A review by ma_bster
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Made the mistake ill-planned choice of reading the bulk of this memoir at work - Crying in H Mart nearly had me crying in the office!

I was a casual fan of Japanese Breakfast around the time their second album came out and I knew that Psychopomp was largely about the passing of Zauner's mother, but I don't think you need an intimate knowledge of Zauner nor her band to really appreciate this book (maybe you do need some mommy issues).

Even though I'm full Chinese, not half, I related to so much of Michelle's younger life as someone who grew up not speaking her mother tongue in a very white town and as someone with a complicated childhood relationship with her mother that's gotten better with time and distance. The book definitely made me call up my mom immediately.

The book meanders a little but I didn't mind too much. Zauner's descriptions of food are mouth-watering and I found myself thinking about this verse from "Heft" constantly:
I spent the summer tryin' to be sweeter / I spent the summer stayin' in / I ran a mile and then another / Spent my nights by hospital beds
. Worth the hype!
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