quite boring, making the book drag and making the reading experience quite slow. At some points, I even had to skim through the Google Document exchanges between Ocean and Constant, as otherwise, I would’ve DNF’ed the book.

From what I realised about Constant, he is a horrible character and person. She strung Ocean along and played with her feelings, whilst at the same time wanting her friendship. He knew about her struggles and didn’t offer to help, but instead played her along for his own good.

What I liked about this book was that mental health was openly discussed and the author didn’t shy away from discussing what causes mental health for young adults. Including the discussion on the pressures that young adults go through, from society, parents, friends and from other things like social media. Ocean’s story displayed the raw reality of mental health and depression, which is also important to read and raise awareness about. I also liked the portrayal of super high expectations that immigrant families put on their children, as I could relate to that from my childhood and teen years.

Overall: This book didn’t engage me. It had some interesting and important themes and topics discussed but overall, it was really hard to get into and parts of it were just too philosophical for me.

About the Author:

Amy Zhang was born in China and moved to the United States when she was a young girl. She grew up in Wisconsin and recently graduated from college. She is the author of Falling into Place and This is Where the World Ends, and she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/amy-zhang-201410134056830

Florence Given - Women Don't Owe You Pretty

Florence Given - Women Don't Owe You Pretty   

2⭐

Genre: Non-Fiction, Feminism, Self-Help, LGBTQIA+, Mental Health 

Pages: 226

Format: Hardback

Publisher: Cassell, Octopus Publishing Group 

Date Published: 11th June 2020

Book Blurb: 

WOMEN DON'T OWE YOU PRETTY will tell you to...

love sex, hate sexism,

protect your goddamn energy,

life is short, dump them,

And that you owe men nothing, least of all pretty.

Florence's debut book will explore all progressive corners of the feminist conversation; from insecurity projection and refusing to find comfort in other women's flaws, to deciding whether to date or dump them, all the way through to unpacking the male gaze and how it shapes our identity.

WOMEN DON'T OWE YOU PRETTY is an accessible leap into feminism, for people at all stages of their journey who are seeking to reshape and transform the way they view themselves. In a world that tells women we're either not enough or too much, it's time we stop directing our anger and insecurities onto ourselves, and start fighting back to re-shape the toxic structures of our patriarchal society.

Florence's book will help you to tackle and challenge the limiting narrative you have been bombarded with your whole life, and determine feminism on your own terms. After all, you are the love of your own life.

My Review: 

Last year I read Girl Crush by Florence Given, which was her first fiction book. That book had a lot of potential but just fell flat. However, I thought I will give Given another chance and read her non-fiction book with an open mind.

I honestly tried to like this book but it was bad…Don’t get me wrong, Given touches on some very important issues in this book, but for the most part, it felt that she just continuously repeats the same things over and over again. Apart from her opinion on numerous issues and stating that these issues of sexism, abuse, representation, racism, and privilege, to name a few, exist, she doesn’t offer the reader any solutions or any deeper insights, other than her own views. Also, for me, the lack of facts and references to support Given’s opinions and claims is what made me really dislike this book. At times it just felt that she is going in circles in this book without adding any value, without offering any learning or any important messages for readers to take away from this book.

I personally really disliked the chapters on relationships, men and marriage. All those chapters felt very patronising, especially it felt that Given is telling the reader that we are all better off alone and single or queer, rather than having boyfriends or partners that are male. Also, in a very aggressive way, it was stated that if you want a marriage then you cannot be a feminist and love yourself as much, since you are stuck with a man. I just felt that the author hates males and doesn’t hide that fact, unconsciously making the reader feel bad if they are in a long-term relationship or have a partner or want a marriage.

Also, didn’t agree with the fact that Given thinks we should all be learning from social media rather than formal education and that social media these days is worth more than formal education. Again, no solutions or facts and figures were given to support this claim, which I would have been interested to read, as it is an interesting claim, but isn’t worth much if not supported by facts.

The only takeaways (which I don’t think we're the intended takeaways) from this book were that you aren’t a real feminist if you aren’t single or queer, you aren’t a feminist if you desire to have a relationship with a male partner, you are better off single as men will ruin you, and if you want to have pleasure use toys or have one-night stands, rather than have a long-term partner.

Overall: The only positives I took from this book were that it was quick and easy to read and that I finished it in a few hours. There are definitely better books about these issues and feminism from authors, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (We Should All Be Feminist), Caroline Criado Perez (Invisible Women), and Bernardine Evaristo, that actually offer not only their opinions and experience of these issues but also offer in-depth solutions, explanations, facts and figures. Don’t think that after this book I will be ever reading anything by Florence Given. Just don’t think her writing and books are for me. 

About the Author:

Florence Given is a London based artist and writer.

In 2018, she launched a petition to cancel Netflix's controversial fat-shaming series 'Insatiable', it gained over 300,000 signatures in a matter of days. The story became global news and she appeared on many news networks across the US and UK, as well as being interviewed for various publications including Huffington Post and Grazia.

A London-based artist and writer, Florence addresses social issues with unique and playful illustrations. She grew up in Plymouth and attended London College of Fashion. Boasting over 193k followers on Instagram, her work confronts oppressive attitudes towards women and their bodies, and she uses her platform to raise awareness of issues surrounding sexuality, consent, race and gender.

Florence designed the merchandise for Rita Ora's Girls Tour in May 2018, curated her first exhibition 'Girls Interrupted, and designed a limited-edition t-shirt for the fashion brand WEEKDAY. Alongside the tee (which featured the slogan "WOMEN DON'T OWE YOU PRETTY"), the entire collection sold out in under an hour.

https://www.florencegiven.com/

Brian Verity - Why My Wife Had To Die

Brian Verity - Why My Wife Had To Die 

4⭐

Genre: Non- Fiction, Health, Medical, Autobiography

Pages: 302

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Envelope Books

Date Published: 3rd March 2022

Huge thank you to Envelope Books for sending me a copy of this book to read and review. 

 

Book Blurb: 

When Mary Verity started to display the same early symptoms of Huntington's disease that her mother and older brother had shown, no one took her condition seriously or knew how to respond to it.

From the health and social services departments of the local authority to the government and the church, Mary was given no choice about how to plan for what would become her inevitable physical and mental deterioration.

Support bodies were no help either.  

In this tough, uncompromising book, Brian Verity raises difficult ethical questions about the freedoms granted to carriers of the Huntington's gene to raise children of their own and the lack of freedom given to them to end their lives.

This is not a book with a happy ending, nor have its full ramifications yet been embedded into our supposedly caring society. 

My Review: 

This book was definitely hard to read emotionally as it deals with real people, their emotions and their lives. However, I also think the book touches upon very important subjects and is a very powerful read. It is a very eye-opening book, especially for those like me who don’t know much about Huntington’s disease. This story hooked me from the very beginning and I read this book in one sitting, as I just had to know what happened in the end to Mary.

This book is narrated by Mary’s husband Brian and we see mainly his point of view on how both of them dealt with Mary’s condition. He briefly starts the book with how they both met and then talks about how he first started to notice Mary’s symptoms, which then followed by her diagnosis and then the struggles they both as a couple had to endure as Mary’s condition worsened over the next 2-3 years.

I liked learning about Mary’s story and Huntington’s disease through this book, as previously I didn’t know much about it. So, in that aspect, it was a very eye-opening and heartbreaking read. I also liked that the book showed how little doctors knew about this condition back in the 60s and 70s and how the health support wasn’t the best in that regard from the doctors and local GPs who treated Mary and her family. To me, it displayed how far our medical knowledge and health services improved from the 60s. Additionally, I liked that this book was from a carer’s point of view and how hard and exhausting at times it is to care for your loved ones and to be a carer. This story gave a glimpse of the reality of people who aren’t professionally trained to be carers but still have to take care of their ill loved ones and their struggles physically and mentally.

However, there were parts of this book that were so hard to read. Especially, the author’s controversial obsession with the fact that the only way to stop Huntington’s is to sterilise those who carry the gene or forcibly stop them from procreating. I was quite shocked by some of the opinions he expressed regarding this subject.

I was also quite shocked at how at times he treated Mary, including keeping things from her, being angry with her deteriorating and not being the wife, she was before, as well as,  constantly expressing anger towards her and even having an affair whilst Mary was ill. He openly stated a few times in the book that the more her illness progressed the more his love turned into pity. Part of me realises how hard it must have been to him to see his wife deteriorating and having to deal with all that alone but at the same time, I was rather angry at him because from his accounts all Mary needed was love, empathy and support, because she struggled just as much as Brian did. He also refused to accept any help for Mary from the social services and others, especially if their opinions were different from his about Huntington’s.

Overall: An eye-opening and thought-provoking book that touches so many important topics, including the mental and physical health of carers, voluntary euthanasia, help and support from health services for those with incurable conditions, medical knowledge of conditions in the 60s and 70s and much more. A very important, captivating and worth-reading story that would not leave you for a while. 

About the Author:

Brian Verity lived through the trauma of finding he had married into a family whose members all carried the gene for Huntington’s disease and who suffered accordingly — as he would too, though for other reasons.

​

It became his mission to mitigate the consequences of his wife's condition and educate the public about its horrors.

​

Following his wife’s suicide, he was questioned at length by the police and kept under surveillance for a year. He went on to campaign for voluntary euthanasia. He died in 2019. 

​

Stephen Games, who edited his book, was in contact with Brian Verity in the year before he died, and is available to talk about the raw issues raised by the author and about the wider context of the book.

​https://www.envelopebooks.co.uk/why-my-wife-had-to-die

Baek SeHee - I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki

  

Baek SeHee - I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki

5 ⭐

Genre: Biography, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Mental Health, Self-Care, Health, Mind and Body, Korean Literature

Translated by: Anton Hur 

Original Title: 죽고 싶지만 떡볶이는 먹고 싶어

Original Language: Korean 

Pages: 208

Format: eARC on NetGalley 

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK)

Date Published: 23rd June 2022

Huge Thank You to Bloomsbury UK and NetGalley UK for a copy of eARC to read and review! 

Book Blurb: 

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. Part memoir, part self-help book, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki is a book to keep close and to reach for in times of darkness.

My Review: 

I really loved this book!  It is the first self-help book that I loved, actually enjoyed reading, and didn’t DNF’ed.

Firstly, it’s part memoir, featuring the author’s therapy sessions, where she is trying to find out why she is how she is, depressed, unhappy, with low self-esteem and always puts herself down. Secondly, it’s a part self-help book, where the author explains her mental health struggles without sugar-coating or glamorising it, whilst providing some explanation on different conditions and how it is possible to tackle them. The author also talks about how she is slowly overcoming her struggles, step by step and not always in a linear fashion, taking a few steps forward but in reality stumbling some ten steps backwards.

I love the honesty, the raw truth of mental health problems and how the author talks about her struggles, how she is not afraid to talk about her feelings too. I really liked how the book was so easy to read and felt really personal, like, I felt I was the one in the therapy room having the conversation with the therapist. I devoured this book in a few hours and would love to go back read it again and annotate, and add my thoughts (hopefully can do that once I get a physical copy when it's out). It was also so relatable, as most of the author’s struggles are so universal and some of us might face more than one in our everyday life.

This book is different but in such a good way, it stands out, as it's not your traditional ‘how to take care of your mental health’,  full of checklists and tips book. This book has a unique voice and true story, which makes it very raw and real, whilst teaching quite a lot about mental health from the perspective of our everyday life.

Overall:  I really think we need more books like this on mental health, as for me how the author bravely shared her feelings and thoughts on mental health conditions, made me think that more conversations like this need to happen in our communities and society to get over the stigma surrounding this subject. I can’t wait until it’s released, so I can buy a physical copy, re-read it and annotate it, and have it on my bookshelf to help me when I face hard moments in my life. It is translated so well, as writing just flows. It’s also so easy to understand, and there is some extra information provided, explaining Korean cultural nuances that the reader might not be familiar with.

Honestly, a book that is really worth a place on your bookshelf. 

This review was first published on NetGalley and can be found on:

https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/252006/review/959200 

About the Author: 

Born in 1990, Baek SeHee studied creative writing at university before working for five years at a publishing house. For ten years, she received psychiatric treatment for dysthymia (persistent mild depression), which became the subject of her essays, and then I Want to Die, but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, books one and two. Her favourite food is tteokbokki, and she lives with her rescue dog Jaram.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/author/baek-sehee/