A review by nataliedc
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

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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