Description

From the indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, an unflinching, deeply moving memoir about growing up mixed-race, Korean food, losing her Korean mother, and forging her own identity.

‘A story that is both beautiful and heartbreaking; it is as raw as it is precious. I bawled my eyes out, but I also loved it and I hope you do too.’ – Dua Lipa

‘Incredible . . . It absolutely wrecked me . . . So, so emotional’ – Natalie Portman

‘Crying In H Mart destroyed me . . . It’s fantastic.’ – Olivia Rodrigo

In this story of family and food, grief and joy, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school; of struggling with her mother’s expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

‘As good as everyone says it is and, yes, it will have you in tears. An essential read for anybody who has lost a loved one, as well as those who haven’t’ – Marie Claire

What readers are saying about Crying in H Mart:
‘I recommend this for anyone who likes memoirs, food, and who’s ever felt lonely.’ (Five Stars)
‘I was captivated by this coming-of-age story which resonated with mine and other friends’ stories.’ (Five Stars)
‘A must for people looking to be hooked in memories that span between joy, sadness and love.’ (Five Stars)

*Crying in H Mart was a #1 New York Times bestseller w/c 17.04.2023

Publisher Review

Michelle Zauner's Crying In H Mart is as good as everyone says it is and, yes, it will have you in tears. An essential read for anybody who has lost a loved one, as well as those who haven't. * Marie Claire * The best book I've read in the past year . . . frank, lyrical, humorous. -- Claudia Roden * Financial Times * The book's descriptions of jjigae, tteokbokki, and other Korean delicacies stand out as tokens of the deep, all-encompassing love between Zauner and her mother, a love that is charted in vivid descriptions of her mother after death; in a time when people around the world are reckoning with untold loss due to COVID-19, Zauner's frankness around death feels like an unexpected yet deeply necessary gift. * Vogue US * A beautiful, honest and stylish account of grief, food and heritage. The way Zauner writes about food and how it acts as a bridge between her and her mother, her culture, her sense of self, is brilliantly written. -- Nikesh Shukla, author of Brown Baby Crying in H Mart stunned me - with its truthfulness and the force of its yearning. Beautiful, intimate, powerful, it is an unforgettable portrayal of grief and the bond between mother and daughter. -- Catherine Cho, author of Inferno A gripping, sensuous portrait of an indelible mother-daughter bond that hits all the notes: love, friction, loyalty, grief. All mothers and daughters will recognize themselves - and each other - in these pages. -- Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance Zauner brings dish after dish to life on the page in a rich broth of delectable details, cultural context and the personal history often packed into every bite. . . [Crying in H Mart] will ultimately thrill Japanese Breakfast fans and provide comfort to those in the throes of loss while brilliantly detailing the colorful panorama of Korean culture, traditions and - yes - food' * San Francisco Chronicle * Crying in H Mart is a warm and wholehearted work of literature, an honest and detailed account of grief over time, studded with moments of hope, humor, beauty, and clear-eyed observation. It is not to be missed. * Seattle Times * Crying in H Mart is palpable in its grief and its tenderness, reminding us what we all stand to lose. * Vulture * It is [Zauner's] ability to convey how her mother's simple offering of a rice snack was actually an act of the truest love that leaves the most indelible impression. * Refinery 29 * Incandescent. * Electric Lit * A book you experience with all of your senses: sentences you can taste, paragraphs that sound like music. [Zauner] seamlessly blends stories of food and memory, sumptuousness and grief, to weave a complex narrative of loyalty and loss. -- Rachel Syme A wonder: A beautiful, deeply moving coming-of-age story about mothers and daughters, love and grief, food and identity. It blew me away, even as it broke my heart. -- Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me When a loved one dies, we search all of our senses for signs of their presence. Zauner's ability to let us in through taste makes her book stand out-she makes us feel like we are in her mother's kitchen, singing her praises. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *