Intermediate Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: サイレント・ウィッチ

Hello! This is my first time making a book proposal! Hopefully everything is okay and this books level fits here! I’ve had this book for a while and keep meaning to get around to reading it haha.
Also, are books translated into Japanese okay?

死にたいけどトッポッキは食べたい (I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki)

Author ペク セヒ【著】
Translator 山口 ミル【訳】

Summary

Japanese

(From Amazonjp)
なんとなく気持ちが沈み、自己嫌悪に陥る。
ぼんやりと、もう死んでしまいたいと思いつつ、
一方でお腹がすいてトッポッキが食べたいなと思う……。
気分障害と不安障害を抱える女性が、精神科医とのカウンセリングを通して、
自分自身を見つめ直した12週間のエッセイ。
韓国で若い世代を中心に40万部を超えるベストセラー!
人間関係や自分自身に対する不安や不満を抱え、繊細な自分自身に苦しんだ経験のある
すべての人に寄り添う1冊です。

English

(From Foyles)
PSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you?
ME: I don’t know, I’m - what’s the word - depressed? Do I have to go into detail?
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, 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.

Availability

Amazon Japan (tankobon and ebook)
BookWalker (ebook)
EBookJapan (ebook)

Personal Opinion

Seems like an interesting read and was recently popular in Japan. This book is almost always in clear view whenever I go to any bookstores. I think it should be okay for this level of book club, but if it is a little on the easier side it might also be good for people who are join the intermediate book club for the first time?

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Recently rather popular in Japan.
  • English version hasn’t been released yet (will be later this year). So you can read it ahead of others.
  • Not very long (tankobon is only 200 pages including the table of contents and extra pages)
  • There seems to be a second volume for those that enjoy it and want to read more

Cons

  • Not originally Japanese (translated from Korean). Some people may prefer content originally in Japanese.
  • May not be a topic for everyone

Pictures

First Four Pages of Chapter One


Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Moderate effort
  • Significant effort
  • So much effort my head might explode
  • I don’t know

0 voters

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