“It’s easier to watch myself be sad than actually feel sad.” 

Oof. If you are into books that wreck you just a little bit, but leave you hopeful, Yolk is IT.

It took me a few dozen pages to get my footing in the narrative. Things felt abrupt and unexplained at first, being thrust into Jayne’s gritty reality as a cash poor art student in New York. But I quickly became invested in her life, and the reconnection with her sister June. Choi’s writing is phenomenal, from the searing quote above, to oddly perfect lines that made me chortle: “The bottoms of the produce drawers looked like the contents of a sharks stomach during an autopsy.”

I’m so glad I had recently finished Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner’s memoir perfectly compliments this novel of two girls growing up as Korean Americans and all of the family dynamics at play.

I would also classify this as ‘new adult’ rather than the YA it’s shelved under at my library. I know the YA classification can steer some readers away, and I would absolutely not want that to happen with Yolk - I highly recommend this multifaceted and poignant novel.