Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, 256 p.

"A memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. Michelle Zauner 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."--Goodreads

What a delight, in a very emotional way, to read about someone growing up from the viewpoint of someone of a different background than myself. It was so interesting to read about the way Michelle was raised, the food she ate, and the feelings she felt about being a Korean in America. The main takeaway I got from this book, though, is the struggles of family cross generations, ethnicities, and the world. A powerful read.

 

Pachinko by Lee Min-jin

Pachinko by Lee Min-jin, 496 p.

"n the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant — and that her lover is married — she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters — strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis — survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.--Goodreads blurb

What a fantastic family saga spanning years. It was wonderful and often profound to hear histories from a different culture, yet still feel so connected, because all families share so many common things. I didn't know this was recently made into a television show until I was almost finished with it, but will be glad to watch this wonderful story play out on the screen, not just in my mind.