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A Living Remedy
A Living Remedy: A Memoir | Nicole Chung
11 posts | 10 read | 14 to read
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 from: Dallas Morning News * Today.com * Good Housekeeping * Time * The Rumpus * The Week * Salon * Seattle Times * Electric Literature * Bookpage * The Millions * Elle.com * Washington Post * Book Riot * Lit Hub * NPR's Here & Now * Ms. Magazine * Town & Country * New York Times * USA Today * Sunset From the bestselling author of ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW comes a searing memoir of family, class and griefa daughters search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives shes lost. In this country, unless you attain extraordinary wealth, you will likely be unable to help your loved ones in all the ways youd hoped. You will learn to live with the specific, hollow guilt of those who leave hardship behind, yet are unable to bring anyone else with them. Nicole Chung couldnt hightail it out of her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown fast enough. As a scholarship student at a private university on the East Coast, no longer the only Korean she knew, she found community and a path to the life she'd long wanted. But the middle class world she begins to raise a family in where there are big homes, college funds, nice vacations looks very different from the middle class world she thought she grew up in, where paychecks have to stretch to the end of the week, health insurance is often lacking, and there are no safety nets. When her father dies at only sixty-seven, killed by diabetes and kidney disease, Nicole feels deep grief as well as rage, knowing that years of precarity and lack of access to healthcare contributed to his early death. And then the unthinkable happens less than a year later, her beloved mother is diagnosed with cancer, and the physical distance between them becomes insurmountable as COVID-19 descends upon the world. Exploring the enduring strength of family bonds in the face of hardship and tragedy, A Living Remedy examines what it takes to reconcile the distance between one life, one home, and another and sheds needed light on some of the most persistent and grievous inequalities in American society.
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review
sakeriver
Pickpick

I think what Nicole Chung does here in terms of portraying the landscape of grief is very moving, and very familiar to my experience of different kinds of grief. Beautifully written, and a beautiful testament to her and her parents' love.

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sakeriver
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Floresj
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Pickpick

This memoir processing the death of her parents is more than that. So glad I read this- her writing is exquisite and I didn‘t want to put it down. Best book I‘ve read in awhile.

15 likes2 stack adds
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goodbyefrancie
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Excellent so far. Super cold outside, so it's a perfect day to stay inside and read.

#memoir

57 likes1 stack add
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ncsufoxes
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Pickpick

Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. This book was had so many facets. Insurance coverage in the US, disability coverage, medical care. Chung discusses the health outcomes of both her parents & their subsequent passing. There were several aspects of her story that I definitely related to. My FIL had several types of cancer & he had been sick as long as my husband & I had been together. When my husband was offered a post doctoral

ncsufoxes position on the other side of the US it was a hard decision to make but necessary for his career. My husband couldn‘t bare to watch his dad get sicker, even though it was so difficult to be so far away (& we didn‘t have money to travel). We did get to be with him for the last few weeks of his life but it was not what my husband imagined (his dad passed when he was 40). My in laws fortunately had great health insurance & great doctors. It still 11mo
ncsufoxes doesn‘t take the hurt away. My husband still hates that he never got to do all the things he wanted to do with him as an adult but my FIL was always sick. Anyhow a heartbreaking story but such a great book. #bookspin book, #nonfiction2023 prompt: killing in the name (because the healthcare system in the US sucks & too many people suffer needlessly) 11mo
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 11mo
19 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Soubhiville
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Pickpick

Chung writes beautifully of her experience losing her parents to different illnesses in a relatively short period of time. It‘s heartbreaking. She brought me right in to every conversation, every emotion.

Her first book on being Korean raised by her adopted white American family was just as insightful. If you haven‘t read it I‘d recommend it as well.

Be aware this partially takes place during the pandemic.

Soubhiville @TheAromaofBooks this was my December #doublespin 😁📚 11mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 11mo
64 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Chelsea.Poole
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This memoir is about losing one‘s parents to death and disease. As my mother has recently undergone cancer treatment (3 times with different cancers) I could easily relate to the way Chung describes the feelings she had when her mother became ill with the same horrible disease. Chung lives on the opposite side of the country and was unable to visit her ailing mother during Covid restrictions which is another horrible addition to her pain.

ncsufoxes This is one I recently added to my TBR. My FIL had cancer times (colon, brain, & prostate). He had been sick on & off ever since my husband was in high school. We had moved cross country for my husband to do his fellowship (he did his PhD in Genetics & Molecular Biology, he‘s on oncology research scientist because of his dad). It was one of the hardest decisions we ever had to make moving away knowing my FIL could get sick again while we were so 12mo
ncsufoxes far away. My husband knew too that he couldn‘t watch his dad get sicker when he knew how to help. But his dad didn‘t want to pursue anymore treatment after his third cancer. We were able to go back & see him before he passed but it killed my husband seeing his dad so sick. The only solace I think he‘s ever had is knowing that he‘s working to develop better treatments for people after seeing what his dad lives through. You & your mom are in my 12mo
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ncsufoxes thoughts (edited) 12mo
ravenlee Stacking this. My mom‘s on her third treatment, too, and it‘s hard to guess how this one will pan out. Her doctors recommended this one and I just haven‘t been able to start it yet. 12mo
Chelsea.Poole @ncsufoxes Every time she‘s had treatments I think of the people who are working to make advancements in the way cancer is treated so I‘m very thankful for your husband and everyone else doing this vital work. I know so many are touched by the horribleness that is cancer and it‘s amazing your husband used his pain as a way to make positive changes. So sad to hear about your FIL. I‘m so sorry. 12mo
Chelsea.Poole @ravenlee I haven‘t been able to go there with that book either. I‘m so sorry you (and she) are going through this. It‘s just horrible. My mom is currently doing well and no longer taking treatment, as of this summer. She‘s getting her strength back (again). The anxiety around dr visits is just out of this world though, hoping for only good news. Thinking of you and your mom. ♥️ 12mo
82 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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JenReadsAlot
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Well that was sad....

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Cortg
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A great memoir for Asian Pacific American month! This memoir focuses on her parents health and the American healthcare for the poor. Living on the opposite coast and not being able to care for them as she‘d like causes a lot of anxiety and guilt that comes from that. I‘m looking forward to reading her first memoir, All You Can Never Know, focusing on her adoption.
#Pop23 ~a book published in spring 2023

BarbaraBB Lovely review. This book has been on my radar for a while now 💕 2y
batsy I have this on my list! Nice review. 2y
squirrelbrain Great review - stacked. 2y
Cortg @BarbaraBB @batsy @squirrelbrain Thanks! If you get around to reading this, I hope you enjoy it! 😊 2y
38 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Graciouswarriorprincess
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Book 58/100 of the year.

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akaGingerK
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Pickpick

I finished what I‘ve been calling “the crying book” on my lunch today and predictably burst into tears one last time on the way. A beautifully written memoir of grief and loss that hits very close to my own fears for my aging parents.

The final chapter reveals the true conclusion of an earlier conversation and hits the perfect ending note. (I‘m still crying, though). #ARC