Nineteen

"In these rebellious, irreverent, and raw accounts, Ancco observes, remembers, shocks, and most of all, lives."
—Booklist, Starred Review

"HIV, toxic relationships, and alcoholism take center stage in Ancco’s cuttingly honest and mostly autobiographical story collection Nineteen." —Los Angeles Review of Books

"If Bad Friends is the first striking piece of art that captures your attention when you walk into the room, then Nineteen with its varying artistic styles and clamor of voices, is the wider exhibition of Annco’s work that keeps you endlessly looping around the gallery." —Bookriot, Best Books in Translation

"In 2020, Nineteen is a time capsule, a hit of nostalgia for a pre-pandemic youth."
—Asian American Writers' Workshop, Best of 2020

"Fans of smart YA drama and iconoclastic autobio will want to venture into Ancco’s broody imagination."
—Publishers Weekly

"Korea’s youth has had to contend with the country’s war traumas and the ongoing oppression of marginalized communities. In Nineteen, however, Ancco hints that it is only through confronting these issues—however painful—that these young adults can also contend with their own voices, in the process sketching out who they are, and what they want to say." —Hyperallergic

"I can’t get enough of Ancco’s work and I’m eagerly awaiting more." —The Toronto Star

"The art is quirky and arresting, with details and textures created through etching-like cross-hatching, in a blend of caricature and realism. The tone is dark... in keeping with the extremes of emotion at this time of life."
—Youth Services Book Review

"Ancco’s hard-edged tell-it-like-it-is narratives, sprinkled with sardonic humor, meld perfectly with her grittily detailed drawings, resulting in a work of cracked beauty." —SOLRAD