Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Crying in H Mart

this is a brilliant book. michelle describes the world she grew up in with such detail and emotionality everything is painted so vivid. The way she describes the connection to food and her mom reminded me of my jewish family and how food is integral to gatherings and events. dishes are passed down from bubbe to mother to daughter — everyone arguing who makes the best matzo balls and if they should be hard or soft. this book is so personal and yet so profoundly universal.

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mxkanteven's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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foxonabook's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I find it hard to review this book because it’s so deeply raw and personal, and reminiscent of the many cathartic writing exercises I’ve done myself.

I will say this, many aspects of the book resonated with my own experience, such as growing up in between two (or in my case, three) cultures, food being an integral part your culture and identity, and the fear that you will lose all ties and claim to your parent’s culture when they pass.

Also, don’t read/listen to this when you’re hungry.

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thewoodlandbookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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rieviolet's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I can only add to all the praise this memoir has gotten. It was honest, brutal, heartbreaking, mesmerizing, just all-around wonderful.

I loved the way food was a focal point throughout the narration, how its connection with one's cultural heritage was so strongly and beautifully illustrated. It really prompted me to reflect on the food I've grown up with and its significance for my own selfhood.
The linguist in me also really appreciated the lovely reflections on language and on a mother tongue.

The writing style was just *chef's kiss*. There were so many passages that I kept re-reading thinking to myself "How could she manage to capture this feeling with such poignant words and turn of phrases?", I was just floored.

My mother had struggled to understand me just as I struggled to understand her. Thrown as we were on opposite sides of a fault line - generational, cultural, linguistic - we wandered lost without a reference point, each of us unintelligible to the other's expectations, until these past few years when we had just begun to unlock the mystery, carve the psychic space to accommodate each other, appreciate the differences between us, linger in our refracted commonalities. Then, what would have been the most fruitful years of understanding were cut violently short, and I was left alone to decipher the secrets of inheritance without its key.

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writewithapendragon's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I really liked listening to this book as I would have no idea how the Korean dishes and words are pronounced, otherwise.

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