b, Book, and Me
by Sagwa Kim
A strange, poetic, and quietly feral novel about girlhood, loneliness, and emotional escape
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Looking for a spoiler-free take on b, Book, and Me?
Here’s what it’s about, why it left me off-balance in the best way, and how Sagwa Kim captures the raw edge of adolescence like no one else.
What It’s About
Told in alternating voices, b, Book, and Me follows two teenage girls navigating bullying, loneliness, and emotional violence in a small coastal Korean town. Their friendship becomes a kind of survival, quiet, awkward, and sometimes surreal.
Reality and fantasy blur in a way that’s both confusing and intentional. This isn’t a linear coming-of-age story. It’s fractured, dreamlike, and deeply internal. The girls speak in sharp, detached tones. Their lives feel stuck. Their dreams feel dangerous.
And yet, something beautiful emerges from the wreckage.
My Take
Sharp. Fragmented. Dreamlike.
This book felt like being inside someone else’s half-dream, both intimate and completely alien. I didn’t expect it to hit so hard emotionally, but it crept up on me.
There’s a feral energy here. It’s not a novel that wants to hold your hand. It wants you to sit in discomfort, in strangeness, in silence. And somehow that silence says everything.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes, if you’re into dark coming-of-age fiction that feels more like mood than plot. It pairs well with books like Almond, The Place Between Breaths, or Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. There’s beauty in its weirdness, and truth in its distortion.
Read this if you liked:
Almond – emotional numbness and adolescent disconnection
The Place Between Breaths – youth and mental collapse, quiet devastation
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki – loneliness, surreal detachment, fragmented memory
Where to Read It:
Buy on Amazon • Bookshop.org • Join the conversation in the My Asian Era book club on Fable
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