Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

29 reviews

stephanieridiculous's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

Whew, what an emotional book!

A lovely exploration of identity, family, culture, and grief. While this book is heavy I didn't find it emotionally taxing. It's uplifting in the midst of it's weight, and Zauner is an exceptional story teller.

Aside from the primary topic of the book, parental death by cancer (which can get fairly graphic, but in a respectful way), the content warnings are somewhat mild. One very brief reference to past rape, references to drug/alcohol abuse, DV, occasional swear words, and this is the weirdest: there is one part where she compares something she's cooking to the consistency of male bodily fluids. Two references within a page of each other, so over quickly - but I won't be able to not think about that if I ever eat that food! I did put emotional abuse as a graphic content warning, but I suspect that's very cultural. The way Zauner explains her mother treated her would definitely classify as emotional abuse where I live, but I understand that's very different around the globe.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

paperbookmarks's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This book had been on my radar for a really long time; I love food writing and I'd heard particularly good things about the way this was written. Although it was quite a difficult read in terms of the grief - in particular, I want to flag that
she describes her mum dying in quite explicit detail
and because I've experienced something similar quite recently it was quite hard to read. I did adore the food/cooking descriptions as I find cooking so therapeutic so I'm really glad I've read it. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mithilareads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Full review at https://mithilareads.wordpress.com/2022/03/20/crying-in-h-mart-by-michelle-zauner/

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kitausu's review against another edition

Go to review page

DNF a little under the 50% mark

I didn't stop this book because there was anything wrong with the book. The writing is visceral and powerful as is the story. I'm just not mentally in a place to read it. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

apoppyinthewind's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

A powerful, unflinching book about the author's relationship with her mother and the experience of losing her mother. Every time I read a book on grief there are always parts that I read and think to myself  'Yes, yes that is what it feels like' or 'Oh, I'm not alone in feeling like that' and I had a few of those moments with 'Crying in H Mart' though I also felt like I learned and got to see different sides of grief that widened my perspective. I'm grateful to the author for sharing her experience as it was undoubtedly difficult at times.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mtlbibliophile's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

eruby's review against another edition

Go to review page

I'm not in a place mentally read this right now. Maybe I will come back to it at another time. 

To be honest, I wasn't really enjoying the book that much regardless of the triggers that caused me to stop reading it. It is well written, but I found it hard to connect to. I'm sure it was healing for Zauner to write and I can see how others find solace and healing in this story, but I personally prefer memoirs about people with particularly unique lives rather than memoirs of somewhat regular people dealing with and processing grief and identity issues. To be fair, I've never listened to her band Japanese Breakfast. Maybe if I was already a fan I would have found this book more compelling. It's not a bad book, just not what I was looking for in a memoir.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

edie_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kaiulanilee's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Wow....I cannot even fully express how much this book impacted me, changed me, and how much it means to me. It felt like a truly beautiful celebration of the life of her mother, as well as something so personal and vulnerable to her and her grief that I found myself at times completely stunned. The writing is absolutely incredible and the descriptions of food, simple moments, and her feelings had me in awe. As someone with a Korean parent, the way this managed to capture the very specific type of affection within Korean culture, as well as so many other beautiful aspects to it, made this so incredibly personal to me. I saw my aunts in this, my grandma. It was devastating but in a way that makes you love everyone around you so much more. If you have the chance, PLEASE give this a read.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...