Zauner’s memoir is filled with deep feelings and Korean food. It is the story of her parents, their family of three, and extended maternal, Korean family. It is the story of her failed artistic ambitions, and meeting and marrying her husband. Most of all, it is the story of her mother, their relationship’s evolution, and an unsparing, emotional rendering of the loss of this beloved parent.

Zauner binds these stories together with food, her mother’s food, that Zauner claims as her own, her birthright. It helps her in her grief to bring her mother and their cherished memories of shared experiences back to life. It guarantees that her Korean culture will not be lost with the loss of her mother, that she can always access memory and culture with the savory, sweet, pungent smells and tastes of her favorite recipes and dishes.

Zauner is candid about all aspects of her family’s relationships— her father’s sensitivities, difficulties with care giving, and likely infidelities. Her own rebellious nature, refusing to comply with her mother’s wishes during adolescence, like she sees in her fellow Korean American peers. She is straight up about the worry and heartache she caused her parents at that time and into early adulthood, doggedly pursuing her musical ambitions, with nothing to show for it. it is when her mother receives a dreaded diagnosis of stage four cancer that she returns to her childhood home, pausing on her own life to return the loving care to her mother that her mother generously gave her during childhood. She gains a new perspective and appreciation for all her mother gave her, and longs to remove and absorb her mother’s pain, to make her way easy, to share the comfort of a loving relationship in the little time they have left.

Anyone who has suffered the loss of a parent will find much to relate to here, and perhaps much consolation. Those who share parentage of different cultural backgrounds will appreciate and understand the journey Zauner had to take to come around to owning and appreciating her rich inheritance. Zauner does an honest and at times, lyrical rendering of her experiences in this memoir. Highly recommend.