Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Crying in H Mart

Zauner has a unique way of relating real life experiences to the art of making Korean dishes. It’s what kept me reading. Her food descriptions were good enough to make me hungry. Touching on the topics of grief, loss, mommy (and daddy) issues, generational trauma, identity, and culture while still managing to keep the book feeling light and an easy read isn’t something most can do, but she did. I like how she was able to touch on her issues with her mom growing up and how that came full circle with how she learned to grieve her mother. Her being able to understand the cultural lessons her mom was trying to teach her as a kid and seeing how they pertain to her life as an adult after her mom passes and finally being able to get a sense of who she is…just brilliant.

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bludgeoned_by_hail's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

4.0

It took a while to grow on me, but when it did it really did.
I wasn't a fan of the first few chapters, which came across way too personal, the writing not doing enough to really elevate it from venting and airing out dirty laundry (maybe I'm just not a fan of memoirs?).
From her mom's diagnosis onward, the pace shifts dramatically. The unpoetic and unfiltered language makes the excrutiating anguish of her deterioration and ultimate death come through the page with devastating depth, detail and vulnerability. When it finally happens, you are left grappling with the loss and putting the pieces together alongside Zauner. You can almost feel her maturing in real time.
The fact that it ends on a heartwarming note and she's clearly come out the other end is the cherry on top, making it all so much more bearable.
I admire Zauner's honesty and willingness to self-reflect in such a public manner, and wish her all the best.
(Rugged Country hits different now for sure😮‍💨)

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imscrem's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

It’s difficult for me to understand how to feel about this book. It’s very sad, and it’s very good. I have yet to experience loss in the way that the author did, but I can only hope that writing this book helped her cope with it.

Some of what the author said about being half Korean/half American resonated with me, although I’m half American half Czech. I often feel lost in my heritage language and culture as well, dismayed when people switch to English to explain things to me, and often expecting others to tell me that I am “enough” to fit in.

It was also nice to recognize the names of Korean foods I’ve learned to cook, and understand a lot of the Korean phrases used throughout the book.

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kairaveethakkar's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

The award for best first chapter goes to this book! A beautiful read — cut 0.25 for rating because the last few chapters seemed a bit stretched and felt unlike the first half/two-thirds of the book.

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celticthistle's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Beautiful story about Korean/American woman relationship with mother. Language barriers & navigating adult work/ life balance

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jhube's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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hufflepuffbiologybuff's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

The relationship between mother and daughter is honestly refreshing. I think some of us can relate. Some of the things said in anger to each other was inappropriate, which is often the case though the mom made a really low blow that stuck with me.

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