I have heard nothing but rave reviews for this since it came out a couple of years ago, so I hesitantly had quite high expectations for this, and it definitely did not disappoint. I always feel a bit weird reviewing memoirs, because who am I to be judging the way in which someone recounts their life experiences, but saying that, Zauner's writing was beautiful in its brutal rawness. The way she so adeptly wrote about her tricky relationship with her mother and reckoning with both the Korean and American sides of her identity felt very important, and I loved the value placed on food and cooking as a way of bonding that was shown from the very beginning of Crying in H Mart. Zauner's depiction of grief was heartbreaking but clearly cathartic, and I honestly think would be so helpful to people who have recently lost someone, especially a parent. I've also recently heard that Zauner is hosting open casting calls for an adaptation of this, so I can't wait to weep in the cinema!

this was a beautiful book that had me in pieces. i was taken in by michelle's story and how she was so brutally honest about all her relationships. the story of grieving a loved one is never easy and i saw bits of her grief in things i have felt as well.

however, i felt like this book was perhaps too hyped for me. i appreciated it for what it was and thought the writing was great. but maybe my expectations of this book were too high. i do however, look forward to reading whatever she comes up with next.

I found this very short memoir really engaging and honest. It really dives into some of the more unspoken elements of grief and opening up about those 'selfish' moments were insightful into all the emotions you feel going through grief. A recommended book for sure.

I requested an advance copy of Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner before its publication in 2021. That it has taken me years to finish reading is 100% down to my own experiences of grief. Truthfully, I needed a break from all the grief-related memoirs and non-fiction I had been mainlining since my dad died in 2019.

Written with warmth, grace, humour, and tenderness, Zauner explores her life as the only Asian American person in her school, her relationship with her parents, her mother Chongmi being diagnosed with cancer, caring for her mother during this time, and the aftermath of her mother’s death. Zauner also shares with the reader her desire to connect more with her Korean heritage, how food provides that connection, her changing relationship with her father, and music's impact on her life.

I wasn’t familiar with Japanese Breakfast, Zauner’s band, but that didn’t prevent me from connecting with Zauner’s beautifully crafted memoir about grief, family, food, and identity. I sobbed multiple times while listening, so I’d recommend having tissues handy.

I am glad I decided to pick it up again, this time on audio, because Crying in H Mart is as exquisite as everyone says.

Such a hard yet informative memoir. One that will be living rent free in mind for a very long time.
Had not read a more beautiful memoir this year yet.

Probably one of the only novels that made me cry. Zauner is a powerful storyteller and her vivid descriptions were just amazing. I started to cry only about 50 pages in and my eyes were watery the whole way through. This book really got me out of my reading block and made me want to read more

Wonderfully evocative book as the author processes her grief, full of memories, moving writing and so much food! Recommended just don't read it when you're hungry!

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wept at the end of this incredibly moving memoir. Zauner's portrayal of grief is both honest, and deeply affecting. I think this has to be one of my favourite books from the last year, and I can't wait to see what she does next!

There was parts of this I loved. This may sound stupid but i adored how Korean it was. The writing was beautiful but I felt some parts dragged a bit.

This review was originally posted on Instagram @jessisreading_.

Crying in H Mart is Michelle Zauner’s stunning memoir about grieving the death of her mother and attempting to reconnect with her Korean heritage, largely through food. She explores their mother-daughter relationship and her memories of her mother, her own Korean-American identity and intergenerational cultural difference, as well as detailing the rise of her music career as Japanese Breakfast.

While she gives a raw and emotional account of her mother’s illness and death, the book is also full of love, joy and mouthwatering descriptions of the Korean food Michelle cooks to feel closer to her mother. I loved the descriptiveness of her writing, and found myself totally immersed in her complicated, sometimes messy, emotional journey.

I absolutely loved this book and also enjoyed listening to her Japanese Breakfast album Psychopomp afterwards with a new appreciation of its subject matter (as detailed in the book, the album was penned in the weeks after her mother died and many of the songs explore Zauner’s feelings of grief).

10/10 - made me cry, made me hungry.

I really can’t explain the emotions felt in this book! There is so much raw emotion written throughout, which kept me wanting to read on.
This book focuses on a mother daughter relationship, food and a journey throughout a multi-cultural world.

𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐇 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭
𝘼 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙞𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨, 𝙆𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙, 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚 𝙕𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙠𝙖 𝙅𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩.

Wow, this book hits you in so many places!!
I felt sympathy of her experiences growing up in America, not feeling like she fit in, trying to please her Mom, then rebelling.
I felt intense hunger reading of all the Korean food that she would experience in Seoul and then try to learn to cook, so she could gift her mother some tastes from home. The food then craved to bring them together and remember her by.
The grief, oh the grief! So powerful but so beautifully written, I was in tears for a lot of this fantastic book.
I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it but I’m so glad I’ve now read this wonderful memoir. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Beautifully honest and heartbreaking. Loved the navigating family/cultural recipes aspect of it too.

One of my 21 best books in 2021!

This has been the year where I’ve realised that I both particularly enjoy memoirs and that I have a particular love for any and all books focused around the love and joy of food. Michelle Zauner’s memoir focusing on her relationship with her mother and her family history intertwines both, in a beautifully moving way.

Truly delicious and fascinating memoir. This was a very enjoyable read for someone who loves the way food can bring together people and create as well as evoke memory - well written and a lovely thing to gift to those that understand the power of food.

Definitely couldn't get into this one to appreciate it. The relationship with her mother read and felt a lot like abuse, from a toxic and self-absorbed. selfish person who uses passive-aggressive behaviour to pass for the 'good guy' and make everyone else the 'bad guy' - and this struck way too close to home considering my own upbringing in a South Asian household and a mother who uses the same tactics and approach and me being made to feel I was, am, and never will be good enough... I just couldn't understand the grief of the author after so much passive-aggressive abuse - the grief just felt like too much, something you'd feel when you'd lost 'love' but this relationship wasn't love no matter how much the author tried to (and had to) point out it was.
The narrative also jumped too much all over the author's life and there was no continuing red thread to cling to and not feel lost or sloshed around, and a lot of the Korean food references went right over my head because I had no idea what they were referring to and even talking about

Part memoir, part food journey and part self help, I loved this book about Michelle Zauner navigating the relationship she has with her mother. I say ‘has’, although this covers her mother’s illness and death, because the relationship continues after death, through Michelle’s travels to Korea, to try to be closer to her mother’s family there and by her learning more about her life outside of Michelle and her father. Frustratingly, it feels like she only really got to know her mother after her death, and if she had been able to do that in life, perhaps their relationship would have been less strained in adulthood.

With a Korean mother and American father, she talks eloquently about not feeling like she belongs anywhere, out of place wherever she goes. Not Korean looking enough to be Korean and just ‘other’ enough not to be accepted as American. While I obviously can’t say I have ever been abused or excluded because of my race or ethnicity, I think everyone can relate to feeling awkward, out of place and trying to find where they belong in the world.

Honest without being brutal, Zauner talks about the tug of war between living your own life and living your parent’s wishes, from realising that maybe your mother is the glue holding your small family together, from trying to be there for every minute and realising that you have to live your own life.

I was also fascinated by the food descriptions - everything sounded delicious, and complicated, and made with love. I really want to try all of the dishes Zauner talked about, but especially the pine nut porridge. I’m not sure I have the patience or the skillset required to make them, but hopefully maybe one day I can go somewhere that has those dishes on offer!

The best memoirs are ones that show us someone else’s life, invite us in and welcome us like we’re part of the family, but also shine a light into our own lives and encourage us to think about what we would do in that situation, or to consider if there is anything similar in our own lives. This definitely does that.

Like everyone else who has read this, I have also listened to Zauner’s music, as ‘Japanese Breakfast’!

I recommend this for anyone who likes memoirs, food, has close family members they may have complicated relationships with and who’s ever felt lonely.

A beautiful memoir primarily about Michelle Zauner's relationship with her mother.

Also mentioned in my September Wrap Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlhELBJVU2k

If anything this book got me RAVENOUS. Michelle Zauner's descriptive writing had my stomach rumbling as she pours her soul into this memoir. Describing how through food, she was able to connect with her mother as her health starts to deteriorate.

3.5 stars

This book couldn't decide if it was a food memoir, a grief memoir, a history of a musical performer, or what. The most poignant part is the very beginning and after that the book did not hold my interest. I ended up scanning the last few chapters. If you are interested in Korean food, this might be a fun read.

A touching memoir that I enjoyed reading a lot. The only thing that stopped this being a five star read for me, because at times I felt that the amount of food references took away from the emotion a little.
Having said that, I throughly enjoyed this book.

Zauner is a musician known as 'Japanese breakfast' and i went into this not knowing anything about her at all but i had seen everyone rave about this memoir so had to see what i was missing!
What I liked from the onset was that it actually read like fiction so even if memoirs aren't your thing you would enjoy this . It's a tale about grief, loss and lots of Korean food!
We follow Zauner through childhood memories of her relationship with her mother to the cancer diagnosis that lead to her mothers death and then how she dealt with the loss soon after . Zauner reconnects to her Korean heritage through food and the aisles of H Mart showing the reader how food is used to create memories and love and not just for consuming . I loved all the descriptions of food items and i actually learnt a lot about the Korean culture . It's a heart breaking read at times and will get you to think about your own relationship with your mother .
We also get a brief glimpse into how she started off in the music industry which adds more to the book.

To sum up , i loved this memoir and despite having nothing in common with Zauner i felt really connected by the end .