CRYING IN H MART - Michelle Zauner

5 stars

If you, too, would like to ugly cry at 12:30am when you finish a book, then BOY—do I have a book recommendation for you.

Crying in H Mart is the kind of story that I don't usually pick up. Mainly because I know I'll blubber my way through it. (I did.)

But after seeing this memorable and eye-catching cover work its way through the bestseller lists, then the recommended lists, and finally reinvigorating the same cycle with its paperback release... my resolve weakened and I picked up a copy from my local library. This book has relentlessly caught my eye in bookstores, on library shelves, and online. It was time for me, tears be damned.

Michelle Zauner's mother died of cancer when Michelle was 25. A year that her mother had always foretold would be a very important year of her young adulthood, that year was instead a year of death and loss.

This season of loss was made more complicated with Michelle's inward journey of understanding her mother. After many years of misconnection and strife, they were just starting to recombine into the close mother-daughter bond that they'd had long before. And then—the final stop.

Crying in H Mart is about Michelle's life with her mother. The Before, the During, and the After.

And through it all, there is one persistent shining light: their connection to Korean food culture.

Told in visceral layers, blunt truths, and beautiful descriptions, this book was something to devour in all senses of the word. I recommend to the obvious group—memoir fans—but also to anyone who identifies to family through its traditions, or to anyone who has an enduring love for Korean food (as the food is definitely one of the main characters).