Crying in H Mart

A Memoir

by

Hardcover, 256 pages

English language

Published April 20, 2021 by Knopf Publishing Group.

ISBN:
978-0-525-65774-3
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OCLC Number:
10428896036

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4 stars (3 reviews)

A memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.

Michelle Zauner tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band — and meeting the man who would become her husband — her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to …

1 edition

reviewed Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

A Rare and Beautiful Expression of Biraciality

4 stars

Michelle Zauner’s memoir of her mother expertly navigates themes of biracial identity, Korean food, and human suffering. Owing to the many life experiences Zauner and I share as half-Korean, half-white people, she speaks to realities that have always eluded my own expression. For that—and for her beautiful, spiritual descriptions of Korean food—I am deeply grateful.

Long version: jdaymude.github.io/review/book-crying-in-h-mart/

reviewed Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

A bittersweet memoir of family, the immigrant / mixed race experience and food

3 stars

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author. I always love reading (hearing)? about the mixed heritage and/or immigrant experience, and I always love reading about food, and this book is heavy on both those points.

This is a memoir the author's loss of her mother and the work to integrate and come to terms with her mother's Korean heritage. There is a big emphasis on food as a cultural touchstone and social binding agent. Made me want to eat (more) Korean food.

I enjoyed this a lot, but I'm taking a couple of stars off because at times the writing didn't feel great, and at times it felt repetitive. It is possible that that narrated by a more gifted reader or as a plain old non-audio book it would have landed better for me.

Subjects

  • Nonfiction
  • Memoir
  • Coming of Age
  • Korean American
  • Seoul
  • Cancer
  • Korean food
  • Rock music