Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

67 reviews

isareader's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

A heartbreaking yet informative memoir from Zauner that touches on culture, identity, grief, and caregiving. I found her descriptions of how unconditionally and unapologetically she showed love to her mom and vice versa so touching, tearing up multiple times. I sometimes struggled to understand the repetition of the detailed descriptions of food and some moments that felt a little untied to thoughts, but I will remember this book for a long time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content, Cancer, and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion and Body shaming

booksanna's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I will preface this review by saying that memoirs are not typically my repertoire, yet this book dragged me out of a severe case of a reading slump. Firstly, the author’s beautiful writing provides soothing comforting and ever so meaningful story of her life. I especially enjoyed how she blended food with other themes of her life. As an immigrant myself, this book was a deep relieving sign of breath, and a nice warming cup of soup. For a book with only 200 pages, it could not have been more meaningfully written. The author’s eloquent writing captivated my mind and my mouth water with all of the appealing descriptions of foods. The story of overcoming grief and overcoming disassociation with your culture truly inspired deep thought in me. This book was truly wonderful, and I am so happy that I gave a chance. You should too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body shaming and Bullying

Minor: Abortion, Car accident, Violence, Infidelity, Medical content, and Alcohol

alexandramiller's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Body shaming, Grief, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

mmalone's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Bullying, Cancer, Body shaming, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, and Car accident

koplomps's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Body shaming, Car accident, and Fatphobia

Minor: Abortion and Alcohol

scmiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Vomit

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Bullying, Car accident, Drug use, Racism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Infidelity and Religious bigotry

chireadsandchill's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Infidelity, and Body shaming

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

aksmith92's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I don't really love rating memoirs—these books are when humans talk about their lives, the people in them, and usually challenging events. Memoirs usually do or do not do it for me in terms of a great reading experience, and Crying in H Mart did it for me.

Michelle Zauner talks about her upbringing in this memoir—she's living a decent life and recognizes that, but somehow does not get along super well with her parents, particularly her mom. I don't know about you, but as a teenage girl once, this was highly relatable.

More importantly, though, this memoir talks about Michelle's identity as a half-Korean woman, trying to find solstice and being in the food she grew up hearing about and/or eating. She struggles regularly with her identity since she barely speaks the Korean language and only visits Korea every so often. And most important, this book is about dealing with grief and, acknowledging and accepting your past, and moving on from it during traumatic times. There is no mystery or spoiler here: Michelle talks about her family's experience with her mother's cancer diagnosis.

Michelle feels real in this book. She makes decisions you question and doesn't always know the answer. However, the heart in this book is so apparent, and it is simply moving. Not to mention all the incredible references to Korean recipes—this was SO good to add. 

I do feel the 50-70% dragged just a little bit, but overall, this was an incredibly captivating story about a woman finding her own identity in massive grief while leaning on some of the most amazing food recipes she can to feel in her place and with her family. Highly recommend this memoir!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Car accident, Body shaming, Death of parent, Medical content, Cancer, Medical trauma, Cursing, and Grief

Moderate: Abortion, Fatphobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction

Addiction = not described, but talked about when describing someone's past. Also implied with a potential alcohol addiction.

molly_rose's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, and Cancer

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Abortion, Body shaming, and Addiction

bashsbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

A love letter to the complicated relationship between mother and child, Crying in H Mart navigates the grief of losing loved ones and the grief of being disconnected from your culture. Zauner has an incredible and strong voice, ripe with unique observations and striking linguistic choices. And tracing these emotion and relationships through food? Brilliant. 

Now I'm going to listen to Japanese Breakfast's Psychopomp.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Grief, Cancer, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Racism

Minor: Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Infidelity, and Vomit