Zauner, Michelle: Crying in H Mart

Dieses Buch ist eine unglaublich eindringliche und tiefgründige Auseinandersetzung, die mich absolut fasziniert hat. Die Perspektive von Michelle Zauner ist bemerkenswert und sehr bewegend.

Das Buch ist intellektuell anspruchsvoll und bietet tiefgründige Einblicke, allerdings ist der Stil für manche Leser möglicherweise etwas zu dicht. Es ist eine interessante Lektüre, die man mit etwas Geduld genießen sollte.

Toll!

I liked the book so much that I couldn’t stop reading it. It is basically the story of the author’s relationship with her mother and Korean food, and she relates them with such force that you almost feel you know her mother and can taste the food. The book is filled with information about Korean food, but otherwise her insights into Korean culture are pretty much limited to what she experienced in the apartment of her relatives during summer vacation and her mother’s cooking. She notes almost in passing that many Koreans where she grew up in Oregon were Christians, but never gives a thought to the reason nor does she even mention the two great traditions of Confucianism and Buddhism in Korea, not to mention the indigenous religion of Korea, Shamanism, in which women have the dominant role. In Korea, her descriptions are mainly of the food markets and the food she eats. It’s a shame that her mother did not speak Korean with her when she was growing up, since she would have had more insight into the culture. But then that was not the author’s goal, and we hear nothing else about Korean life. She even admits that she is not very familiar with K-pop although she performed a concert in Seoul with her band. She did relate a little bit about the lives of her aunts in Korea, which sounded very different from what divorced or single women had experienced years before.When I taught in Korea for a couple of years, my students often talked about their mothers, but rarely about their fathers. Fathers worked long hours and were much less often at home, and most women lost their jobs after marriage (at that time; no sure how the situation is now) and consequently were homemakers, as was her mother. Her descriptions of growing up with a housewife mother obsessed with Korean food (and if you aren’t familiar with that fantastic cuisine, this book will give you the urge to try it!) and her alcoholic, philandering father are very vivid and make them come alive, but her mother is the centerpiece. The author downplays her abilities, e.g., how did she get admitted to Bryn Mawr College if her performance in high school was that bad? But she did admit that she graduated with honors from it. Her mother certainly did not sound like a typical Asian “Tiger Mom”, pressuring her child to be the best in everything, although she did insist that Ms. Zauner attend college (neither parent had).She touches on the subject of being half-Asian in the USA, but as her mother said to her: “You are an American”, and I can’t imagine her living permanently in Korea and feeling at home. She seems more conscious of her heritage than others at times.Ms. Zauner has found her calling as an author, and the book is of much higher quality than her music although she has a beautiful voice. I had never heard of the band Japanese Breakfast, and I have to admit that I was surprised that it has had such success as well as European and Asian tours. I guess a lot of people like it, but I find that lacks moments of surprise, unexpected twists, an unexpected note or chord, that somehow fits right in and makes you sit up and say “Wow!”. Hopefully, she will devote herself to writing in the future!And I wish there were an H Mart near where I live and I could take a cooking class with her!

This book lived up to its raving reviews. Heartwrenching and honest, it transports the reader to explore their own mother/daughter dynamic and relationship in a way that no other book has prompted me to in the past! Excellent read.

Personal tribute to author’s mother. Easy read with lots of discussion about Korean food. This was a bit too much for me, but that was an important part of of the author’s relationship with her mother.