Book Review: Tastes Like War // Grace M. Cho
By Asia Hayes
Grace M. Cho’s memoir, Tastes Like War, is equal parts homage as it is reckoning. Cho— a professor at the City University of New York,—delves into social, political, and racial dynamics in a way that illuminates her mother’s struggles with schizophrenia. Her memoir follows the ‘three mothers’ Cho alleges to know in her lifetime, as she and her mother balance, “what Western medical discourse calls ‘mental illness’ and, what Koreans might describe as a ‘pained spirit’,” as well as the social dynamics that illuminate it.
Space and place play a vital role in Cho’s life. As the daughter of a white American father and Korean mother impacted by the postwar Korean diaspora in the United States, Cho is forced to confront the realities of race and a complicated sense of belonging. Chehalis, Washington serves as an important link between the author, her mother, and identity development. For Cho, Chehalis became the landscape of racial awareness, her mother, and the onset of mental illness.
Cho’s narratives weave academic research and memory together. Tastes Like War illuminates’ history and intergenerational trauma as a means to seek freedom and carve a path toward liberation. The author inserts academic research in a way that crafts a compelling narrative in order to better understand her relationship with herself, her culture, and her understanding of schizophrenia. Her memoir explores a history often untold, but one that powerfully brings forth the story of post-war Korean immigrants in the United States. Cho’s research on racial discrimination, trauma, and the Korean War forces readers to acknowledge the immigrant experience through a new lens.
The detailed and poignant reflections made by Cho encourage readers to explore discussions of racial trauma and mental health as well as the joy that can be brought forth through culture and language. Tastes Like War is a moving depiction of how the author comes to reconcile and heal from her experiences, and highlights gaps in the knowledge of readers in regards to the immigrant experience and our conceptualization of mental illness.
Tastes Like War introduces a style of memoir that emphasizes research; the reference to academia allows readers to feel a sense of credibility toward the author. The connections made are relevant, further enhancing the memories and building trust between the reader and the author. It’s at this intersection, however, where memory, academic research, and reality begin to blur.
As with any memoir, there’s a fine line between fact and fiction, based on the simple idea that memory is fallible and not the most credible account of an experience. Yet, when reading memoirs, there is an expectation that what is written is truth—despite the fact that it’s based on one individual’s memory.
In a peer reviewed article, “The Robustness of False Memory for Emotional Pictures,” Bessette-Symons discusses how emotionally-charged moments may result in a less than accurate recollection of the past. Academia is what separates Tastes Like War from other memoirs. Its use of real sources and research makes the connection between reader and author feel like one you can trust, when in reality, as readers of memoirs, we should always be aware of the notorious unreliability of human memory.
Acknowledgement of this reality is not meant to take away from the narrative, nor the research and dedication clearly put into creating this memoir. It is instead meant to serve as a reminder that our stories and our memories are sometimes just that: ours.
Asia is a graduate student in St. Louis, MO pursuing a joint Master of Social Work and Juris Doctorate degree. Her experience lies in educational justice and education-based nonprofit organizations. When she’s not in class, she can be found enjoying a cup of coffee and a good book.
