Crying in H Mart
The Number One New York Times Bestseller
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4.3 • 103 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
From the indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, an unflinching, deeply moving memoir about growing up dual-heritage, Korean food, losing her Korean mother, and forging her own identity.
'I bawled my eyes out, but I also loved it and I hope you do too' – Dua Lipa
'Incredible . . . So, so emotional' – Natalie Portman
'Crying In H Mart destroyed me . . . It’s fantastic' – Olivia Rodrigo
In this story of family and food, grief and joy, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school; of struggling with her mother’s expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; and of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaped plates of food. But, as she grew up, her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.
It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.
Vivacious and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share and reread.
What readers are saying about Crying in H Mart:
'I recommend this for anyone who likes memoirs, food, and who’s ever felt lonely' (*****)
'I was captivated by this coming-of-age story which resonated with mine and other friends' stories' (*****)
'A must for people looking to be hooked in memories that span between joy, sadness and love' (*****)
*Crying in H Mart was a #1 New York Times bestseller w/c 17.04.2023
Customer Reviews
Wow 🍜🍣🥟
I only read the preview but you can really tell how good/sad this is going to be.
An Emotional Journey
I loved the depiction of food throughout this book and how the style of writing made that so emotional. It’s hard to write food in a way that makes you feel something. This is a brace and raw reading where inner truths are shared with shame, which is what I love to see in the literary world. It’s the kind of read that made me see my own mother in many different ways and our relationship. I rate this five stars because grief is timeless, to read about it in this was was enriching.
Mixed Blessing
Very lively, emotional writing style, which pulls you right into the text. The book is strong and convincing in the description of the mother-and daughter-relationship- (with an overwhelmingly domineering mother)As the reader, I lived through all ups and downs of her fatal illness and suffered with the family. Living between two cultures with the connected search for identity is another central theme, well developed.
However,there are pages and pages lauding Korean food in tiresome detail,making the book far too long. Hard to understand why the editor did not notice this, one could have switched to a cooking book instead for those with a keen interest in the matter.
Other areas less convincing were the rather weak portrait of Peter, the husband and the unlikely sudden artistic career. Nevertheless, I read almost all of it with some gain and enjoyment, I would recommend it tentatively.