Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner review

 Title:  Crying in H Mart

Author:  Michelle Zauner

Ch: 20

Length:  07:27:0

Genre:  memoir

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher: Knopf publishing group

 

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner came out in 2021 and I put it on my list to read because of the title, but when it was talked about on the podcast  What should I read next with Anne Bogel I knew that the subject matter wasn't something I was ready for at the time.   I thought I was ready for the subject matter when I started listening to audio earlier this year.  But it was still an emotional read as any book about losing one's mother would be an emotional read.  I listened to the audiobook read by the author herself which adds to the emotion to me the audio book enhanced my experience.    The reason the title drew me in last year was because I could relate to the title not the H mart part but the crying part like the author herself there have been times I found myself crying in a store since losing my mom.  Though it's only happened in the grocery store once.  The time that stands out the most to me was the just before the mother's day the year after we lost her I was standing in the card section of the store in front of the mother's day cards bawling like a baby.  And like Michelle says in Crying in H mart grief comes in waves. 

 

There were two quotes that stood out to me the most from this book because I relate to them both so much, the first being “It felt like the world had divided into two different types of people, those who had felt pain and those who had yet to.” ― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart.  And “For the rest of my life there would be a splinter in my being, stinging from the moment my mother died until it was buried with me.”― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart. Because that quote summed up how I also feel about losing my mom.   

 

Crying in H Mart is one of the books that you need to be in the right head space and right emotional space to read, and while I want to recommend the book especially the audio to everyone, I can't. If you've recently last a parent especially a mother I recommend waiting.  Or if a loved one is going through cancer treatment or has lost the battle wait. I thought being almost six years since I lost my mom I could handle reading/listening to this one, and I was still a sobbing mess by the time I finished this one.