Overall, what do you think of Crying in H Mart? (no spoilers in this thread, please)

Overall, what do you think of Crying in H Mart? (no spoilers in this thread, please)

I felt personal connection with this story as I have relatives in Eugene and had the pleasure of making a Korean friend when I lived in Maryland who introduced me to the flavors and artistic beauty of some tasty Korean lunches! This story becomes more warm and personal as it progresses. The lead character, Michelle, is 3 dimensional and her aspects are woven flawlessly throughout.

Highly recommend it - I've recommended it several times already.

I was very interested in the depictions of customs and foods as I have no Korean friends and have not been to that country. I do feel as though I now might like to visit the area to experience for myself

Unlike my fellow readers that have already commented, I wasn't in love with this book. While I appreciated the good writing and story line, I never really connected with the people. I'm glad I read the book, but I don't think I'll be recommending it.

I feel somewhat the same as MaryS. I'm glad I read it but did not really enjoy it. The food aspect turned me off more than anything else. Way too much talk about food and all the Korean words for all the food made it impossible for me to relate to what exactly the food was. Interesting story about the relationship between mother and daughter.

I enjoyed the book and have recommended it. I have Korean friends and love Korean food, so the descriptions of that brought back memories and gave me some more foods to try. Food is important in the Korean culture. It's a big part of society there. I loved how it was used in the book to draw Michelle closer to that side of her heritage.

I enjoyed this one, I've seen it on lots of book lists, so I've been curious about it. I also enjoy eating Korean food, so I enjoyed the food parts. There were some dishes I would love to try now.

Memoirs are always a very different experience for me, I mostly read fiction, but I like to read a few memoirs a year, but I usually don't love them as much as fiction.

Overall, I would recommend this one to others, but it could be difficult if they are dealing with grief, so I would make sure they know the general storyline.

I like memoirs and really enjoyed this one. It made me hungry for Korean food!

I like some memoirs but this one was way too personal for me. I kept feeling like I really shouldn't know all of this about a stranger. I won't be passing it on to any friends.

I am glad I read it enjoyed hearing about Korean food and traditions

The parts of this memoir that are true connections between mother and daughter were wonderful. I enjoyed the glimpse into the Korean culture and especially enjoyed hearing about the relatives. This memoir is very honest in its portrayal of the relationship between this mother and daughter, it does not magically change to golden.

I have a complicated relationship with this book. I loved the writing on a sentence level, enjoyed all the descriptions about food and the characters, etc. But I had a hard time with the subject matter. I understand this is just going to be heavy by nature of this being a memoir about...what it is about, but that was not something I was personally ready for.

I really enjoyed the book and am surprised how many people didn’t really like it. I loved learning about Korean food and even went out and bought Kimchi I was so curious about it. I looked up U-tube videos of Michelle’s music and really loved her music. I also had a child who was very difficult to raise and it gave me some insight what was going on in his head. I related some to Michelle’s mom’s feelings about her at times. It’s not easy to raise a difficult child. You don’t just wake up and forget all the troubles. My child, like Michelle, turned out to be a great adult.

I loved this book because it taught me so much about the Korean people and let’s not forget the food. The author definitely brought some raw emotions that we can all associate with. It should the richness of a Korean lifestyle but also showed how family impacts our life’s and how they change (over time) after losing a close family member. A bonus of the book: I was introduced to Michelle’s music..and her band.

My initial reaction to Crying in H Mart was mixed. I chose the book because one of my reading goals for this year was to add diversity to my usual book choices which typically include literary fiction or page-turner mysteries. And to look for characters who are not like me--an elderly, educated, and English speaking white woman who lives a quiet, rural life. This one was a home run in ticking all my boxes for that goal.
It reminded me of how much I used to enjoy reading memoirs, and how little I know of Asian culture outside of Japan where my husband was raised. I'd never tasted Korean food let alone had a Korean friend or neighbor. But reading about the strong family ties and how much they bonded with their favorite food, made me want to know more. So I began my Korean adventure by finding Maangchi, Zauner's Korean cooking guru, on Youtube and learned how to make Dakgogi Mandu (Chicken dumplings) and Japchae (Stir-fried glass noodles with veggies) and both were delicious. I might even be brave enough to try kimchi (which sounds awful), but I will wait till I can go to a Korean restaurant where I can enjoy tastes of a variety of banchan. But I will admit that I initially identified with PKH and found the long lists and descriptions of food overwhelming and off-putting. Being totally unfamiliar with Korean food kept me constantly looking up the names of the many dishes to get some idea of what they were. But I love cooking so I'm glad I set aside my initial boredom long enough to try a few for myself. And while I'm a long way from knowing even the smallest bit of Korean culture, I ended up bonding with Michelle and her family through the book. Next on my list is a trip to an H-Mart 50 miles south of me.

Overall, I liked the book but it was not my favorite memoir. I liked the Korean food descriptions and learning about the Korean culture. I didn’t really connect as much with the author and I’m not sure why. I would consider recommending it to someone who is grieving over the loss of a loved one.

Memoirs are not my favorite genre but I had heard so many good things about this book, I thought I'd give it a chance.
And I liked it overall and finished but I think I should maybe have read it more in the future as I have recently lost my beloved mom too (though not to cancer). So, while I found her writing excellent and I think she told her story very well, it was a difficult read for me.

I had a hard time finishing the book. I thought the author wrote very well but I could not always connect to the experiences. I appreciated learning about Korean culture but some of the food was unappetizing to me. I’m a vegetarian so references to meat, seafood, poultry were not appealing. I frequently skimmed the lengthy food descriptions. I did learn though that something I assumed to be vegetarian, kimchi, had some fish item in it.

I think this book is a beautiful tribute to Michelle's mother. I hope Michelle found it therapeutic to write. And I think it will be helpful for others in a similar situation (when they're ready).

I enjoyed the book! It wasn't a thrilling page turner, but I did not expect it to be. I chose it because (as a few other people already mentioned) I wanted to diversify my reading and thought it might be something worth adding to my classroom library. I did find a few parts of it a bit slow, but I definitely felt invested in Zauner's emotional journey. I also was intrigued by her professional journey enough to look up some of her music and writing. I already recommended it to my daughter and some of my fellow teachers.

I specifically chose this book because memoirs are not my normal choice for reading. I'm glad I did. I found it very interesting and well written.

My location in Central California has very few Korean people, lots of Hmong and Japanese and Chinese. Therefore, Michelle's depiction of Korean food and culture was very interesting to me.

Coping with a mother's illness was difficult for me to read about as my own mother
required my constant care for several years as her declining health and dementia progressed to her death in her 99th year. Michelle captured her own experience in print beautifully.

I am happy to recommend this book to others.

I found it to be a beautiful elegy to the author's mother. I also would recommend it as a gorgeously written example of foodoir -- memoir that successfully employs food writing technique, engaging all the senses. This is a very visceral memoir, whether we're talking vivid food imagery, graphic descriptions of illness, or deep reflections of grief.

I am glad I read the book and I plan to give it to a friend who lived in Korea a few years. Although I am passing it on, I did not love the book. I have read several books by Korean authors recently. I am unsure of some of the commonalities I have observed and for this reason I hope my friend who lived in Korea can shed some light on my observations.

I really enjoyed it, I found Zauner vulnerable and honest, and loved reading about her family. I had trouble keeping all of the Korean dishes straight, though!

absolutely loved the book and recommended it to at least a dozen friends. Zauner wrote clearly and very readable. We had an H mart and began buying the products which were described in the book. The mother/daughter relationship is written with such love, compassion and sincerity.

I enjoyed this book, as much as it had me shedding tears. Michelle is so honest in every aspect of her experience and feelings. The writing style is more that of a personal diary than a published memoir.

It was written very well and it was interesting to learn of the Korean culture, but at times it was a little overwhelming culturally.
I found the mother/daughter bond and what bound them together very interesting. It's interesting in that mother/daughter bonds are uniquely individual and what bonds them is individual and personal. Overall it demonstrates the bonds are strong, however are frequently tested on both ends.

After recently visiting an H Mart location in downtown Chicago and feeling "lost" among the aisles of unfamiliar food products, but amazed by all the possibilities of new experiences, I chose to listen to the book on audio. The author's honesty is refreshing; Michelle Zauner does not blame or lament any harsh upbringing, simply describes the circumstances and her reactions (some positive, many negative) toward her mother's desires to raise a child with the traditional Korean values. I applaud the willingness to show her disinterest in "being Korean" as a young adult and the gained maturity of understanding and appreciation of heritage after enduring her mother's illness and death. I would recommend this memoir to others as well as a trip to a local restaurant to experience the scents and tastes of traditionally prepared Korean food.

Overall, this was a well-written telling of a story of feelings and memories after the loss of a parent. Michelle Zauner does a great job of talking about the challenges of a 1st generation migrant trying to fit in while at the same time trying to win the love and admiration of both the American and the Korean parents. She takes us into the Korean-American experience with stories of food preparation, shopping and mother-daughter moments of love, frustration and bewilderment. I will definitely recommend this one to my book club.

Unfortunately, I did not like the book. The characters were all one dimensional. Author talks about her father as if he was a stranger living down the block. How did her husband and her cope with the long separations that she wanted to be able to care for her Mother? Why was he (her husband) kept at arms length and not include in the family. Yes, I understand that this was a memoir about the death and dying of her Mother, but what about the rest of the family that she was impacting by her actions. To me this was a poor me slash food book, not about true love and Mother/Daughter relationship. Waste of time reading it!

I was very depressed as I read this book as I related to my parents passing. Talking about the food meant nothing to me. I was more interested in the people. If I hadn’t committed to partaking in the book club I wouldn’t have finished the book. It should have been a fast read but I couldn’t read much at any one time

I enjoyed the book. I like memoirs and I like reading about other cultures and I didn’t know much about Korea and the food they eat. I think Michelle told the story of her relationship with her mother quite well.

I was not a fan of Crying in H Mart. I was lost with all the writing about Korean foods that I didn't understand. I appreciated the author's frankness in her words, but some of her descriptions and analogies were just too much for me. Michelle had a complicated relationship with her mother, and maybe writing the book helped her understand it better. But as a reader, I didn't really end up with a good understanding of either Michelle or her mother and why either of them behaved like they did. I didn't feel a connection with either one of them, which is probably why I didn't enjoy this book.