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Crying in H Mart

The No. 1 New York Times bestselling memoir from indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast

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About this listen

Read by the author, Michelle Zauner, lead vocalist of Japanese Breakfast.

'A story that is both beautiful and heartbreaking; it is as raw as it is precious. I bawled my eyes out, but I also loved it and I hope you do too.' – Dua Lipa

From the indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, an unflinching, deeply moving memoir about growing up mixed-race, Korean food, losing her Korean mother, and forging her own identity.

'Incredible . . . It absolutely wrecked me . . . So, so emotional' – Natalie Portman

'Crying In H Mart destroyed me . . . It’s fantastic.' – Olivia Rodrigo

'As good as everyone says it is and, yes, it will have you in tears. An essential read for anybody who has lost a loved one, as well as those who haven't' – Marie Claire

In this story of family and food, grief and joy, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school; of struggling with her mother’s 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, 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 pancreatic 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.

Vivacious and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as alive as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes, Crying in H Mart is an audiobook to cherish and share.

What readers are saying about Crying in H Mart:
'I recommend this for anyone who likes memoirs, food, and who’s ever felt lonely.' (Five Stars)
'I was captivated by this coming-of-age story which resonated with mine and other friends' stories.' (Five Stars)
'A must for people looking to be hooked in memories that span between joy, sadness and love.' (Five Stars)

*Crying in H Mart was a #1 New York Times bestseller w/c 17.04.2023

 Entertainment & Celebrities Grief & Loss Mental Health Awareness Personal Development Relationships Social Sciences Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking Celebrity

Critic reviews

Extraordinary . . . This is a book about loss that is also about love; it’s a book about South Korea that is also about West Coast small town America; it’s a story that is both beautiful and heartbreaking; it is as raw as it is precious. I bawled my eyes out, but I also loved it and I hope you do too. (Dua Lipa)
'Crying In H Mart destroyed me . . . It’s fantastic.' (Olivia Rodrigo)
Incredible . . . It absolutely wrecked me . . . So, so emotional (Natalie Portman)
I cried my way through all of it . . . It is so beautiful and so incredible . . . I was so moved, and I cannot hype it up enough. You guys need to read it for yourselves. (Kaia Gerber)
Michelle Zauner's Crying In H Mart is as good as everyone says it is and, yes, it will have you in tears. An essential read for anybody who has lost a loved one, as well as those who haven't.
Brilliant . . . A simultaneously joyful and gut-wrenching account of a highly complicated mother-daughter relationship (The Evening Standard, 'Best Memoirs of All Time')
The best book I’ve read in the past year . . . frank, lyrical, humorous. (Claudia Roden, Financial Times)
The book’s descriptions of jjigae, tteokbokki, and other Korean delicacies stand out as tokens of the deep, all-encompassing love between Zauner and her mother, a love that is charted in vivid descriptions of her mother after death; in a time when people around the world are reckoning with untold loss due to COVID-19, Zauner’s frankness around death feels like an unexpected yet deeply necessary gift.
A beautiful, honest and stylish account of grief, food and heritage. The way Zauner writes about food and how it acts as a bridge between her and her mother, her culture, her sense of self, is brilliantly written. (Nikesh Shukla, author of Brown Baby)
Crying in H Mart stunned me - with its truthfulness and the force of its yearning. Beautiful, intimate, powerful, it is an unforgettable portrayal of grief and the bond between mother and daughter. (Catherine Cho, author of Inferno)
Zauner brings dish after dish to life on the page in a rich broth of delectable details, cultural context and the personal history often packed into every bite. . . [Crying in H Mart] will ultimately thrill Japanese Breakfast fans and provide comfort to those in the throes of loss while brilliantly detailing the colorful panorama of Korean culture, traditions and — yes — food'
Crying in H Mart is a warm and wholehearted work of literature, an honest and detailed account of grief over time, studded with moments of hope, humor, beauty, and clear-eyed observation. It is not to be missed.
Crying in H Mart is palpable in its grief and its tenderness, reminding us what we all stand to lose.
All stars
Most relevant
What I really enjoyed about this memoir was its rawness, showing the realities of both joy and grief. It’s about grief, anxiety, love and loss, amongst the many flavours of Korean food

“When I go to H Mart, I’m not just on the hunt for cuttlefish and three bunches of scallions for a buck: I’m searching for memories. I’m collecting the evidence that the Korean half of my identity didn’t die when they did.”

Powerful memoir on grief, joy and food

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Enjoyed the tone and style of this book. It was heartfelt and emotional about real life experiences, it made me feel like I was there.

Fantastic and heart wrenching

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It’s a great story and the narration is really clear. Really enjoyed the whole book

Great story

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I read this book as part of a book club. I didn't know from the title just how much it would grip my heart. I am an immigrant across the ocean from my family, I am also terminally ill. it's hard to come to terms with freshly 30 and dying fast from home and so many emotions I feel were perfectly encapsulated in this book. I cannot express how thankful I am to have been able to read it.

crying in my sick bed

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A heartbreaking and cathartic book. Zauner's cultural identity and maternal relationship are expressed vividly in this book.

Crying in H Mart offers the reader a forthright, and at times, terrifying perspective on the experience of loss, through the window of cultural experience.

As someone with a Korean mother, it was beautiful to feel represented through Zauner's own childhood and to connect with another's words in a way I hadn't before.

With this book being so personal Zauner, her narration is a befitting choice. Her voice is steady and almost soothing at times. She isn't flamboyant in her delivery and doesn't need to be. Having another read such a deeply private account would almost seem dishonest.

A beautiful and brutal piece

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