Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Płacząc w H Mart by Michelle Zauner

115 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Title: Crying in H Mart
Author: Michelle Zauner
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.0
Pub Date: April 21, 2021

T H R E E • W O R D S

Raw • Illuminating • Surface-level

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Crying in H Mart is a memoir about growing up, caregiving, death, grief and identity from Michelle Zauner.

She details growing up as one of the few Korean American kids at her school; of struggling with her mother's high expectations; of time spent with her mother's family in Seoul; of caring for her mother through the end of life; of death and grief; and of reconnecting with her identity.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Sometimes the hype can have an adverse effect on my reading experience, and that was certainly the case with Crying in H Mart. I went in expecting a life-alternating and moving memoir dealing with death and grief, yet I didn't get the emotional depth I'd anticipated.

That's not to say this wasn't an incredibly personal and healing journey for the author, which I imagine it was. It felt like a story which needed to be written, yet not necessarily read. The writing was accessible, and Michelle details an intimate look into the daily routine of caregiving for someone at the end of life. It's always interesting to read about how people discover their culture, especially in grief. And food does play a role throughout, however, I'd expected there to be more of how food is a source of human connection through the good and the bad. I just wanted more depth and emotion.

Crying in H Mart is a beautiful exploration of mother/daughter relationships and an open dialogue on dying and grief, it just wasn't the all encompassing sensory experience I'd been wanting or needing.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for a mother/daughter memoir
• grievers

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"It felt like the world had divided into two different types of people, those who had felt pain and those who had yet to."

"Food was an unspoken language between us, had come to symbolize our return to each other, our bonding, our common ground." 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Abortion

the_last_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

miggyfool's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Abortion

kcelena's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Abortion

lauren176's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

dizzzybrook's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This will forever be a six star book for me no matter how many times I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

thmei's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

i’ve been avoiding this book since it came out. my mom almost died a few years ago- she is still quite sick- and i definitely haven’t processed that yet but, more importantly, food is not my favorite subject. i’ve had an eating disorder all my life and i spent childhood parties, holidays with family, and school lunches stressing about the food most people were excited about. i understood how food, especially her culture’s food, could connect michelle to her mother after her death, but i thought it would be overwhelming and stressful to read about. i was wrong. i may not have gotten hungry listening to michelle talk about all the korean meals she and her mom used to share, but i still got choked up thinking about weekends spent at my great aunt’s house with her, my mom, my grandmother, and my great grandmother crowded into the tiny kitchen, gossiping over loaves of challah and middle eastern dinners and big party bowls of homemade sangria. i was crying less than ten minutes in, thinking about my great grandma, who died in 2020 and whom i really haven’t had a chance to grieve, wishing i had appreciated her more while she was here. even when michelle’s life differed from mine, even when she experienced things i never will, i felt her words so deeply. the feat of a memoir author to craft a complete and compelling story out of all the thoughts and memories in their head has always seemed a daunting one to me, and she does it beautifully. the audiobook felt like being confided in by a friend. i adored it. i feel seen. i feel heartbroken and consoled. i feel reassured knowing other people feel as cut off from their culture as i do, even people who were born in their parents’ country and who have had the chance to see it for themselves. i feel blessed to have my mother, for all her flaws, and for having been so privileged that i got to sit with my great grandmother for years and years and hear her life story and her words about egypt. i feel for the first time in my life that maybe, someday, food will be a comfort. maybe someday it will bring me joy.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Medical content and Medical trauma

the graphic topics are basically the plot of the entire book. michelle’s mom died of cancer. you know this from the first sentence. it is not written about as if the author intends to horrify or shock you. it isn’t graphic in a traumatic way, it’s just ever present. it is one of the few books i would universally encourage you to read if you’ve experienced the tagged triggers. knowing someone else has gone through this, is still grieving, and yet still has joy, is something all of us in grief need. there are scenes in hospitals and descriptions of caretaking but i didn’t think they were particularly graphic or disturbing. i have taken care of a chronically ill parent, however, so maybe take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

corpseparty's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Probably my favorite memoir I’ve read. One of the only books to make me cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, and Death of parent

paigebayliss's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Such a beautiful, heart wrenching book. I had to read this through watery eyes for the majority, but a lovely exploration of the complexities of mother-daughter love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Death of parent

carpfish's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

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