Crying in H Mart

Written By Omma Ahmed

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Reviewed by Omma
📒📒📒📒📒

I always find non-fiction so hard to review and this beautiful memoir is no exception.

This book is a love letter to Michelle’s mother who passes away from cancer while Michelle is in her mid-twenties.

The way she talks about food is so descriptive and personal which is how so many immigrant children bond with her parents, so I loved that.

I also enjoyed the simplicity of the language in the way that she writes. It’s plain-spoken and simple, so it almost reads like a story. I love this because I often don’t like books with overly flourished language - they sometimes drag for me.

Grief is obviously the main topic in this memoir and the author writes it so honestly and deeply that it’s possible that you might cry. I took breaks when reading this so I only squeezed out a couple of tears!

This journey Michelle goes on to re-discover her connection to her Korean heritage leaves you with a positive feeling and it made me want to give my own mum an extra big hug!

Omma Ahmed

I’ve always loved reading as a kid because it was one of the few Asian-mum approved hobbies although she would have preferred ‘less novels and more school books’! I also grew up in the Harry Potter era so that’s when I really remember falling in love with reading. (Big up my Y7 English teacher for reading a few pages of Philosophers stone at the end of every lesson! You were a real one Mr Williams!) I love being part of this book page (even though I slack massively due to lack of energy and concentration!) because sometimes it felt like a lifeline to help keep me sane. We started it during the time I was feeling really shitty about my Crohn’s disease. It’s been a tough 7 years and the last 3 have probably been the hardest especially mentally so when Linda suggested putting this page together, without hesitation I was down and I’m so proud of us! Writing reviews helped me to organise my thoughts and even resulted in me creating a second Instagram page (@AnOstomateForLife) about my Crohn’s journey. Yes that was a shameless plug and I’m not sorry! Along with reviews, I’ve also loved the creative side of things such as having input in our logo, creating our bookmark and taking book pictures even though it’s awkward af in public! So a few of my fave books: The Godfather by Mario Puzo (made me love the film even more! I’m a self-proclaimed movie buff too btw), Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Healy, The Harry Potter series (obviously), Jemima J by Jane Green, Moonlight over Manhattan by Sarah Morgan, Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple and We Should All Be Feminists Chimamanda Adichie.

Previous

Hope & Glory
Next

Crying in H Mart