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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.lanayagraham's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Alcohol
martinatan's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Abortion, and Pregnancy
themeanfrench's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Car accident, and Alcohol
pipisonstage's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Abortion
emilyharmonica's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol
spellygirl's review against another edition
3.0
The audiobook was decently read, though I sped it up to 1.2, which I doesn't typically do. If you're into the topic and don't mind a lot of food descriptions, I would recommend giving it a try. I felt I learned more about Korean culture, and having issues communicating in your origin country. And of course the cancer journey and stuff, but I knew more about that to begin with. Overall I would probably have liked it better if it wasn't so hyped up and increased my expectations so much.
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol
_annika__'s review against another edition
3.0
The issue I have with this book is personal, but perhaps relatable to anyone from a small town - I almost had to put the book down because I couldn’t stand the author continuously calling Eugene, Oregon (second biggest city in the state, a major PAC12 college town, an hour away from Portland) small, boring, and dull. Almost every single person I’ve met that’s lived in a <10,000 person town (and bigger, honestly) would KILL to be in Eugene. If the author would have said “I hated growing up in Eugene” I could’ve moved on, but she seemed to hate it specifically because it’s “small” and because there was “nothing to do.”
Every kid that’s suffered growing up in a 3,000 person town in the middle of a corn field somewhere in the Midwest - where 99.99% of the population is white and so strictly religious they unironically call Halloween “the devil’s holiday” and avoid you like the plague if you don’t go to their same church (imagine if you don’t go to church at all, and they repeatedly egg your house for it) - would have likely cut off a finger or two to grow up in Eugene or anywhere near it. I’m hoping the author bemoaned her adolescence in such a “small town” for dramatic effect and that she didn’t actually feel that strongly about it.
I understand teenage angst and depression and would have been more understanding if that was the main reason for feeling the way she did growing up, since most teens experience those feelings and at least at the time, likely no matter where you live, we feel like we don’t belong and we hate it there. But the amount of those feelings that she blamed specifically on the “small dull Pacific Northwest town” she lived in personally made my eye twitch. Growing up in a larger, modern, and progressive college town (often rated one of the most progressive cities in the entire U.S.) would be a privilege to sooo many.
Since the reader knows she’s writing this post-adolescence I was waiting for her to correct how she felt about this small town with “nothing to do” (aside from going to record stores, go vintage clothes shopping, get specialty Korean ingredients from a local market, and see Modest Mouse - just to name a few). Again, I acknowledge this as a personal issue taken with the book, but I assume most people that grew up in rural or small towns would struggle and also feel that a large part of the author’s adolescence and story is unreachable and I relatable because of this as well.
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, and Alcohol
kaylaswhitmore's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Infidelity, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit
clarelou07's review against another edition
3.0
Content warning: this is an in depth book covering someone's cancer journey, and the effects on a family.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol