Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Crying in H Mart

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

34 reviews

ladythana's review against another edition

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iamninjabuni's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

1.0

I do not recommend listening to this as an audiobook as the author (who reads it) is incredibly monotone and difficult to listen to. I often found myself having to go back because I had completely zoned out to whatever she was droning about due to her complete lack of tone. My review does not reflect how difficult it was to listen to her, but the content of the book itself.

That aside, I think that this book was written for the author herself and it probably should have stayed in her journals. I understand that this is a book on grief and have tried to view it through that lens, everyone grieves differently. I had hoped to find something to relate to in the realm of parental loss or the difficult relationship between mother and daughter but did not find the author relatable at all. That wouldn’t be a big deal, but the author seems to have gone out of her way to alienate her audience.

She comes off as whiny, spoiled, petulant, and ungrateful – maybe it is an only child thing? There is no introspection. She bemoans her disconnection to her culture while also stating that she never bothered to learn it. She gives no thought to what her family members may be feeling and comes across as self-centered. Again, something I could dismiss to grief if she didn’t spend so much time talking about how angry she was that her sick mother wouldn’t eat the food she made and how difficult it was for her to care for her. That could also be chalked up to her mentally and physically abusive upbringing, which the author brings up in an offhanded way and does not really address. Again – maybe this should have stayed private

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macykey's review

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

I read this book in the span of 24 hours. It just, it touched me in a way that I think is special to people who have been caretakers to sick and dying people. This book is also a beautiful look at the relationships between mothers and daughters that I think transcend culture and ethnicity. I assume that I relate to this book a little more closely than a large majority of the people who’ll read it. I am whiter than snow, but I was still able to relate to so much of this story. I was one of the main caretakers for my grandmother (Memaw) in the last years of her life. I’ve witnessed any number of things that nobody should have to see in multiple lifetimes. Like Michelle, a lot of my relationship with Memaw was based around food. Whether that was healthy or not is a separate issue, but that’s just the way it was. We ate dinner together every Thursday night for several years. She shared recipes with me and when she got too weak to bake on her own, I did a lot of the heavy lifting. And when she had to move into an assisted living facility, I made the food we made together on my own and brought it to her. I was a vegan for a long period of time, so I also managed to sneak some of my own vegan baking in there for her. I’m sure if I thought about it for a second, I could still make her heath pudding by heart. The only difference in mine and Michelle’s stories is that I was the only family that my Memaw had with her, so I made sure to get to know as much as I could about her while she was still alive. I read articles to her about Jimmy Carter, she loved Jimmy Carter. I helped her clean out her desk, which was a time capsule in and of itself, and found so many things that I was able to ask her about. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to say that Memaw was my person. She’s been gone since August and I miss her every single day.

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ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Michelle, this broke my heart several times as I read through it. I'm not Korean, but I wanted to be a musician for as long as I can remember, so I get you on many levels. I hope your mother rests in peace, and I hope you're happy; you deserve the best✨ I realized a lot of things from your memoir, kamsahamnida, unnie❤️

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