Crying in H Mart

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Nonfiction - Memoir

2021 Random House Audio

Narrated by Michelle Zauner

Finished on June 30, 2022

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

An unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.

In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--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 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 plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

I nominated Crying in H Mart to my book group after reading several rave reviews. We don't plan to discuss it until August, but summertime is usually pretty busy with visitors and travel, so I decided to get a jump start. I began reading the print edition of Zauner's memoir, but after a couple of chapters, switched over to audio. I was somewhat bored with the opening chapters but listening to the author narrate her story made for a more compelling experience. I'm not a big fan of authors reading their own works, and Zauner's monotone delivery could have been better, but I enjoyed hearing the pronunciation of specific foods and phrases in Korean. Despite the author's flat audio narration, some of her passages are beautifully written, bringing my attention back to her story. Food (specifically Korean food) is a large part of the narrative and while I enjoy "foodie" memoirs, I was not familiar with most of the items described. I didn't love Crying in H Mart, but anyone who has stood vigil over a loved one can't help but have their heartstrings tugged as they read about the death of Michelle's mother. Overall, this was a decent story, but not one I can recommend. I hope the women in my book group enjoy it better than I did!