I took so long to read this because wow, this book is too real. As someone who lost their grandmother who I lived with and how food was so important in how we connected (one of the last things she did was explain recipes to me for dishes that had been passed down) it took me on a trip of nostalgia, sadness and grief that you can only write about it if you have been through it.

How Zauner writes is an emotional trip that takes you through a life and relationship that is difficult and tumultuous but also one of care that might be difficult to see sometimes. The descriptions of her family and the food feels like a dive in to a life that the writer needed to do and then shared with the world – this book feels like a journal into a period of life that had to be shared.

A book with a fine balance of humour and heartbreak, Crying In H Mart is a book that delivers something on every page and stays with you long after you’ve read it. It is every bit as good as everyone says it is and more sharing thoughts on food, life, identity and grief that so many I think would connect to and so many more should read.

"Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart".

This is the first sentence of the book and it got me hooked straight away. I read this over two evenings, and I can't find any fault with this memoir. Michelle Zauner writes beautifully and candidly about her mother - who is Korean - and her heritage (her father is White American). A lot of the memoir revolves around food, Michelle's way of connecting with her heritage while growing up in the US, not speaking Korean fluently. The memoir is an ode to her mother, who was sometimes difficult but always loving - "tough love" is how Michelle describes it; and her relationship with her father.

"She was my champion, she was my archive. She had taken the utmost care to preserve the evidence of my existence and growth, capturing me in images, saving all my documents and possessions. She had all knowledge of my being memorized. The time I was born, my unborn cravings, the first book I read. The formation of every characteristic. Every ailment and little victory. She observed me with unparalleled interest, inexhaustible devotion."

I found it incredibly moving without falling into pathos; it made me feel incredibly sad but I enjoyed reading it, and reading about Michelle's ways of caring for her mother, and trying to connect with her Korean heritage. I can't recommend this enough.

Being somewhat familiar with Zauner's music (Japanese Breakfast) I was intrigued when I heard she had a memoir coming out which was receiving a lot of hype. I read probably more than my fair share of memoirs, but have been picking up less of them after a number of recent ones being disappointments. And celebrity memoirs are a prime candidate for being overhyped books which underdeliver, so I did proceed with some caution.

So I'm happy to report that Crying in H Mart delivered on all fronts. This is undoubtedly a grief/cancer memoir in many respects, with the bulk of the book focusing on Zauner's relationship with her mother and her mother's diagnosis and death from pancreatic cancer when Zauner moved back her hometown to care for her mom. However the book also tells of her own emotions dealing with this, and her later professional success with her musical venture after her mother's death as well as the story about her relationship with Korean cuisine (Michelle's mother was Korean and she herself was born in Seoul and lived there until she was a year old) and how learning to cook food from her childhood helped her pull through.

I'm not quite sure how to convey how much I enjoyed this but I was totally pulled in to the story and thought it was engagingly written. I'm sure many can relate to Zauner's feelings of looking back on how they treated their parents when they were a teenager and reassessing this as an adult with the benefit of maturity and hindsight.

Highly recommended. I can't wait to see what she does next!

A tremendous book. Family memoirs, if good, are gripping. On the one hand there is the human, universal recognition - the love, the expectations, the battles... and on the other, what makes a particular family that family in particular. Crying in H Mart does both with a very individual voice I had not heard before. The family is a triangle of father (American), mother (Korean), and child, Michelle, who, on losing her mother to cancer at 26, looks at her life and relationship with her examining in the process her cultural identity, and its formation and evolution.

Food, Korean food to be precise, is central to this mother/daughter story (the father, whilst being a secondary character, has presence and even pathos). The intricacies of this new to me cuisine, its otherness, truly captured for me the deep cultural differences which nevertheless are universal in their ultimate meaning as they act as ties to the past, to a place, to a time, to a mother. Proust is mentioned in passing (Peter, the boyfriend, has read him) and although this narrative is not Proustian (the prose is straightforward, with an excellent way of expressing feelings and capturing the physicality of place without repetition or multi-faceted viewpoints) there are many madeleines being conjured for us, and all made sense. I was captivated by this coming-of-age story which resonated with mine and other friends' stories. The way she tackles her mother's illness and death is realistic, poignant, compelling. A book which will withstand more than one reading, and indeed a number of discussions on so many real topics, from family relationships, to the cultural value of food, to becoming an artist...

Thank you so much to Picador via NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this excellent book.

I feel bad for rating a memoir so low as I really enjoy them and someone elses life experiences are as valid as our own...

I don't know who the author is and, whereas I feel sorry for her loss and empathise with her as I am orphan, this book looks like she wrote it to make peace with herself and her loss rather than for people to read it.

There were nice moments but most of it was pretty boring. Too much description of food and jumps back and forth in time.

This book is incredible. It is a beautiful depiction of a mother / daughter relationship and through the pain of losing her mother and grieving Zauner discovers the true love her mother had for her. It is an insight into Korean-American culture and growing up torn between finding your own identity whilst also keeping your cultural roots. It is a tender and honest memoire and I throughly recommend.

I thought that this memoir was especially poignant as a lot of stories of violence against Asians are coming out. It is just such a must read and it has given me so much to think about and reflect on - I now have the worst book hangover! Genuine, honest, and heart breaking. I wish I could recommend it 100x over but I just don't feel I can do it justice as to how good this was

A very raw and honest memoir. I both relished and cried over the vivid descriptions of everything; the grief, the pain, the food, the love.


[I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]

A touching and beautiful set of essays exploring racial identity, family, and coming of age. An absolute must-read especially in light of the tragic anti-Asian violence we are seeing worldwide. Every daughter in the world will relate to Zauner's work--regardless of their background.

Such a heartbreaking memoir! I was really looking forward to reading it and I devoured it, but I also cried my eyes out. Totally recommend it.

An honest and heartbreaking memoir about love and loss, family and food, culture and identity. Zauner has such a genuine voice, I really felt like I followed her on this emotional journey. Her descriptions of food are rich and faithful, made all the more powerful by the way she sees food as a means to connect with memories of her mother and her Korean heritage. Her exploration of grief is sensitive and candid in equal measures, capturing the messiness of real people and real feelings.

In summary: Crying in H Mart is an immersive and heartfelt memoir, and I cried a lot.

Zauner has a way with words, this had me hungry and emotional. I loved her descriptions about food and how she is navigating her grief since her mothers passing. It was interesting to read from growing up in America with a Korean mother. A very intimate and honest exploration of identity.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner is an interesting memoir about loss and bereavement, mother daughter relationships, race and culture.

This is a great memoir and I loved it from start to finish. Michelle Zauner writes about her Korean mother, losing her to cancer and the role that Korean cuisine played, and continues to play, in their lives.

Zauner was born in Seoul, South Korea, but moved to the US with her mother and American father when she was a child. They lived in Philadelphia, then moved to a house close to Eugene, Oregon - a place that was integral to Zauner's childhood, albeit one that was often frustrating and a time when she rebelled. However, food has been central to her life experiences, and it has made me want to learn more about the delicacies of this fascinating country.

The title, 'Crying in H Mart', alludes to the name of a Korean store, many of which can be found in the US. H Mart brought Zauner to tears, particularly because she associates it with her mother and all that they had. Interestingly, her father is on the periphery - she tells readers he moves to Thailand before the house is sold, after her mother dies, and it does make one wonder the relationship she had - has - with him. It is thought-provoking how Zauner has written a family-focused memoir but actually most of her focus is her mother, a lady with deep roots in Seoul, and someone whose absence is significant in Zauner's life.

Michelle Zauner made a good name for herself in a rock band - and now, seemingly, as an extremely good writer. This is perfect for readers who enjoy being educated; who love to learn about food; who relish finding out about the ins and outs of people's lives - in fact, the book offers so much, and I believe there is something here for all readers.

Crying in H Mart is a memoir about grief, family, and food, as musician Michelle Zauner tells stories about growing up with her Korean mother and American father, navigating her identity in Korea and America, and losing her mother after a cancer diagnosis. Throughout the book are tales of food, eaten and cooked, and how important food has been to her in her relationship to her mother, her other Korean relatives, and to getting through things.

The hype about this book is definitely deserved, as it is both emotional and powerful, and also leaves you hungry, really feeling the importance of the food described throughout and thinking about how food can create bonds between people. I found myself eating spicy egg ramen whilst reading it and saving YouTube videos about Korean cooking, significant in the book as Zauner looks to learn how to make the food her mother made, to watch later. The exploration of grief and illness is sad but also witty at times, getting across how complicated both emotions and families can be.

Written in an engaging way, Crying in H Mart does as maybe good memoirs should and draws you both into Zauner's anecdotes and makes you reflect on your own experiences. It is a testament to mother-child relationships that are messy but full of love, and also to how much food can define moments and memories.

Zauner's memoir about her mother and coming to terms with her passing is painful, illuminating, poignant and relatable on so many levels. It's equally resonant as a testimonial of the Asian American and immigrant experience and the power of food as a bridge between generations and distances, as nourishing for the soul as it is for the body.I read this in one sitting and immediately called my mom to tell her I loved her.

Richly observed and heartbreakingly candid Crying in H Mart provides a powerful account of a complicated mother-daughter relationship. In her memoir musician, Michelle Zauner writes with painful clarity of when at age 25 her mother was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Zauner’s recollection of her mother’s terminal illness, her rapidly deteriorating health, and eventual death is heart-wrenching. Zauner conveys with devastating precision the grief, confusion, and hurt she experienced in the wake of her mother’s diagnosis. Interspersed throughout her memories of her mother’s illness are glimpses into her childhood and teenage years. In looking back to her youth Zauner examines her strained relationship with her mother, her evolving relationship to her Korean American identity, and the crucial role that food, in particular Korean food, played in her upbringing and adulthood. Zauner’s immersive storytelling, which brims with piercing insights into love, loss, and language, is utterly captivating.

Despite the harrowing subject matter, I found myself unwilling to interrupt my reading. In navigating her grief and her shifting perception of her mother Zauner presents her readers with some truly beautiful reflections on motherhood and daughterhood. I admire Zauner for being able to write with such lucidity about her grief and her mother’s illness. Zauner’s introspections also are worthy of praise as she is unflinching in her critiquing of her past-self.
Reading Crying in H Mart made my heart ache. Frank yet lyrical this is the kind of memoir that will leave a mark on its readers.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.