She certainly did quite a bit of both. Crying and eating in this memoir, which is our
Cook the Books Club pick for October/November.
Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner, and hosted by Simona of
Briciole, with lots of interesting, some deliciously so, Korean food. I struggled at times getting through the story of her upbringing. Some parents can be so overbearing even in their love, wanting to direct every aspect of their children's lives. Of course, in my case, there were 7 of us, and a different nationality, so not too comparable to an only child in a Korean American home.
From the Publishers: "#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR). • CELEBRATING OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high 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, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--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 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..."
