Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

23 reviews

sundayfever's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Beautifully written. Talks about the dark, painful parts of caring for a sick parent and grieving their death. And about the pain of being mixed race and losing your culture when you lose a parent. Plus wonderful descriptions of food. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, and Car accident

rhi_reading's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A beautiful, heartbreaking memoir on the illness and loss of Michelle’s mother, intricately woven with her relationship with Korean food and  her own identity, and how all these three things combine to become one. I listened to this as an audiobook and I’m sure more than one person has seen me waiting at a red light ugly sobbing over my steering wheel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

thundrflap's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Physical abuse, and Abortion

olekittycat's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Medical trauma

anielabooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

I wan’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. Very touching memoir about the author struggling to figure out her identity as a mixed race person and connecting with her mother’s heritage after her death. The audiobook was narrated by the author herself, and I really appreciated the help to pronounce some of the dish names and Korean words.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Car accident, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Violence, Drug use, Abortion, Excrement, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

toffishay's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

A beautiful, emotional memoir about family and turmoil and loss and grief. I cried as my stomach growled reading about the delicious food that held so many memories. Our lives are these complicated tapestries of feelings and events. What an honor to read this exercise in exploring a life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and Vomit

Minor: Dysphoria, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Violence, Xenophobia, Abortion, and Mental illness

iamninjabuni's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

1.0

 

I do not recommend listening to this as an audiobook as the author (who reads it) is incredibly monotone and difficult to listen to. I often found myself having to go back because I had completely zoned out to whatever she was droning about due to her complete lack of tone. My review does not reflect how difficult it was to listen to her, but the content of the book itself. 

That aside, I think that this book was written for the author herself and it probably should have stayed in her journals. I understand that this is a book on grief and have tried to view it through that lens, everyone grieves differently. I had hoped to find something to relate to in the realm of parental loss or the difficult relationship between mother and daughter but did not find the author relatable at all. That wouldn’t be a big deal, but the author seems to have gone out of her way to alienate her audience. 

She comes off as whiny, spoiled, petulant, and ungrateful – maybe it is an only child thing? There is no introspection. She bemoans her disconnection to her culture while also stating that she never bothered to learn it. She gives no thought to what her family members may be feeling and comes across as self-centered. Again, something I could dismiss to grief if she didn’t spend so much time talking about how angry she was that her sick mother wouldn’t eat the food she made and how difficult it was for her to care for her. That could also be chalked up to her mentally and physically abusive upbringing, which the author brings up in an offhanded way and does not really address. Again – maybe this should have stayed private 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

rmfickfack's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Violence

nataliedc's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.25

An emotional retelling of the year Michelle Zauner turned 25 and her mother was diagnosed with and died of cancer, interspersed with vignettes from Zauner's childhood and adolescence. The hype around Crying in H Mart promised a heart-wrenching tale of grief and perseverance in the face of loss and, boy, did it pack a punch. I didn't expect to relate to so much of Zauner's experiences, specifically when it came to her complex relationships with her parents. I do wish Zauner took a more reflective perspective on the more ~questionable~ parts of her upbringing (verbal, physical abuse), as these moments (specifically without ANY content warnings which I, personally, would've appreciated), on their own, without reflection, really didn't do much for the reader, save for make them question how Zauner still managed to view herself as a "burden" to her parents who didn't really "deserve" to experience depression as a teenager. While these are of course Zauner's own experiences and she is entitled to keeping her own thoughts and feelings on them to herself, I do wish her memoir carried the same level of self awareness when it comes to describing her own experiences that she displayed when describing her parents' experiences. All in all, however, this was a solid memoir that uses motifs such as music and food to heal from the trauma of losing a loved one and, as a listener of Japanese Breakfast, this context to some of their songs only added to my enjoyment of their work.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse

emilysbookishlife's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts