Scan barcode
A review by librovermo
Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
5.0
Pizza Girl struggles with her feelings about her pregnancy, her boyfriend, her mother, and the somewhat recent death of her father, who she is mourning (though she would deny that) and terrified she might become. I could really relate to her feelings about her father. Someone once said I was like my father and I wanted to shrivel up and die, so I get you, Pizza Girl. Jenny provided a welcome distraction from those struggles. Pizza Girl says if she’d never met Jenny, “I would’ve found something else to lose myself in—if you were pushed off a cliff, you’d grab hold of anything resembling safety,” and this is really all it is. Her obsession with Jenny was born of desperation for something, anything, that felt safe and comfortable and different to free her from her current situation.
I enjoyed the story, which shifted in unexpected ways. Pizza Girl (the girl, not the book) wasn’t wholly likeable but I enjoy books with well-written unlikeable characters. At times, I found myself wishing for more information about Jenny and her life, but I came to understand why that information wasn’t included. This was Jean Kyoung Frazier’s debut novel and I’m definitely interested in looking into more of her stuff!
I listened to the audiobook while reading the ebook at the same time, something I’d never done before. It took a minute to get the audiobook speed to match my reading speed well enough that it didn’t feel super weird, but it was extremely satisfying. Also, I noticed something: in two spots, the ebook had different text than the words spoken by the audiobook’s narrator. By the content, I could tell that the stuff the narrator said was deliberately removed/changed in the ebook. A friend who often listens and reads at the same time told me this happens a lot. I find that so interesting! I wish I could do this more often to hear all the differences but alas, library availability of both ebooks and audiobooks doesn’t always line up as perfectly as they did for Pizza Girl.
I enjoyed the story, which shifted in unexpected ways. Pizza Girl (the girl, not the book) wasn’t wholly likeable but I enjoy books with well-written unlikeable characters. At times, I found myself wishing for more information about Jenny and her life, but I came to understand why that information wasn’t included. This was Jean Kyoung Frazier’s debut novel and I’m definitely interested in looking into more of her stuff!
I listened to the audiobook while reading the ebook at the same time, something I’d never done before. It took a minute to get the audiobook speed to match my reading speed well enough that it didn’t feel super weird, but it was extremely satisfying. Also, I noticed something: in two spots, the ebook had different text than the words spoken by the audiobook’s narrator. By the content, I could tell that the stuff the narrator said was deliberately removed/changed in the ebook. A friend who often listens and reads at the same time told me this happens a lot. I find that so interesting! I wish I could do this more often to hear all the differences but alas, library availability of both ebooks and audiobooks doesn’t always line up as perfectly as they did for Pizza Girl.