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coco_mp3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Medical content
Minor: Body shaming, Car accident, Drug use, Alcohol, and Abortion
katyfortner's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.25
I think I wasn’t in the right mind frame to read this book right now. While I enjoyed it and it didn’t make me reflect on my life and my friend’s hardships, it was really sad. Also, I understand forgiving your mother because she is no longer here but I don’t think parental abuse should be tolerated or bypassed because it was the way she loved her child. She shouldn’t have hit her child no matter the cultural norms.
The writing is very good and really pulled at your heart strings. The author is very strong to have gone through all of this and still coming out on top of life.
The writing is very good and really pulled at your heart strings. The author is very strong to have gone through all of this and still coming out on top of life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Medical content, Child abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Death
Minor: Abortion
cassettetaped's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cancer, and Terminal illness
Minor: Alcohol and Vomit
rotatinglibrary's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Cancer, Grief, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape, Excrement, Drug use, Abortion, Vomit, and Drug abuse
bookishkale's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast weaves her heartbreaking tale of the loss of her mother into formation. She had me captured by her story, of her fears and her hopes, her losses and her gains, her failures and her successes on the backdrop of something so awful. She is a brilliant writer, doing her best to find some ease in her pain and I am blown away. Her finding her heritage through food is heartwarming. I just want to thank her for putting her story into words like this, I cannot imagine how hard it must have been.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Chronic illness, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Mental illness
Minor: Abortion, Racism, and Bullying
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
gabriella_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I am in awe of this book. I cried many times reading it.
A lot of this book I personally resonated with. While I am not Korean, the mother-daughter bonding, themes of feeling disconnected from culture, grief, and transcending love of food hit very hard. Zauner finds a way to bring a personal story up and close to the reader. She has a way with words.
I can’t express how grateful I am to read this book. It feels like a warm hug. I hope anyone who has struggled with grief, especially those who mourn a mom or motherly figure, walk away from this book with even a shred of comfort. There is so much I want to say, so much thanks I want to pay the author for being as vulnerable as she was. And so much I want to thank her for, for expressing how painful her journey has been.
Some lines of this book really stuck with me, and I’ll end this review with one that made me audibly sob.
When one person collapses, the other instinctively shoulders their weight.
A lot of this book I personally resonated with. While I am not Korean, the mother-daughter bonding, themes of feeling disconnected from culture, grief, and transcending love of food hit very hard. Zauner finds a way to bring a personal story up and close to the reader. She has a way with words.
I can’t express how grateful I am to read this book. It feels like a warm hug. I hope anyone who has struggled with grief, especially those who mourn a mom or motherly figure, walk away from this book with even a shred of comfort. There is so much I want to say, so much thanks I want to pay the author for being as vulnerable as she was. And so much I want to thank her for, for expressing how painful her journey has been.
Some lines of this book really stuck with me, and I’ll end this review with one that made me audibly sob.
When one person collapses, the other instinctively shoulders their weight.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Blood, Mental illness, Grief, and Cancer
Moderate: Cursing
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
hannahshriver5's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Crying in H Mart is a moving story. It was emotional and therapeutic all at once. Went into the book knowing next to nothing about the content and enjoyed the journey (even though it was at many points a sad one).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Cancer, and Death
Moderate: Medical content and Alcohol
Minor: Abortion
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