Michelle Zauner, the author of Crying In H-Mart – Dua’s Monthly Read for April – shares a reading list of the books that inspired her novel
“Han Kang’s writing is so haunting, visceral and poetic. The Vegetarian is about a woman named Yeong-hye, who decides to stop eating meat after a violent dream, and how her body and personal life slowly deteriorate thereafter. The story is told from three different perspectives, none of which are Yeong-hye’s, and over that narrative distance, food takes on a menacing, traumatic character. The book reminded me of just how difficult caretaking can be: the calorie counting and the obsession over nutrients; the mortal struggle of someone who doesn’t want to eat. It helped me explore the theme of food from a darker vantage point and was a crucial part of coming to understand why it was, psychologically, that I turned to Korean cooking as a way of undoing that trauma.”
Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin
“This was one of the first books my editor at Knopf, Robin Desser, recommended, and I absolutely devoured it. The novel is about an old Korean woman who goes missing and her family’s quest to find her. In the process, they realise how severely they’ve taken her for granted. It’s a beautiful exploration of a Korean mother’s invisible labour. Absolutely crushing.”
Native Speaker by Chang Rae Lee
“I loved this book. The novel is about a Korean American man who is commissioned to go undercover as a political volunteer for a city councilman. Also, following a Korean American and on the fast track to becoming mayor. A thrilling and gut-wrenching story about cultural alienation. I discovered later that Chang Rae also wrote some really beautiful essays about Korean food and his mother for The New Yorker. I recently got to meet him, and it was wonderful to discover he is just as tremendously kind and generous a person as he is profound and exceptional as a writer.”
“Jenny’s writing is intense, dark, singular. This book has stuck with me for a long time.”
The Gastronomical Me by MFK Fisher
“When he heard I was writing a book about food, my college creative writing professor recommended I read MFK Fisher. Her food writing is unparalleled! Truly no one can make an oyster sound more delectable than MFK.”
The Year of Magical Thinking & Blue Nights by Joan Didion
“Two devastating books on grief that were so instrumental to the writing of Crying In H Mart. A beautiful account of unfathomable loss.”
