Most of you probably know that H Mart is a Korean grocery store chain in North America. They have several stores in the Greater Seattle area. They have everything Koreans need to make their favorite foods, plus plenty of other Asian but non-Korean foods.
This book by Michelle Zauner is a memoir that is a New York Times Best Seller. It is very unusual to read a memoir by someone in their 20s and it is also unusual to find a best seller for an author’s first book. The copy I bought my wife is part of the thirteenth printing in hardcover! She’s been on the New York Times bestseller list for 40 weeks! More remarkable, the author is also an accomplished musician, writing the songs for and leading her band, Japanese Breakfast. They have released three albums. She is now 33 years old.
The title of the book refers to where the author often finds herself: shopping in H Mart for the ingredients she needs to make her favorite Korean foods and finding herself bawling because she misses her mother so much. The food reminds her of cooking and eating with her mother.
I bought this book for my wife, who is Korean and shops at H Mart. I often accompany her because I find the store so interesting. We’re not in Safeway anymore, Toto. They’ve got live seafood, dried squid and kim chi aplenty here. The antics in the parking lot are amazing too.
The book is called a memoir. I don’t know what the difference is between a memoir and an autobiography, but no matter, it is wonderful. Michelle Zauner has a Caucasian father and a Korean mother. She grew up in Eugene, out in the country with no friends nearby and as an only child.
Her father had a very rough upbringing and it shows. Her mother was away from her family and culture.
Michelle wasn’t an easy child to raise, especially for a Korean woman in a foreign country. As a teenager she was worse still. Finally, as an adult, she began to develop a very close relationship with her mother, only to have it cut short by the mother’s death from cancer.
Why should you consider reading this book? It is beautifully written. I mean, it just flows, and the reader really feels like they are having a conversation with the author. I felt like I knew Michelle. The detail of the story is rich; one can picture every scene described. It is just great literature.
For me, it also gave me a deeper understanding of my wife’s culture. I understand now why she is harder on my grandson, who we are raising, than I am. Korean mothers show their love through food and cooking, rather than being demonstrative. And I got to read a lot of Korean terms that I have heard, but never before seen written in English.
Through the book, the author describes her journey of developing this closeness with her mother that is, well, closer than I’ve ever I experienced with anyone. And, it must be said, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. Gee, not everybody is like me! Who knew?
This is a great book, deeply moving, and culturally thought-provoking. There is nothing business-related here, but I think you’ll enjoy it.
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