“Stop crying! Save your tears for when your mother dies.” Chongmi
Michelle Zauner creatively writes a memoir of her mother through stories of how Chongmi showed her Asian kind of love — food and tiger-style parenting
I read this while I was going through a difficult phase in my life: my father is terminally ill. But even on top of that emotional rollercoaster I am going through with my personal life, I can definitely say that this book hit whatever it is in my tear ducts; I can’t help but explode with tears.
It is a lovely tribute.
It’s like a love letter of a daughter unveiling her undying love and the memories with her mom.
It is an homage to a lingering feeling of gratitude and grief.
It is a piece of reflection of how painful it is to lose a loved one.
Chongmi is unique in her own beautiful way. There are habits, principles, and beliefs that only Asian moms like Chongmi could instill to their children. And I completely relate to that with Michelle’s storytelling.
What made me believe that Michelle is a genius storyteller is that I can’t help but cry and feel the emotions through her words. This book is simply too good; one can finish this in one go. I just really had to pause several times because I can relate so much to her struggles with my dad suffering illness at the time when I was reading it. He passed away 3 months after. When I was reading the book, I couldn’t image the pain of losing a parent. And now that my dad is gone, that piece of feeling keeps on lingering within me. The longing for someone you know would never come back.
We all have that unique connections with our loved ones. And when life suddenly whispers, “your time is up,” we can’t help but long for more—more time to say goodbye, more time to express our gratitude, more time to honor their place in our lives. Sometimes, we wish we wouldn’t even have to say goodbye.
How to bid goodbye to a parent? I can only pray not to know.
under the sun 