Scan barcode
auteaandtales's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Body shaming, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Cancer, and Eating disorder
autumnsykes1's review
4.5
Moderate: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Medical content
Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, and Body shaming
emilyrowanstudio's review against another edition
3.75
What I loved - I have potentially never read a mother/daughter relationship told with as much nuance and tenderness as Zauner tells with hers. The complexities, the devotion, the lessons learned too late - be warned, her Mother's slow decline, death and the immediate aftermath is told in STARK detail. I would advise against reading this if a close family member of yours, especially a Mother figure, has recently passed.
Zauner's relationship with identity, her strained relationship with her American Father, and struggle to communicate in her mother tongue with her Korean family is not one I can relate to, but I empathised with her sense of struggling to belong. After reading Zauner's story, I feel I am closer to understanding the displacement and unique position that come with mixed heritage than after any other account i've heard before.
What I disliked - please note, a lot of this comes down to personal taste rather than poor writing or storytelling, but for my tastes, a good quarter to a third could have been cut from the food descriptions of the book. Personally, I don't like a lot of description in my books, preferring dialogue, emotions, and the things unsaid to set the scene in my preferred style of storytelling. However, if you enjoy detailed descriptions of food and cultural settings, you will love this. Although I understood Zauner's relationship with food is deeply tied up in her relationship with her Mother and finding her way through the grief that came from losing her, and that's why it was included, for me there was still too much of it. I also don't know enough (anything) about Korean food to really enjoy much of this book for what it is - to my detriment! If you're a lover of Korean food you will surely find Zauner's descriptions mouth-watering.
Overall i'm definitely glad I read it, I just wish it had been over quicker.
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Abortion, Body shaming, and Mental illness
encryptedorchardpest's review
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Death of parent, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, and Chronic illness
Minor: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Abortion
greenwillow77's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Excrement
kimmykelly's review
4.0
Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Death
my_weird_bookish_heart's review
Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Xenophobia, and Medical content
phdoyle's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Cancer, Death of parent, Body shaming, and Medical content
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Abortion, Mental illness, Excrement, Car accident, and Emotional abuse
coco_mp3's review
5.0
Graphic: Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Medical content
Minor: Body shaming, Car accident, Drug use, Alcohol, and Abortion
olivia_piepmeier's review
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Cancer, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Excrement, and Alcoholism
Minor: Car accident