Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Crying in H Mart

It wasn't bad, but from the reviews I've seen I expected a lot more. It was absolutely sad, but I was nowhere near crying or anything like that. There were a lot of descriptions of Korean food, which there were a bit too many of for me personally,

especially the eating live octopus thing.

The audiobook was decently read, though I sped it up to 1.2, which I doesn't typically do. If you're into the topic and don't mind a lot of food descriptions, I would recommend giving it a try. I felt I learned more about Korean culture, and having issues communicating in your origin country. And of course the cancer journey and stuff, but I knew more about that to begin with. Overall I would probably have liked it better if it wasn't so hyped up and increased my expectations so much.

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mcnan's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

I've never lost a parent. I'm not an only child. My race is as white as can be. That this story still managed to resonate with me was a testament to Zauner and her writing abilities. Her skill in picking up and noting minute details and feelings is incredible.

I had the pleasure of listening to her give a book talk about this, but, admittedly, had not even read the book at the time. I wish I would have, because I would have experienced her presence with a new weight and understanding.

Highly recommend the audiobook.

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pikkumarja's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

This story is so emotional and beautiful. It made me think about all the memories linked to foods and drinks and meals together with the loved ones.

The book reads as fiction even when it is non-fiction (and that makes everything way more emotional).
StoryGraph said this is out of my comfort zone but I felt very comfortable reading this.

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sshinesea's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

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crieraylas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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_annika__'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

Overall this is a good book, the writing is good, her story is emotional, evocative, and entirely relatable for anyone who has experienced familial grief and terminal illness.

The issue I have with this book is personal, but perhaps relatable to anyone from a small town - I almost had to put the book down because I couldn’t stand the author continuously calling Eugene, Oregon (second biggest city in the state, a major PAC12 college town, an hour away from Portland) small, boring, and dull. Almost every single person I’ve met that’s lived in a <10,000 person town (and bigger, honestly) would KILL to be in Eugene. If the author would have said “I hated growing up in Eugene” I could’ve moved on, but she seemed to hate it specifically because it’s “small” and because there was “nothing to do.”

Every kid that’s suffered growing up in a 3,000 person town in the middle of a corn field somewhere in the Midwest - where 99.99% of the population is white and so strictly religious they unironically call Halloween “the devil’s holiday” and avoid you like the plague if you don’t go to their same church (imagine if you don’t go to church at all, and they repeatedly egg your house for it) - would have likely cut off a finger or two to grow up in Eugene or anywhere near it. I’m hoping the author bemoaned her adolescence in such a “small town” for dramatic effect and that she didn’t actually feel that strongly about it.

I understand teenage angst and depression and would have been more understanding if that was the main reason for feeling the way she did growing up, since most teens experience those feelings and at least at the time, likely no matter where you live, we feel like we don’t belong and we hate it there. But the amount of those feelings that she blamed specifically on the “small dull Pacific Northwest town” she lived in personally made my eye twitch. Growing up in a larger, modern, and progressive college town (often rated one of the most progressive cities in the entire U.S.) would be a privilege to sooo many.

Since the reader knows she’s writing this post-adolescence I was waiting for her to correct how she felt about this small town with “nothing to do” (aside from going to record stores, go vintage clothes shopping, get specialty Korean ingredients from a local market, and see Modest Mouse - just to name a few). Again, I acknowledge this as a personal issue taken with the book, but I assume most people that grew up in rural or small towns would struggle and also feel that a large part of the author’s adolescence and story is unreachable and I relatable because of this as well.

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daniofthewood's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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annareads97's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

I was looking forward to reading this book for quite some time, and while it was not entirely what I expected, I very much enjoyed it. Michelle beautifully describes her complex relationship with her mother, with her Korean heritage, with grief, with love, and all of it is intricately woven into her relationship with the Asian comfort foods she grew up eating. I would call this a must read for anyone who grew up feeling caught between two identities, who is grieving the loss of a parent with whom they had a complicated relationship, or who simply wants to learn more about Asian American culture.

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