Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Płacząc w H Mart by Michelle Zauner

115 reviews

literaryinluv's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

Listened to the first 30% of this while pulling strands of my mom's hair through a highlighting hair-net and joked that there should be a Filipino-"Crying in Seafood City"-version. Then cried a few days later while washing the dishes because of the wedding scene. A relatable delight. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol

macykey's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

takahapa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

taulkstoomuch's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Such a a beautiful book, this is a must read for everyone. I am definitely going to bother my friends and give them this as a recommendation. 

So beautifully written, and with such a nice interspersing of culture/food. I felt like I learnt a lot about Korean culture, and also about the loss of a loved one. I definitely shed a few tears, I can only imagine how the pain in real like is a thousand times worse than how it's written on paper. Thank you to Michelle Zauner for letting us experience this part of her journey with her.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Car accident and Abortion

geguzytevilma's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Chronic illness, Grief, and Death of parent

cassettetaped's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Vomit and Alcohol

jiao_li's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

"Stop crying! Save your tears for when your mother dies."

If you're Asian you probably ever heard that from your parents mouth. A simple memoir about mom. Beautifully written and so relatable.

Born as Asian-American, Zauner had a complicated relationship with her mother. They love each other but didn't know how to express it. They keep secrets from each other. I relate to that...

When mom get sick, our world fall. Things are messed up  and we realize how mom works really hard to keep things in order.

This memoir somehow made me want to die before my mom. I don't think I can endure the grief and sadness of losing my mom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Death of parent

bookishkale's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast weaves her heartbreaking tale of the loss of her mother into formation. She had me captured by her story, of her fears and her hopes, her losses and her gains, her failures and her successes on the backdrop of something so awful. She is a brilliant writer, doing her best to find some ease in her pain and I am blown away. Her finding her heritage through food is heartwarming. I just want to thank her for putting her story into words like this, I cannot imagine how hard it must have been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Racism, and Abortion

sketchevarria's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

bookedwithbrie's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Racism