BOOK REVIEW: Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

Please do not come for me but I judge books by their covers — and Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi passed my judgement. The bright yellow cover was what first attracted me. Wonderful job design team! Most books I read tend to go for solemn colors so this one surprised me. I was then turned on…with excitement…by the art which intrigued me to read its synopsis.

Without giving too much away, Yolk is about two sisters who are polar opposites. One is a classic first-born, June Baek, who has or acts like she has her life together and while the second born, Jayne Baek, is emotionally stunned who is an overall mess due to lack of perfection or validation. When the family moves from Seoul to San Antonio to New York, it is not hard to believe that feelings will get hurt, emotions will be forgotten, and pieces will be broken along the way. This is the case with most to all immigrant families, hence the generational trauma and burdensome societal expectations that the characters face.

At first glance, one could see that June and Jayne grew up close to each other. That, however, did not mean they liked each other. June and Jayne were estranged as ever despite them living in the same Big Apple. Jayne represents the common bratty and self-obsessed younger sibling and June the problematic and soulless older sibling. They balanced each other’s crazy, brain, and beauty. If it were not for cancer diagnosis, housing woes, and family secrets, the sisters would be chasing their own made-up delusions, sending them further away from each other. The redeeming feature for the duo were the obligations they felt they had towards each other when one of them is dying.

As a younger sister myself, I absolutely loved the way Choi portrayed Jayne. Regardless of her internal turmoil, Jayne was ready to help June emotionally, physically, and mentally. I applauded Jayne for the way she helped her sister in the uproar of unforeseen circumstances, but I wish she did that more with herself too. Before her sister showed up unexpectedly, she allowed her deadbeat boyfriend and clout-chasing friends to walk all over her, all while struggling with an eating disorder. Jayne was in a new city where she wanted to belong to. Yet, as I was reading and imagining myself to be Jayne, I felt surges of frustration. Why couldn’t she just believe in herself? Why couldn’t she stop searching for validation from the wrong people? Why was she not proud of herself?

I am a different race of Asian as the one described in the book, but it is not everyday that you read something so relatable that you can feel the words coming from your heart. Yolk is a simple masterpiece. You might skip pages, cry at others, and swear at some too. It is not a one-size-fits all narration, but there is something comforting about Yolk.