Tastes Like War Audiobook By Grace M. Cho cover art

Tastes Like War

A Memoir

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Tastes Like War

By: Grace M. Cho
Narrated by: Cindy Kay
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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 Relationships Memoir Inspiring Heartfelt Military War
Beautiful Writing • Moving Story • Awesome Narration • Fascinating History • Complex Relationships • Emotional Depth
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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.

A window into another life

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

good. ending was meh

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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.

So moving and complete

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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.

Must listen

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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.

Really great story, dislike the narration

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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.

moving story

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

Beautiful book

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This is so much more than a memoir - it is a history lesson; a sociological analysis; it is a menu to be longed for and of course it is a love story between a daughter and her mother… incredible.

Incredible story - masterfully performed

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Here we are from two different cultures still both enduring the same mental health issues. Schizophrenia is an issue I know all too well in my sweet 21yr old daughters life. I wish I would write a book about her journey.

Relatable

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

A beautiful tribute

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