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A review by sonalipawar26
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
4.0
I was 13 when I took a pretty bad fall while playing in the neighbourhood park; I still have a scar a few centimetres below my right hand's little finger. I remember crying all the way home as my friend held my hand as it bled, leaving a trail all the way from the park to my home. I wasn't crying because my hand was hurting, I was crying because I was afraid my mother would shout at me for getting hurt—because it had always happened in the past.
Fourteen years later, everything's different. I think we both understand each other a tad better (despite our arguments and me acting like a 10-year-old at times!)
Mother-daughter relationships are complicated and dynamic . . . but endearing. Crying in H Mart by @jbrekkie explores this ever-evolving relationship vividly. Being a single child of a Korean mother and American father, Zauner had to navigate around so much—food, culture, people, career—to find her identity.
This book is about a lot of things, but in its essence, it's about the myriad facets of a mother-daughter relationship.
While reading it, I kept on wondering, how do you 'review' someone's grief? How does a person go on after losing their mother to a wretched disease? I always fall short of words when it comes to memoirs because who am I to decide whether someone's life was interesting or boring? There were instances in the book that felt they were too personal for a third eye. But these were the moments that made the book utterly raw and transparent. Zauner wrote this book for herself, and you can see it clearly.
I wouldn't suggest you read this book if you are going through any kind of loss; it will wreck you. While I was in the middle of this book, I was living Zauner's words in real life to some extent, still am. Thus, I took my time with it, letting the words simmer in my mind and sobbing whenever I wanted to.
Slowly devastating in nature, I reckon this book will forever hold a special place in my heart. It further instilled what I do have and what I must cherish before time goes against me . . .
Fourteen years later, everything's different. I think we both understand each other a tad better (despite our arguments and me acting like a 10-year-old at times!)
Mother-daughter relationships are complicated and dynamic . . . but endearing. Crying in H Mart by @jbrekkie explores this ever-evolving relationship vividly. Being a single child of a Korean mother and American father, Zauner had to navigate around so much—food, culture, people, career—to find her identity.
This book is about a lot of things, but in its essence, it's about the myriad facets of a mother-daughter relationship.
While reading it, I kept on wondering, how do you 'review' someone's grief? How does a person go on after losing their mother to a wretched disease? I always fall short of words when it comes to memoirs because who am I to decide whether someone's life was interesting or boring? There were instances in the book that felt they were too personal for a third eye. But these were the moments that made the book utterly raw and transparent. Zauner wrote this book for herself, and you can see it clearly.
I wouldn't suggest you read this book if you are going through any kind of loss; it will wreck you. While I was in the middle of this book, I was living Zauner's words in real life to some extent, still am. Thus, I took my time with it, letting the words simmer in my mind and sobbing whenever I wanted to.
Slowly devastating in nature, I reckon this book will forever hold a special place in my heart. It further instilled what I do have and what I must cherish before time goes against me . . .