I decided to check this out because it was part of the Big Library Read, and I didn’t really know what to expect. But I’m so happy I picked it up. 

I had no idea or any inkling who Grace Cho was nor any interest or relationship to schizophrenia, but this really opened my mind to learning new things. 

Food was such a large part of this memoir, and it brought me back to my one college class that was basically all about food - how our society perceives it, the history of how we treat food, it’s place in our world, and more. I saw a lot of connections to that class, and, for that reason, I was able to form a better, meaningful connection to what Grace Cho was telling us readers. How food is so powerful as to form a basis for connection, memory, relationships, and so much more - specifically to Grace Cho, a way to bring her mother back to before her schizophrenic days. 

This was so well done and this will certainly be a book I think about for a while. I loved so many things about it - the honesty, the complex and real relationships, the juxtaposition of both personal struggles (her mother’s schizophrenia) and societal issues (homophobia, racism, misogyny, etc) and how they affected one another. This was really a beautiful and sad and haunting book in the most lovely way.