Name: Tastes Like War
ISBN: 9781952177941

Grace M. Cho

A powerful account of a Korean American daughter's exploration of food and family history to understand her mother's schizophrenia.

A Memoir

Tastes Like War

mostly an really interesting read, primarily because of the lore from the author’s brother and family. regardless, it starts as a very compelling story and tapers off at the end to be a bit of a pity party by the author for her own experience despite having quite a bit of privilege. knowing the controversy, she seems to very plainly and boringly assert her mother’s apparent permission to write this book which, regardless of if it’s true or not, is pretty poorly written. it almost seems like she’s rewritten these situations but didn’t have the guts to fictionalize beyond “everything was great”. at times it felt like fiction, at times a memoir, and at times a research paper. 

Nina

Taylor Thornton

A very moving read. However, it felt so SO wishy washy. I got annoyed anytime she asked her rhetorical questions of “what if’s…?”. She didn’t know and we don’t know. We can’t truly know her mother’s experience. That being said, I found the look into civilian’s experience of the Korean War illuminating as it’s not discussed much in the US. I also appreciated the look into schizophrenia and the effects it has on your seemingly “regular, day-to-day” individual. How anyone can be dealing with these things and we can help and connect through love and shared experience. Beautiful themes throughout the book but was not a fan of how speculative it all was.

Deeply emotional, powerful, and thoughtful, interlacing personal stories, history, and knowledge of all kinds of foods.

Tastes Like War A Memoir

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