Apparently I'm on a roll with the tough reads today, because Hungry Ghost is a painful one for sure. It follows a teen girl named Val whose mother's constant body-shaming and food obsessions have gradually pushed her to the point of disordered eating. Don't go into this expecting a perfect protagonist who heals easily or quickly, or views the world in the right ways, because we definitely get to see how broken her perspective is at times, especially when she even begins to body-shame her fat best friend.

As a fat person with a long history of disordered eating, stories like this can carry an extra layer of pain because of the combination of ED rep mixed with the main character's fatphobic views of those around them, but I'm really glad that I kept going, because Val grows so much as a character within these pages and I was absolutely rooting for her all the while. I only wish we had seen some sort of character growth from her mother, anything at all, but unfortunately, that isn't always how these things go.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

Hungry Ghost tells the story of a young girl's struggle to live up to her mother's standard of thin. Her mother constantly pushes to just taste the food and not eat the food so she doesn't get fat. In contrast her best friend is shapely but very happy with who she is (and she gets the guy!). The artwork is beautiful and the story will strike a cord with any young girl who sees only her flaws. My only regret for the book is that the recovery or coming to terms with how to live with food and be happy is glossed over at the end. Being in a high school with impressionable young students I would want that part to be a little clearer and addressed more in the story. I understand that it might be difficult for the author to talk about but the ending is what some students will really need.

What a strong a powerful book. Thank you to @Netgalley and @FirstSecond for sharing this book with me.

First, I want to say take care if you decide to read this book. There are mentions of body dysmorphia and an eating disorder.

In the afterward the author tells us that she's not Valerie (the main character) but Valerie is her. I think that's why this book resonates so hard. In a world people are bodies are used to berate or "celebrate" (cough cough... trash) watching how Valerie moves through life is heartbreaking. Watching her interactions with her family and her friend while hearing her deepest thoughts about the people around her is so powerful.

This is such an important story that I hope helps someone who needs it one day.

On sale April 25, 2023

Hungry Ghost is a beautiful and thought provoking story about a girl who grows up with a parent who is constantly telling her to think about her weight.

With her mind always counting carbs and believing that if she doesn’t stay thin, she won’t find happiness, Valerie turns to bulimia. She doesn’t tell anyone, she just bares the pain of her eating disorder. After dining with friends or family, she kindly excuses herself to use the restroom and then…

Her mother compares her to her “fat” friend, saying “If you end up like her, it’s hard to get thin again.” It becomes this hateful cycle of self harm.

After the death of a loved one, she decides to make a change and live for herself. But even after telling her mother about her sickness, she doesn’t get the help or support that she needs. But do you know who is there for her? That friend that her mother sees as less than.

This is literally a true story of what people go through on a daily basis. I grew up hearing how I needed to lose weight. I grew up thinking that I am not attractive because I’m not super fit. And then we see people on the cover of magazines that have been photoshopped to near perfection. That isn’t physically attainable. Everyone has imperfections… this is real life.

I loved this book and think everyone needs it in their life.

Thank you NetGalley and First Second Books for this ARC! I do not read many graphic novels, but after reading this one, I want to read more!

Book Review:

One thing Valerie is known for is being thin. All her life, toxic projections from her mother caused her to think that being thin is the only way people liked you and the only way to be happy. This caused Val to develop an eating disorder and an extremely unhealthy relationship with food. In this book, we follow Val’s journey to finding out what it means to be truly happy and knowing when you need to seek help.

Hungry Ghost is heartbreaking, sad, and so REAL. It is a story that is hard to tell but should be told, and Victoria Ying was able to do so in such a raw and beautiful way. The illustrations were also just as beautiful as the story.

Hungry Ghost is a graphic novel told from Valerie Chu’s perspective as she grows up with a mother who at any time possible, reminds her to watch what she eats as she must remain thin to be beautiful. This leads to Val developing an eating disorder where she purges in secret after meals she considers to have binge eaten. Watching her best friend Jordan take full pleasure in food and her larger body size leaves Val jealous about Jordan’s confidence, but also comes with a hefty dose of fatphobia. Of course, this all comes to a head with some tragedies and tension thrown in, and the ending very much spoke to recovery being a long, complex journey.

With the pressure to perform well under any circumstances, we get an insight into the extreme measures people can go to, and the damage they are willing to consciously inflict upon their body in order to try and achieve unsustainable beauty standards.

Personally, I loved this story and all of its form. The visuals have a sketch-like quality to them, with the colouring being entirely greyscale, blue and pink. The simplicity of this all leads to a feeling of there being a layer missing, something not quite whole, which adds to the overall message of the novel.

Of stories I’ve read focusing on disordered eating, graphic novels seem to be a beautiful way to go deeper and show us the struggles that can’t quite be put into words. Victoria Ying gives a list of resources and further books to read on the subject but warns some may be triggering while in recovery.

Thank you to First Second for the ARC of this book. I was nervous how an e-ARC of a graphic novel would read, but it was extremely user friendly.

Look out for this title next Spring! It may just find its way into my personal collection, too.

From the synopsis one knows that this story is going to be strong and the truth is that it is. It's raw, it's real, it's strong, and sadly it's more common than I'd like to admit.

Here we find a young woman who suffers from bulimia, whose mother is constantly on top of her so that she doesn't get fat, so that she is "pretty" and doesn't lose her shape. Where a family tragedy crumbles the little (minimal) stability that Valerie had and ends up damaging a friend.

It is a very short story and I admit I would have liked a little more about Valerie's life at the end of the graphic novel, I feel that it could have shown more changes but... do changes really happen like that? I don't think so, that's why I don't see it as a negative point.

The author's words at the end are so real that it hurts to know that even in 2022 there are people who associate beauty and health with being skinny. How much is left to learn.

Hungry Ghost is a story that I wish did not exist, but living in the society in which I live, I am grateful that it exists, so that many other people can read it, empathize and understand what is happening, or feel identified with it.

I will also post the review on magui.world (ig) https://www.instagram.com/magui.world/ and XIAHPOP

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

That was very emotional and I loved it. Hungry Ghost is a graphic novel that deals with very important topics. I read it in one sitting. The art is so beautiful but the story is even more so. I would recommend it to everyone! We need more books that talk about these kinds of topics.

I did not know this author prior to this book but her note at the end was so moving and left me very spechless that now I need to read her other books!

TW: eating disorder, death of a loved one

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Hungry Ghosts by Victoria Ying was a look at a strained relationship between and Asian mother and daughter and how this relationship bled into eating habits and cultural norms. Valerie's mother has instilled in her the idea that to be thin is to be happy and that fat people are miserable. Valerie discovers that this is not the case at all, through many experiences with her wonderful friend Jordan. Valerie's ability to still love her mother, while acknowledging her complicated relationship with food and eating and body image shows a courage and maturity that is not seen very often in YA literature. This was such an important and necessary book.

“My version of being good is being good to myself.”

★★★★☆

a raw, honest, heartbreaking and beautiful story. Hungry Ghost delves into the difficult journey of eating disorders and portrays these negative thought processes in an easy to read story. the graphics were beautiful, and i loved the unique color scheme. it’s a simple and straightforward story, but delivers an all too important message nonetheless.

thank you to First Second Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Trapped between her disease and her uneasy relationship with her mother, Valerie Chu has tasked herself with being the perfect daughter, but this does come without a cost. As the pressures mount to be perfect in every way, academically, mentally, and physically, Valerie begins to lose who she is to bulimia. When tragedy strikes her family, she no longer feels allowed to have her own problems or ask for help even though she needs it now more than ever.

Ying beautifully captures the razor thin line many with eating disorders must traverse between presenting perfection and hiding chaos. She also explores the demanding nature of grief and fatigue that comes with experiencing multiple adversities at once. It's difficult to lose someone you love, it is also difficult to seek help for your mental health, but both at once can be insurmountable, especially for teenagers. Unfortunately, life doesn’t pause tragedies until you come to terms with the previous ones. Valerie’s story gives hope to those who are in the midst of difficult times, all while being illustrated beautifully. This graphic novel is moving yet crushing, both necessary but not for the faint of heart.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Ying, and First Second Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for approving this ARC in return of an honest review!

To say I enjoyed this book sounds extremely morbid.

While I related to some aspects of it, I cannot speak for the most raw moments of the story.

In this book, we follow Val as she deals with her disordered eating. Her mother praises her for being thin and getting good grades but little does her mom know that Val is bulimic and constantly worries about her weight. In this we see Val struggle with her weight, her relationship with her mom and food, as well as friendships. The artwork and the story are both done so well. I think this is a fantastically done book and one I would recommend that everyone check out.

Hungry Ghost was a poignant and powerful reflection of someone dealing with an eating disorder. I thought this was extremely well done, and captured cultural implications of mental health. I thought this was a really great book.

That being said, as a curvy person I thought the resolution between the protagonist and her plus sized best friend was problematic. I understand that these are real conversations that happen, but I wish the author had emphasized some unlearning about fatphobia.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's never easy to tell the story of someone suffering from an eating disorder, but the author did it here beautifully and with such care!

Warning: Tissues, cosy blankets and an open heart may be needed while reading this book.

Wow, what a read. As someone who hasn’t experienced an eating disorder or disordered eating, I will always be an outsider to the experiences and thoughts of so many people, including people I love. But this book has opened my eyes a little wider and helped me appreciate a part of their experiences in a easy to read yet gut-wrenching way that I love and is so sorely needed. Exploring cultural influences, social pressures and one path of many that can lead to an eating disorder, this book doesn’t shy away from reality, talking through triggering situations and thought processes in a way I wouldn’t recommend for anyone currently experiencing or in early recovery from an eating disorder. However, for those safe to do so, I would 100% recommend reading this book and hearing this characters story, so realistically written tackling the hard truths while still catering to audiences of different ages with sensitivity. In a world that shies away from mental health struggles, books like this are so important, especially when written by authors like Victoria Ying with first hand experience and I can’t wait to see it on shelves.

I didn’t read up on this book before I started it. I saw the girl with the skeleton chest and the flowers and thought this book was right up my alley. I had no idea going in that I would see portions of my own life. In this book we follow the main character Val as she comes to term with her disordered eating and how her family, particularly her mom affected this. Valerie is bulimic, she throws up almost everything she eats. She has been doing it for years because her mother insists she’s not thin enough and that she needs to watch what she eats and never become fat. Wow! Her best friend is on the larger side and Val’s mom is constantly “she’s so ugly, she’s not pretty, why would anybody like the fat girl”. I was the fat girl, so this book really does speak to me. My parents were wonderful but my extended family not so much. I would constantly get told “you’d be so pretty if you were thinner”. “You could be a model if you were thinner”. So, this book has left me with emotions. This book simplifies a very hard and complicated topic, but it makes it approachable for people who don’t live with these types of things in their life. This book is well written, true to form and very heartfelt. The title is a misnomer, but at the same time you can see how Val is living as a ghost of who she should be. It’s for those reasons that I give this an over astounding good read. There needs to be more books like this for kids and teens who live or have friends living in similar situations.

Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying is a graphic novel that tells the story of a teenage girl’s struggle with an eating disorder while trying to appear perfect for her mother.

This is a very impactful story. I think anyone would be able to relate to it at least a little. The pressure our main character feels to be exactly the daughter her mom wants is heartbreaking. Any time it seems like she is starting to be okay with herself, her mother reminds her that she needs to eat less and be skinny or no one will love her.

The art style is gorgeous. The soft colors balance perfectly with the harsh subject matter.

My only complaint is that it wrapped up a little too fast at the end. I would have liked to see a bit more but I still really loved it.

This was a good book portraying eating disorders, dysfunctional upbringing, and more themes.
It was tough to read at times and frustrating too but the growth we get to see in the MC in the second half was good.
My only issue is that while the ED descriptions and everything else were detailed, the recovery part and trying to be better part felt very rushed.
The art style and the colors were amazing and I loved the art.
Highly recommend to people who like reading graphic novels but please check TWs first.

An honest and heart-wrenching account of life with disordered eating exacerbated by the death of a parent. Val is both incredibly strong and fragile as she takes care of her mom through her grief upon losing her father. It's an open and unflinching look at bulimia without being sensationalistic. Readers will come to understand the difficult family dynamics at play and root for Val to get help and find peace. The art is simple, yet beautiful. Thank you to NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.