A review by peppers_books
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

5.0

wow  that shit hurted

anyways,,
one thing i noticed is that it felt like she jumped around different periods of her life for no rhyme or reason and would drop random information on us unexpectedly. like it's present day, then we're back ten years, oh and btw they have a family dog! it might not seem important but it made the experience seem disjointed and broke up the flow of the book. the biggest thing though was when she just dropped a relatively detailed description of her fathers abusive childhood? i didn't understand the purpose and it was honestly kind of shocking to just be like bam! terrible thing that doesn't expand on what is currently being talked about. okay moving on.

at that point i almost considered dnfing but i decided to keep going because i've heard such good things. i'm glad i kept going because the rest was so heart wrenching, real, and raw that for a moment i held a part of her grief. as a reader, i felt honored to be trusted with such a vulnerable part of her life. her thoughts and emotions felt so genuine and open, like nothing was sugar coated, even if the truth was ugly. i really admired that and it made me realize that this is a memoir and michelle zauner is not an author day to day. the point of the book isn't to have spectacular writing and structure! i got what i needed out of the reading experience and that was all that mattered.

i am korean as well and that is such a big part of her identity, so this book is special to me in its own way. i could connect with and see my own experience reflected back which made it more impactful.

i will say, a huge huge warning for death of a parent due to cancer. as i mentioned, nothing felt sugar coated so all the ugly realities of illness and grief and anger are there in plain sight.
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