“We’re all searching for a piece of home, or a piece of ourselves. We look for a taste of it in the food we order and the ingredients we buy. Then we separate. We bring the haul back to our dorm rooms or our suburban kitchens, and we re-create the dish that couldn’t be made without our journey” – Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart
Crying in H Mart the 2023–24 One Book One Northwestern selection, author Michelle Zauner explores themes related to family, grief, and identity. Zauner revisits the devastating loss of her mother, recounting the complex mother-daughter relationship they had and the intense emotions of caring for a parent who is ill. She contemplates what it means to lose someone who was the strongest tie to her Korean heritage and shares what it was like growing up as a multi-racial Asian American person. Along the way are stories about how food can serve as a space of comfort and connection with oneself and with one’s family and heritage. This selection of prints and photographs from The Block’s collection is inspired by the book, highlighting common experiences of growing up, intergenerational family relationships, processes of mourning and remembering, and moving between cultures.
This selection of prints and photographs from The Block’s collection is inspired by the book, highlighting common experiences of growing up, intergenerational family relationships, processes of mourning and remembering, and moving between cultures.
We invite members of the Northwestern community and beyond to use these works as opportunities to connect to the text’s themes, whether for private contemplation or as a springboard in discussion with others. We include short contextual descriptions of each artwork and how each expands on ideas in Zauner’s memoir, but we also invite you to forge your own connections. Browse our online collection and see what works speak most strongly to themes in the book or your own experiences of familial relationships, personal history, entering adulthood, identity, and grief.
This package of selected artworks and accompanying texts are also viewable within the Museum’s Collection Database.
About One Book, One Northwestern
One Book One Northwestern is a community‐wide reading program hosted by the Office of the President. It aims to engage the campus in a common conversation centered on a carefully chosen, thought-provoking book. It began in 2005 for students in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and has since evolved into a community-wide program involving students, faculty and staff from all majors and departments.
Everyone is encouraged to read the One Book selection. The Office of the President sends a free copy to incoming first-year and transfer students the summer before they arrive on campus.
Throughout the year, events like lectures, films, and discussion groups provide an opportunity for individuals to gather and talk about the issues presented in the book. Many of these events are open to the public and the entire community is invited to participate.
