Michelle Zauner, "Crying in H Mart: A Memoir"

Michelle Zauner 와 그녀의 데뷰작 "Crying in H Mart: A Memoir" (2021)

 

매일경제 기사

npr Book Review   

LA Times Review: 'Crying in H Mart' is a must read for all Korean Americans

 

아래는 책 본문에서:

 

Every time I ate well or bowed correctly to my elders, my relatives

would say, "Aigo yeppeu." "Yeppeu," or pretty, was frequently

employed as a synonym for good or well-behaved, and this fusion

of moral and aesthetic approval was an early introduction to the

value of beauty and the rewards it had in store. (p. 33)

 

"Gwaenchanh-a, gwaenchan-a," she said. It's okay, it's okay.

Korean words so familiar, the gentle coo I'd heard my whole life

that assured me whatever ache was at hand would pass. Even as

she was dying, my mother offered me solace, her instinct to

nurture overwhelming any personal fear she might have felt but

kept expertly hidden. (p. 118)

 

I sliced the cabbage in half. It emitted a charming squeak as the

knife cut through the base, waxy and firm. I pulled it apart,

"gently and politely," as maangchi instructed. (p. 214)

 

I started making kimchi once a month. my new therapy. I

reserved an older batch for cooking stews, pancakes, and fried

rice, and newer batches for side dishes.... I would think of how

my mother always used to tell me never to fall in love with

someone who doesn't like kimchi.... Her very own way of

saying, "You are what you eat." (p. 216)

 

[S]he paused as if she had only just noticed.

"Are you Korean?"

"Ne, Seoul-eseo taeeonasseoyo," I said as quickly and seamlessly

as possible. Yes I was born in Seoul. My mouth was loose and

comfortable wth the words I knew. ...

"Uri umma hanguk saram, appa miguk saram," I said. My mom

Korean, my da American. She closed her eyes and opened her

mouth with an "ahhh" and nodded. She stared at me again, taking

me in, as if to sift out the Korean parts. (p. 225-6)

 

Even at the height of my ambitions I had never imagined I'd be

able to play a concert in my mother's native country, in the city

where i was born. I wished that my mother could see me, could

be proud of the woman I'd become and the career I'd built,

the realization of something she worried for so long

would never happen. (p. 232)

 

The past couple of weeks had been brutally cold, even wrapped

in the long down coat I'd bought that could have easily

passed for a sleeping bag. (p. 237)

 

 

Michelle Chongmi Zauner

Korean-American musician, director, and author (Wikipedia)

 

Rreal Life: Love, Loss, and Kimchi

by Michelle Zauner