Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year only realised half way through it’s a memoir, I cried so much it’s just beautifully written about her relationship with her mom I couldn’t put it down

This was a wonderful, emotional story that weaves together cultural identity, food, and the painful reality of caring for a sick parent. Michelle Zauner writes with honesty and warmth, and the details around Korean food traditions give the book a richness that balances the grief at its heart. I found myself drawn into both the personal narrative and the wider cultural themes, and while it’s not always an easy read, it’s deeply rewarding. A powerful memoir about love, loss, and the role food plays in memory and connection.

Beautifully written, has you crying and emotional but turning every page, haven’t read a book I related to and enjoyed this much in years

I feel bad for rating a memoir so low as I really enjoy them and someone else's life experiences are as valid as our own... I don't know who the author is and, whereas I feel sorry for her loss and empathise with her as I am an orphan, this book looks like she wrote it to make peace with herself and her loss rather than for people to read it. There were nice moments but most of it was pretty boring. Too much description of food and jumps back and forth in time.

So many people had told me how wonderful this book was and how it had moved them to tears that it was probably a little overhyped for me. I did enjoy it, and I think it's a strong memoir, but ,perhaps I'm a heartless fiend, I didn't find it particularly moving. It is a well-observed memoir, though, with lots of great content. I just made the mistake of buying into everything I'd heard about it, rather than allowing it to speak to me on its own terms. Some wonderful insights into Korean cuisine and also the alternative music scene.

The difficult and loving relationship of a mother and daughter where (Korean) food and cooking unites them both and is ever present in their lives.

Beautiful memoir, one of these books that stays with you a long time. I loved it.

Needed to review in a book club. Interesting but difficult to follow all the unusually-named recipes. Too much like a young girl's diary fory liking, sorry.

Top d+

Vogue calls this book 'deeply necessary'; I raise that and also call it long overdue. Crying in H Mart doesn't use the over-analyzing, ponderous prose that so many books about cancer and death do; instead, it is refreshingly modern. Zauner skillfully takes us through her mother's diagnosis, the stages of her cancer and her eventual death. But she never loses touch with herself or gets swallowed whole by it all; instead, she somehow manages to grow personally and professionally. While death is one of the worst things we face, it doesn't have to be all-consuming. Zauner channelled so many emotions as she prepared the meals of her Korean heritage and, in turn, shared this with her readers through a lyrical writing style. We also learn about her fascinating extended family, fraught relationship with her father, rise as an indie rock musician, and the founding of Japanese Breakfast. Still, somehow, the book never overwhelms the reader. Every culture deals with grief differently. People generalize that Europeans, particularly the British, are cold, especially in times of extreme sadness; this is far from true. There is nothing wrong with the fact that many of us grieve privately over a cup of tea and Peak Freans biscuits, but I will admit that might not be the copy for a good memoir. Crying in H Mart holds nothing back, so if you are going through someone's cancer battle or are still raw from a recent death, this might not be the best book for you, but when you are ready, Zauner's words will bring some pain, some laughter, some soul searching and in the end like the author you will emerge stronger. Michelle Zauner wanted 'to make the ordinary beautiful', and she succeeded.

I loved the writing style. Throughout the book either the water coming out of my mouth or from my eyes. It's captivating.

The book wasn't in the best condition

I generally do not read non-fiction because my primary purpose for reading is escapism. I want to go places and meet people that are far removed from my reality- where I know there will always be a happy ending. So, when a trusted friend suggested Crying in H Mart, I put it on my TBR without reading the synopsis or any reviews. I needed a non-fiction book to to earn a badge for my Prime Reading Spring Challenge, so I decided that this book would check that particular box. I had absolutely no idea just how much I needed to read this emotionally raw and poignant memoir. I have no knowledge of what growing up half-asian child in America feels like. But, as a black child of emigrant parents, I can identify with the disenfranchisement and the longing to fit in which Michelle Zauner so eloquently describes in this novel. As a daughter of a Mother who was brutally honest and lovingly hypercritical, I understood this writer's point of view. As a child whose mother's love language was cooking and serving food to feed as well as heal the soul, I loved experiencing the gastronomic journey Michelle and Chongmi traveled. As an woman who has lost her mother to the beast that is cancer, I appreciated the way that this author laid her most brutally painful feelings and memories bare for us, more than Ms. Zauner will ever know. I found myself reading this book and crying in the booth at Starbucks, overwhelmed with emotions that were latent and unresolved in the almost four years since my mother's death. I felt seen and understood for the first time in so many ways. Michelle Zauner writes with blatant honesty, humor, and humility. Her prose is so lyrical that I found myself flipping back to the cover in oder to make sure I was indeed reading a memoir. Her words are all necessary and cathartic for those who have ever served as care-givers for a treminally ill person. Any one who has had their family dynamic devastated by an unexpected malignant medical diagnosis will appeciate the care and detail that is used by this writer to describe the complete eviscerated that occurs when a loved one succumbs to the ir battle with a terminal disease. Crying in H Mart is a testimony that life and love do not end with the loss of a loved one. It is a true life reminder that the transformative power of love exceeds the human capacity to demonstrate it in mortal ways. I will recommend this book to others because its relevance transcends time and any other parameters influenced when a loved one physically leaves us to live life without them.