Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

148 reviews

writerbarbie's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Cancer

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Abortion

amandab0514's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Addiction and Abortion

rene_reads02's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

If I could give this book 10 stars I would! It was so deeply emotional, and gut-wrenchingly heart warming. It gives you a deep sense of appreciation for culture, and the importance of loving those near to you while they’re still here.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Infidelity and Addiction

Minor: Xenophobia and Racism

abbycole's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Drug abuse, Abortion, Addiction, and Drug use

aliciae08's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Apparently I am on a memoir kick where grief is a massive theme.  I read Crying in H Mart after seeing and hearing so many positive reviews, and I’m glad I did.

It’s about Michelle’s relationship to her mother and what happens when her mother gets sick, but it’s also about her relationship to herself/her cultural identity through food. She asks herself whether she can claim being Korean without her mother validating her existence, and making sense of her existence as a mixed child.  She explores this relationship with her food, conjuring up memories of her mother within those recipes and snacks. 

This memoir very much read as though someone was writing it for themselves. There are times when the characters aren’t at all likable. As some of the other reviews mentioned, the relationship comes across as sometimes abusive—but saying that, I think the relationship Michelle paints with her mother is very much her own, and she never describes it as being such (she might in the future, but right now she doesn’t).  The book was good in that it felt very real. Michelle is not a gracious caregiver—she put so much on wanting her mother to see all the ways she she could adult. Very rarely are caregivers full of the grace the general society demands of them—they’re human and have a range of emotions from resentment to love to adoration to scorn, often in the same moments. Michelle captures this well. 

Her relationship with her father is touched upon, and I can see her disappointment. Where she wanted someone to lean on, he was taking up all the space and grief, making decisions that would impact a child in a negative way, no matter the amount of financial support he may have given her in the end. 

There were parts that felt mundane, as life sometimes is, but it still struck a cord with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Cancer

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, and Alcoholism

katschkekat's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Addiction, Abortion, Medical content, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Vomit, and Drug use

readnoot's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

A terribly fantastic and accurate mirror for all something-American children, whether hailing from parents in interracial relationships, with immigrant backgrounds, or both. Zauner shares painfully honest depictions of her thoughts and feelings, even when they can make her seem somewhat villainous. Such scenes were both difficult to read and incredible to experience. Zauner has done a fantastic job showing everyone how human she is, and by extension, how human we all are, even when being so is hard or ugly or unforgiving. This should be required reading for all adults. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Cancer

Moderate: Child abuse and Racism

Minor: Addiction

pageafter_paige's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

Wow what a powerful book. I think as someone who isn’t/can’t speak Korean that the audiobook was the way to go because I was able to hear Michelle speak the language with the pronunciation, inflection, tone, etc. 

Michelle opens up to us about being a mixed child and her relationship with her Korean mother. Much of their relationship centers around food which is a big theme throughout and definitely made me hungry. But to them it’s more than hunger. It’s culture, and connection to each other and their roots.

One of the most powerful displays of Michelle and her moms connection can be seen through Michelle’s first two words as a baby (iykyk). Even Michelle’s relationship with her father is somewhat run through her mother. 

My favorite quote can be found in the last chapter: “If there was a god, it seemed my mother must have had her foot on his neck, demanding good things come my way. That if we had to be ripped apart right at our turning point, just when things were really starting to get good, the least god could do was make a few of her daughter’s pipe dreams come true.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Addiction, Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Cursing, Cancer, Classism, Drug abuse, Medical content, Racism, Vomit, and Death of parent

alex_johnson_2021's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Death of parent

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

2.5

I don't even really know what to say, but I will try to put something about the reading experience into words.

It was alright.  I teared up a few times.  The descriptions of food were verbose and evocative, sometimes excessively so.  I love Maangchi.

This is a story of grief and mourning, of finding your identity and how it changes as you grow, relationships and connections.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death, Excrement, and Fatphobia

Minor: Abortion, Body shaming, Drug use, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Car accident, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexism