I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki: further conversations with my psychiatrist. The Sunday Times and internationally bestselling sequel to the hit Korean therapy memoir

by Baek Sehee, Anton Hur (Translator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Memoir and self-help blend together in this meaningful exploration of mental health — as witty, and at times hilarious, as it is deeply introspective.

The sequel to the internationally bestselling South Korean therapy memoir, translated by National Book Award finalist Anton Hur.

Whenever depression or emptiness came calling, I was all too eager to open the door of self-pity and go right inside.

Baek Sehee started recording her sessions with her psychiatrist because she hoped to create a guide for herself. She never imagined her reflections would reach so many people, especially young people. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki became a runaway bestseller in South Korea, then Indonesia, the U.K., and the U.S., drawing readers with its frank and vulnerable discussions of depression and anxiety.

Healing is an uneven process. In this second book, Baek's sessions intensify as her inner conflicts become more complex and challenging. Through her dialogues with her psychiatrist and reflective micro-essays following each session, Baek traces the patterns of her anguish, makes progress, weathers setbacks, and shares the revelatory insights that come just when she has almost given up hope.

I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki offers itself to the social media generation as a book to hold close, a friend who knows that grappling with everyday despair is part of a lifelong journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639732302
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	08/06/2024
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	42,694
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Born in 1990, Baek Sehee studied creative writing in 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 favorite food is tteokbokki, and she lives with her rescue dog Jaram.

Anton Hur was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the author of No One Told Me Not To and the novel Toward Eternity. His translations include Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award.

Editorial Reviews

06/24/2024

In this frank sequel to I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, Sehee continues to document her treatment for depression and anxiety. Organized into 14 essays, each themed after one of Sehee’s insecurities and framed by recorded conversations between the author and her psychiatrist, this memoir digs deeper than its predecessor, thanks in part to Sehee’s realization, after reading Roxane Gay’s Hunger, that she “had never been honest with myself, even as I’d baldly declared how revealing my darkness to the light was the way to become free.” In plain prose (Hur’s translation can border on dull), Sehee recounts obsessing over casual comments made by colleagues and friends, her debilitating fear of death, and her occasional self-harm. In the candid back-and-forths with her therapist, Sehee comes to realize she “lets others too much into myself,” and resolves to trust her own voice. As with the previous book, the dialogues oscillate between arresting and numbing, with some conversations robbed of their potential power by the limits of the format. Still, Sehee’s admirable commitment to showing her “deepest inner wounds” will resonate with readers struggling to unpack their own mental health issues. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

In her distinctive voice, a noted South Korean author explores the roots of her mental illness and struggles toward a healthier life . . . Baek's journey through the dark forest of depression is sometimes painful but ultimately revelatory and inspiring.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Sehee's admirable commitment to showing her 'deepest inner wounds' will resonate with readers struggling to unpack their own mental health issues.” —Publishers Weekly

“Ruminative . . . [Sehee is] especially interrogative of her own relationship to her body, confronting binary judgments . . . she's long endured, the damage internalized as self-condemnations of being 'insignificant, worthless.' . . . 'I want to keep learning about myself and finding the best user manual for my life.' Wise advice for all” —Booklist

“Be sure to check out this sequel which is just as heartfelt, vulnerable and insightful as her first internationally acclaimed bestselling South Korean memoir.” —Ms Magazine

“Ultimately hopeful. Through chronicling the therapeutic process, [Sehee's] self-awareness increases, and she gains the strength to put into place the building blocks of healing . . . a reminder that even the smallest steps toward self-awareness can be a triumph.” —Shelf Awareness

“Honest and authentic throughout . . . A sincere attempt at self-discovery that will resonate with young people who suffer from similar forms of depression and anxiety” —Library Journal on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“Candid . . . heartfelt . . . Sehee's mission to normalize conversation about mental illness is an admirable one.” —Publishers Weekly on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“A testament to the gradual nature of therapy's cumulative healing effects, I Want to Die should resonate with anyone who eagerly transcribes every nugget of advice they get.” —Buzzfeed on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“Earnest . . . clever . . . [Baek Sehee] uses months of (real) transcripts from her therapy sessions to explore her own depression and anxiety, always tiptoeing toward something like self-awareness.” —Chicago Tribune on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“An eye-opening view into a person's most vulnerable moments in a new way.” —Cosmopolitan on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“With candor and humor, Baek offers readers and herself resonant moments of empathy.” —Booklist on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“For readers feeling a little icy around the edges, [Sehee's] memoir promises to defrost.” —Wired.com on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“[I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki] is a therapeutic salve . . . Sehee's memoir is a connective tissue for all of us looking for a silver lining.” —PopSugar on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“Compelling . . . there is a fascination being inside the counseling room with [Sehee]. We feel we are a party to a sacred realm and find ourselves drawn to her testimony; mesmerized by her ability to keep thwarting herself from getting better. And we want her to get better.” —Books & Film Globe on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“If you've ever felt exhausted and anxious by performing well-being, this is a book for you.” —Ms. Magazine on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“This book will comfort anyone who's ever been depressed, anxious, or just frustrated with themselves.” —Real Simple on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

“Baek Sehee ingeniously combines elements of memoir and self-help . . . She offers an intimate look into one patient's experience in therapy and her own analysis of and takeaways from those sessions . . . Everyone is just trying to be as okay as possible, after all-and seeing Sehee's processing of that in I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki is sure to make readers feel a little less alone in their own attempts.” —Shelf Awareness on I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI

From the Publisher

2024-03-23
In her distinctive voice, a noted South Korean author explores the roots of her mental illness and struggles toward a healthier life.

Baek Sehee’s I Want To Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki was a hit in her home country, and the English translation, which appeared in 2022, also found a broad readership. This sequel follows the same pattern of short essays interspersed with discussions with her psychiatrist. Despite having made progress in her mental health journey, the author continues to struggle with her persistent, draining depression. Through discussions with her therapist, she continues to delve into her childhood and teenage years, examining the body issues that made her overly sensitive to criticism and planted seeds of self-loathing and self-pity. Baek chronicles how she went through long periods of avoiding contact with people and drank too much. In the most distressing section of the book, she writes about falling into a powerful spiral of depression, which led to incidents of self-harm and thoughts of suicide. Some readers might find these passages disturbing, and Baek suggests that if that is the case, they should simply put the book aside for a while (which sounds like good advice). As her therapy has progressed, the author has gradually come to terms with the difficult parts of her past and learned how to put them into perspective. Healing, she realizes, is a slow but necessary process, and sharing is a part of it. “I’ve come this far in my writing in the belief that what may be a tedious tale to some will be a story of hope for others,” she concludes. “I am grateful to those who have read this account of an unexceptional person because our dark stories are similar.”

Baek’s journey through the dark forest of depression is sometimes painful but ultimately revelatory and inspiring.

Kirkus Reviews