I was given a free copy of this book by NetGalley in return for a review.

I’m struggling to find many positives with this book- it’s not the worst book I’ve read but I probably wouldn’t have finished it if I didn’t have to.

I appreciate I’m maybe not in the target audience for the book, which perhaps didn’t help, but I found all of the characters very under developed. I didn’t empathise with any of them, I didn’t really like any of them- there wasn’t enough information about them to get to know. The only people I had any emotion about were the mum and Billy (pizza girl’s boyfriend) who I felt were treated badly by Jane (Pizza Girl). There were glimpses of some insight into the reasons why Jane behaved the way she did, with some references to her father- but again I felt that wasn’t explored enough for me to generate any sympathy for her.

Maybe the book just needed ‘fleshing out’ a bit more- the basic plot is there I suppose but it all just felt like not enough time had been given to explore all the characters.

Sadly this novel wasn’t one for me. It started well and I was enjoying it but I kept waiting for something to happen and it didn’t.

This would have made a good short story or even a novella but not a full length novel.

I have given it three stars but I did struggle with this.

The un-named 'pizza girl' is a pregnant 18 year old who is disillusioned with her life, suffocated by her boyfriend and mother, and obsessed with a woman who she delivers pizza too.

I think i'm in the minority here as I struggled to connect with the main character, I thought she was quite unlikeable, and the other characters had no real depth to them either. I almost abandoned this book half way through unfortunately but persevered. Sadly it didn't get any better for me, but I've seen others give it great reviews.

Perfect coming of age story.

I enjoyed this book, the character are well written and the story is engaging.

Read if you liked Normal People.

Really refreshing writing throughout this book, it took me on a journey that I don't feel I've ever really read about before. The conflict within the main characters was really interesting and believable. Will definitely read more from this author in the future!

Wasn't sure what to expect this one - Pizza Girl is 18, pregnant, lost and working in a pizza shop. She takes a phone call from Jenny (wo requires a very specific pizza) and so begins a strange relationship of sorts, bordering on obsession that spirals into a serious event that changes our narrator. I liked Pizza Girl - she is clearly frustrated with her life and her thoughts about her mother and boyfriend are acutely descried and realistic. There's something missing though... perhaps her relationship with the boyfriend could have been fleshed out a bit more. Not bad though.

In Pizza Girl we follow a pregnant, 18-year-old pizza delivery woman who is fed up with her fussy boyfriend and mother. She is also grieving her dead father and has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She is looking for an escape and finds this in various sources - namely an older customer named Jenny and booze.

The pizza girl slowly becomes obsessed with Jenny and what follows is an odd tale of friendship and loss. It's almost a coming-of-age story except our protagonist doesn't really seem to learn anything along the way. I really felt for her at times, even though some of her actions are VERY questionable. However the way the book is written makes it believable, and I did empathise by the end.

This is a fairly short, quirky and fun story and I would recommend giving it a shot.

Jean Kyoung Frazier tells the story of an 18-year-old girl, who's pregnant and working at a Pizza takeaway. It's a short read and kept me turning the pages with its brilliant voice. Jean captures the unnamed girls' voice perfectly, portraying her loneliness, depression and ultimate obsession.

Whilst the characterisation of the protagonist was great in my opinion, I felt that her relationship with her mother and boyfriend was lacking at times, and the relationship/obsession with Jenny needed more development to really build to its devastating result. Therefore the story fell a little short for me. Whilst it's not up there with one of my favourite reads, I did enjoy being in the mind of this complex character.

There were times when first reading this that I glimpsed a wry humour and the occasional flash of acute observation about the American Dream. However these didn’t last for me. The prose was certainly not pretty and the voice struck me as inauthentic – straining so hard to be an aimless, self-obsessed slacker. Novella length and with almost no plot, I was left feeling this was a creative writing class exercise in writing stream of consciousness perhaps on the theme of stupidity. I’m sorry, it didn’t ring true to me. Comparisons to Dostoevsky’s The Idiot honestly don’t help, so gargantuan is the gap in intent and execution. So obviously, this one was not for me.

An unusual storyline, but I enjoyed it non the less. I thought it was an easy read straight from the beginning and it explored lots of mental issues.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc of this, in return for an honest review.

This was a difficult read, but not in a way that makes you think about the characters and their actions long after you’ve read. Ultimately, the book is the story of an almost unlikeable protagonist who, pregnant and working in a pizza place, finds herself with a strange obsession with one of her customers.

The despicable antics of the main character – drinking while pregnant and her grief over her alcoholic father’s death etc – make for some of the better moments within the text, but ultimately the voice-driven tale tells the story of, well, nothing.

There is no real drive within the plot, no twists, turns or catharsis. The short book really is just a snapshot of a difficult protagonist.

Frazier’s writing is clever and skilled and handles the complexities of emotion well, but ultimately her writing style is let down by the plot and for that reason, I would not recommend.

Pizza Girl on the surface is a tale about an eighteen year old pregnant girl, who is still dealing with the loss of her father, and she's trying her best to simply get through each day.

Right from the beginning you can tell that she is struggling, but she's also a tough cookie.

Not willing to let people see her softer, my vulnerable side.

Told from a first person point of view, this book is. filled with frustrations, fears and failures.

For a short novel, it is packed with emotions and it was refreshing to not have a focus on happy endings. It is a coming of age novel with a bit more grit. For a first novel I felt it was really bold and daring.

This book is cleverly written because I'll be honest, not a lot actually happens but I still felt compelled to read it.

I felt a connection to the main character despite not knowing her name throughout the entire book.

Well worth a read.

Pizza Girl is uncompromising in its portrayal of love, obsession, addiction, and depression. Our narrator and protagonist is a Korean-American pizza delivery girl who lives in suburban Los Angeles. She's eighteen years old, pregnant, and feels increasingly detached from her supportive mother and affable boyfriend. She chooses to alienate herself from everyone she knows whilst nurturing her obsession with Jenny, a middle-aged mom with escapism issues.

Frazier has created a character that is tricky to understand and thus hard to relate or empathise with, but who feels well-rounded and craftily written in paper. The reader is not being asked to necessarily like Jane, the Pizza Girl, but gets a full overview of her internal world and stream of thoughts; from the way she observes her surroundings to the way she talks to people, she constitutes a consistent example of a character that's numbingly listless, disoriented and a bit stunted emotionally. She's not a normally functioning character and she's very persuasive in doing so from beginning to end.

The only concern that I have with this book is that its prose goes from very dense and atmospheric to somewhat "loose" within a matter of pages, as some of the interactions described made me question how they further support the narrative or if they could be omitted.

JEAN KYOUNG FRAZIER – PIZZA GIRL

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is a novel that grew on me; perhaps because I am male aged three score and ten, and the narrator is an eighteen-year-old girl who is pregnant and delivers pizzas, it took a while for me to become engrossed.

Having said that, I really enjoyed the story, which was unusual in occupation and character, and in particular the writing: there is much to love. How about this? “Darryl could make small talk with a tree”?. The author has captured the voice of a naïve young girl so well; you can believe they are her thoughts and writing, even though technically the writing is so clever. Much of the story is about her fixation with a customer called Jenny Hauser and her son, and the special pizzas she delivers to their house; a fixation that nearly ends in tragedy.

I loved it.

I can understand why this book is being likened to Normal People and Conversations with Friends, however I didn't enjoy it.
Pizza Girl (unnamed until the very last chapter) is a pregnant, 18 year old Korean / American who works as a Pizza Girl. She becomes obsessed with a customer called Jenny and the entire story centres around this obsession.
It is a book that never really goes anywhere. Just when you think something exciting is going to happen, it turns out to be nothing.
All of the questions I had whilst reading this book (is Pizza Girl bi-polar, is she an alcoholic, is she bi / lesbian, is she grieving...?) remained unanswered which I found frustrating. I also found the main character very self-obsessed.
If you enjoyed Sally Rooney's novels, give this is a go but if those weren't for you, I would give this one a miss.

Pizza Girl is about a teenager who finds out she is pregnant and delivers pizzas for a living. Whilst that may not seem like the like the most complex basis for a novel, the spirit of this book is unique. The main character has a complex family life, her father’s shadow hangs over most things she does, and her mother and boyfriend are almost too present in her life. Delivering pizza she meets a wide range of people that we the reader only get snapshots of. The main exception to this is Jenny, a woman she strikes up a strange, almost codependent, friendship with. This book deals with grief and anger in a bold way, it certainly does not back down from showing us difficult sights and conversations, which is what makes it such a brilliant and emotionally arresting novel.

This is a short book and so is an easy read. I however couldn’t get on board with the main character and found her actions to be extremely reckless.

I understand the back story and issue, which I feel is a topic that needs to be tackled, I just didn’t feel it was executed well in this book.

Pizza Girl tells the story of 18 year old Jane who is pregnant and working as a pizza delivery girl in Los Angeles. Living at home with her Mum and boyfriend and having recently lost her alcoholic father, Jane has little motivation or interest in anything other than the bottom of a beer can. One day, when dropping off a delivery, our pizza girl meets Jenny Hauser; a 40 something stay at home Mum with so much energy and exuberance that Jane can't help but be captivated by her. As the story continues we see the womens lives intertwine and as Jane becomes more and more fixated by Jenny, her fragile world begins to unravel....
I really enjoyed this book, it was short (208 pages) and written in a relaxed style that made it easy to read. I do feel that the short length of the story meant that the characters were all quite one dimensional and the plot not as substantial as I had hoped when I first read the blurb. Overall I would recommend it to people looking for an interesting quick read.
Thanks to HQ, Netgalley and Jean Kyoung Frazier for the ARC.

This was a good quick easy read. It didn't blow me away however I did enjoy it. Set in America, She works in a pizza delivery/takeaway shop whilst at school. When she leaves, she knows she has something to tide her over. Then the dreaded blue lines show up on her pregnancy test. Her boyfriend was going to University and now that's gone on hold. Her father was an alcoholic and had not been a wonderful father. She did love him and was grieving after his death. She felt sorry for her mum and they lived in her house. A phone call for a delivery pizza changes her. When she calls at the house the woman calls her ‘Pizza Girl.’ She becomes distracted with her mum and boyfriend. Starts drinking a lot. The plot is fairly good as I never guessed what was going to happen. This is quite emotional in some places yet funny in other parts The characters were well thought out. I can imagine a lot of people being in her shoes and wonder how they would react. Her mum is the salt of the earth and loves her. Her boyfriend seems to love her however I am not hundred percent sure. Find out what happened to Jane after meeting the woman who called her 'Pizza Girl.' Did she have the baby and stay with the boyfriend? I recommend this book and suggest that you read it to find out the answers.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This was an interesting read. While short, there was a lot packed in. It explored mental health, teen pregnancy, relationships, family, growing up and finding your place in the world in a very sensitive way. It was also a great narrative about second generation immigrant children and the pressures and issues that stem from this. The protagonist was complex, not exactly likeable but very sympathetic. This is a great book for anyone who wants to challenge their assumptions about the world and feel like it's okay not to be okay.