Tastes Like War

A Memoir

De: Grace M. Cho

Narrado por: Cindy Kay

Grace M. Cho grew up as the daughter of a White American merchant marine and the Korean bar hostess he met abroad. They were one of few immigrants in a xenophobic small town during the Cold War, where identity was politicized by everyday details - language, cultural references, memories, and food. When Grace was 15, her dynamic mother experienced the onset of schizophrenia, a condition that would continue and evolve for the rest of her life.

Part food memoir, part sociological investigation, Tastes Like War is a hybrid text about a daughter’s search through intimate and global history for the roots of her mother’s schizophrenia. In her mother’s final years, Grace learned to cook dishes from her parent’s childhood in order to invite the past into the present and to hold space for her mother’s multiple voices at the table. And through careful listening over these shared meals, Grace discovered not only the things that broke the brilliant, complicated woman who raised her - but also the things that kept her alive.

©2021 Grace M. Cho (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

A window into another life

I felt like this book was a window into a life unfamiliar to me, and at the same time familiar. Mothers and daughters, mental illness, food, life…
The book pulled us in and posed questions about our own lives and relationships…and about what we eat and what food means to us.

good. ending was meh

only complaint was the ending seemed kind of flat and unfinished. idk just my oppinion.

So moving and complete

I really admire the author for listening to her mom, putting her in a leading role in this drama. Her mom deserves to be recognized as a heroine.

Must listen

This book is so well written. I was enraptured from the start. As a daughter of a mom with mental illness, it was also a heart warming healing story to listen to. I highly recommend it.

Really great story, dislike the narration

Why is a non-Korean reading this? There are many Korean-American individuals who are fluent in both languages. I did not like this narrator’s terrible mispronunciations and sometimes Chinese-sounding “accent”. I cringed every single time Korean words were read.

moving story

Moving and fascinating story about the struggles growing up and becoming a young adult in wartime Korea and equally interesting and devastating account of becoming a Korean American.

Beautiful book

A mother-daughter story like none I’ve read before. Beautiful, heartbreaking story I will read again.

Both heartwarming and heartbreaking

A poignant tribute to a survivor. Every daughter should be so lucky to have such a mother and every mother so lucky to have such a daughter.

Beautiful

Such a beautiful and well written book. Thank you for sharing. Mental health is so complex, but I really enjoyed the authors experience and perspective. You come to love her and her Mom. 💓

A beautiful tribute

A touching story of her mother’s life and how her spirit propelled her daughter into a better future.