Grief shows up in the produce aisle, in a recipe, in the sound of your mother’s voice. This is a tender, gut-wrenching memoir about loss, identity,...

Grief shows up in the produce aisle, in a recipe, in the sound of your mother’s voice. This is a tender, gut-wrenching memoir about loss, identity, and the healing rituals we pass down through food and memory.

In this unforgettable memoir of food, grief, and identity, musician Michelle Zauner (of Japanese Breakfast) reflects on the years before and after her Korean mother’s death. From navigating cultural expectations to learning how to make kimchi by hand, Crying in H Mart is as much about what’s lost as it is about what can still be held onto.

Told with lyrical honesty and aching precision, this is a story of daughterhood, diaspora, and becoming, where recipes are heirlooms and memory is sustenance.

---

📗 In The Mood For…

Understanding Myself
Zauner’s emotional journey becomes a mirror for readers exploring their own identity, grief, and heritage.
✅ Deep introspection on culture, loss, and personal history
✅ Encourages readers to examine their own relationships with family and self

Healing
Grief is ever-present, but so is the quiet act of mending through memory, music, and food.
✅ Explores mourning with tenderness and patience
✅ Offers solace through connection, ritual, and creative expression

---

📘 Stories About…

Becoming & Belonging
This is a memoir of both losing and finding herself, her culture, and her mother’s love.
✅ Centers identity formation through cultural heritage and personal growth
✅ Navigates the tension of feeling in-between: geographically, emotionally, generationally

Family & Generations
A daughter’s love, frustration, and longing told with searing honesty.
✅ Explores complex parent–child dynamics
✅ Reflects on generational bonds, grief, and the shaping power of family