Scan barcode
A review by susannaobrien
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Completely moving, obviously I cried multiple times.
Michelle Zauner reckons with losing her mother - Chongmi, a woman full of idiosyncrasies - just as their tense relationship starts to improve, which prompts her to think of all the ways her mother has shaped her and protected her, and how her mother provides a link to her Korean identity that she fears losing.
Zauner doesn't hold back from describing the realities of terminal cancer, and the weight that being a full time carer places on people, which was confronting but felt necessary and never gratuitous. The descriptions of food memories and various missions to learn new Korean dishes were vivid and felt almost meditative. And in her search to connect to other members of her Korean family through language and cultural barriers, trying to keep learning and remembering her mother, you could feel her grief, desperation but also faint hope.
Beautifully written, hit several nerves, absolutely recommended.
Michelle Zauner reckons with losing her mother - Chongmi, a woman full of idiosyncrasies - just as their tense relationship starts to improve, which prompts her to think of all the ways her mother has shaped her and protected her, and how her mother provides a link to her Korean identity that she fears losing.
Zauner doesn't hold back from describing the realities of terminal cancer, and the weight that being a full time carer places on people, which was confronting but felt necessary and never gratuitous. The descriptions of food memories and various missions to learn new Korean dishes were vivid and felt almost meditative. And in her search to connect to other members of her Korean family through language and cultural barriers, trying to keep learning and remembering her mother, you could feel her grief, desperation but also faint hope.
Beautifully written, hit several nerves, absolutely recommended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Drug use