Crying in H Mart - Book Stamp

After I made my stamp for Piranesi, I had a thought in the back of my mind when reading new books, "what could be the book stamp for this one?" I thought about this as I started reading a book by Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart.

Crying in H Mart was very different from Piransei. Piranesi was a fictional, lighter fantasy. A made up story and an imaginary setting. Crying in H Mart was a sobering and honest memoir by a Korean-American woman detailing her complicated relationship with her mother. She walks us through her upbringing with her mother, caring for her during a cancer diagnosis and ultimately, her death. Quite the vibe shift (also, I did not spoil anything right there. The back of the book literally says this. Its about the journey, ya know?)

H Mart (in this, the year 2025) is America's largest Asian Supermarket chain. Zauner's mother was Korean and moved to the U.S as an adult and married her white American husband. Zauner herself was born and rasied in America and physically takes after many of her mother's Korean features. This experience as a Korean American is a central theme of the book, being split between two cultures and not feeling fully part of either. She finds that one main way she can connect to her mother and her Korean heritage is by making Korean food.

While there were many incredible foods Zauner creates throughout the book, the meaning and the labor behind Kimchi felt like one of the most important ones.

"The whole process made me appreciate kimchi so much more. Growing up, if there were a couple of pieces of kimchi left on the plate after a meal, I'd lazily toss them, but now that I'd made it from scratch, I conscientiously returned my uneaten pieces back to my onggi. I started making Kimchi once a month, my new therapy."