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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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Mental illness
Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Car accident, and Infidelity
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Cancer, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Grief, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Excrement, Xenophobia, Vomit, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Addiction
Minor: Abortion
phdoyle's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Cancer, Death of parent, Body shaming, and Medical content
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Abortion, Mental illness, Excrement, Car accident, and Emotional abuse
elaineblack21's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Cancer, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Addiction, Abortion, and Alcoholism
jaduhluhdabooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Just sitting here. Crying. Feeling grateful and honored to have read this story. To have grieved alongside Michelle.
To have laughed. To have understood the horrors of illness and disease as it takes away the best parts of someone you love so deeply. To fight and to wish yourself away from that someone only to find yourself back to them, in search of them in everything, because you ultimately need them.
I resonate on the deepest of levels with this narrative.
From the shared love of food to the volatile experiences I had with my own mother - trying to carve out my existence apart from her tutelage. But her truth remained a part of me, as it did then and now that is something I am so thankful for. Holding pieces of my mother and her story and her culture so closely to my own being, guides me.
Grief - the way that Michelle personifies grief is real and raw and I felt it to my core. The extension of wonder mixed with the overbearance of
debilitation, that is grief. How something so unraveling becomes something you learn to walk side by side with.
Grief never leaves you, it grows with you.
1 am someone who knows grief well. We often meet in random alley's of my own memories, some memories that warrants griefs presence, even extends an invitation and some that do not, yet grief greets me. We're accommodated to each others presence now, conversing naturally and letting memories take their course and present moments have their way with us both. I recently told a friend that it's been hard, this read. ...but also a good release of grief that sometimes get lost in the cracks of growth and healing. ironically, grief is as much a strength as it is a hinderance or painful reminder of what was and what is not.
It is a reminder of humanity. Of the fealty of this body and this life. And for me - it points me back to the The Lord, which is why I think it's the hardest to read because I wonder where her grief points her. And that is the question I am left with. Grief needs something to hold on to, it can symbiotic or parasitic. I think I will sit with this story for a long time and hope for the best. Because grief and hope can too, coexist. I am the lived reality of that truth.
It is a reminder of humanity. Of the fealty of this body and this life. And for me - it points me back to the The Lord, which is why I think it's the hardest to read because I wonder where her grief points her. And that is the question I am left with. Grief needs something to hold on to, it can symbiotic or parasitic. I think I will sit with this story for a long time and hope for the best. Because grief and hope can too, coexist. I am the lived reality of that truth.
A beautiful book. A heart wrenching and gripping narrative. And an honor to be invited in to sit in your words Michelle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Cancer and Grief
Minor: Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, and Fatphobia
marianaribeiro's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Abortion, Addiction, Cancer, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness
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."
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."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Cancer, and Medical content
Moderate: Vomit, Medical trauma, Addiction, Drug use, Racism, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism
Minor: Abortion, Car accident, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts
classicpseudonym's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
wow. SOLID.
i always thought memoirs were (sort of) boring, but decided to give this one a go because i kept hearing about it. and also, gotta support asian women authors, yknow?
anyway, i'm so glad i did. zauner's narrative was well-crafted and kept me hooked simply with the way she describes her surroundings (and don't even get me started about how amazingly-well written the narrative was). the food imagery was beautiful (and mouthwatering, i need to try more korean food), and was a consistent metaphor/symbol for love and loss throughout the book.
i also really really appreciated the mother-daughter relationship depicted in general. even as someone who hasn't been through half of what zauner has, i saw my own relationship with my mom in the various interactions between the two characters? in the book. i'm now more conscious about not taking people and time for granted, and how truly valuable my relationships with the people in my life are.
another thing worth mentioning is how deeply i related to the various instances where zauner didn't feel like she belonged because of her mixed ancestry, as i am also asian-american. the recurring themes of not being white enough but also not being asian enough were well-integrated into zauner's narrative, and the retellings, from being singled out in her middle school years to the joy she found revisiting her homeland and making korean food really drove her story home, in my opinion.
finally, thanks to this (actually heartbreaking) memoir, i now have even more respect for cancer victims and survivors and their loved ones, as well as their caretakers. i'm sending all y'all so much love, and i hope you read zauner's memoir and know that you're not the only one facing this struggle. y'all are strong, and you're gonna make it.
last thing. if you're interested in a deep and personal and heartbreaking narrative that makes you reconsider and think about various things, go read this memoir. even if you're not, still go read this memoir. give it a shot, it's worth it :))
i always thought memoirs were (sort of) boring, but decided to give this one a go because i kept hearing about it. and also, gotta support asian women authors, yknow?
anyway, i'm so glad i did. zauner's narrative was well-crafted and kept me hooked simply with the way she describes her surroundings (and don't even get me started about how amazingly-well written the narrative was). the food imagery was beautiful (and mouthwatering, i need to try more korean food), and was a consistent metaphor/symbol for love and loss throughout the book.
i also really really appreciated the mother-daughter relationship depicted in general. even as someone who hasn't been through half of what zauner has, i saw my own relationship with my mom in the various interactions between the two characters? in the book. i'm now more conscious about not taking people and time for granted, and how truly valuable my relationships with the people in my life are.
another thing worth mentioning is how deeply i related to the various instances where zauner didn't feel like she belonged because of her mixed ancestry, as i am also asian-american. the recurring themes of not being white enough but also not being asian enough were well-integrated into zauner's narrative, and the retellings, from being singled out in her middle school years to the joy she found revisiting her homeland and making korean food really drove her story home, in my opinion.
finally, thanks to this (actually heartbreaking) memoir, i now have even more respect for cancer victims and survivors and their loved ones, as well as their caretakers. i'm sending all y'all so much love, and i hope you read zauner's memoir and know that you're not the only one facing this struggle. y'all are strong, and you're gonna make it.
last thing. if you're interested in a deep and personal and heartbreaking narrative that makes you reconsider and think about various things, go read this memoir. even if you're not, still go read this memoir. give it a shot, it's worth it :))
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Medical content, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Car accident
Minor: Infertility and Vomit
deetabz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Racism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug use, Medical content, and Abortion
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Excrement, and Infidelity
hanbuckley19's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Cancer
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Minor: Car accident and Blood