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deadwhiterabbit's review
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Excrement, and Abortion
wanderlust_romance's review
4.25
Crying in H Mart also reflects thoughtfully on identity, as Zauner grapples with grief and their Korean-ness as a biracial person. Contemplating broad questions such as: Am I Korean enough? How do I connect with my Korean culture and relatives when the critical person who used to guide me through it is gone? How can I voice these reflections to my surviving parent? Will they even understand? Unmoored in a sea of grief, Zauner turns to cooking Korean dishes as a form of therapy/coping mechanism. Diligently following the recipes and instructions of YouTube star Maangchi, Zauner finds comfort in making the dishes and banchan her mother favored. (I loved this as a fellow Maangchi fan who watches her channel and cooks from her cookbooks <3)
The writing is vivid and lyrical, but at times difficult to follow on audio as it veered into stream of consciousness territory.
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, Medical content, and Gaslighting
Minor: Body shaming
hufflepuffbiologybuff's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Excrement, and Car accident
Minor: Cursing, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion
sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a deep, emotional and real memoir, even if you aren't familiar with the author herself.
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Infidelity and Abortion
jessi_c's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Drug abuse
laurenlsmith's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death and Medical content
Minor: Body shaming
ieotter13's review
5.0
the haverford and bryn mawr references towards the beginning were pretty cool to know — 100% a must read for bico students
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Abortion
llams's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abortion
aksmith92's review against another edition
4.5
Michelle Zauner talks about her upbringing in this memoir—she's living a decent life and recognizes that, but somehow does not get along super well with her parents, particularly her mom. I don't know about you, but as a teenage girl once, this was highly relatable.
More importantly, though, this memoir talks about Michelle's identity as a half-Korean woman, trying to find solstice and being in the food she grew up hearing about and/or eating. She struggles regularly with her identity since she barely speaks the Korean language and only visits Korea every so often. And most important, this book is about dealing with grief and, acknowledging and accepting your past, and moving on from it during traumatic times. There is no mystery or spoiler here: Michelle talks about her family's experience with her mother's cancer diagnosis.
Michelle feels real in this book. She makes decisions you question and doesn't always know the answer. However, the heart in this book is so apparent, and it is simply moving. Not to mention all the incredible references to Korean recipes—this was SO good to add.
I do feel the 50-70% dragged just a little bit, but overall, this was an incredibly captivating story about a woman finding her own identity in massive grief while leaning on some of the most amazing food recipes she can to feel in her place and with her family. Highly recommend this memoir!
Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Racism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Fatphobia, Abortion, and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction
Addiction = not described, but talked about when describing someone's past. Also implied with a potential alcohol addiction.flashandoutbreak's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Body shaming, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent