A Living Remedy

A Living Remedy is Nicole Chung's memoir about growing up as a Korean American adoptee in a white family in rural Oregon. After her parents' deaths, she grapples with grief while examining the systemic inequities in American healthcare and society. The narrative traces her relationship with her adoptive parents through childhood into her adult years as a writer and mother. As their health declines, Chung navigates the complexities of caregiving from across the country while building her career and raising her own family. The book chronicles the impact of class differences, geographic distance, and America's healthcare system on families facing illness and loss. Chung documents her experiences during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as these systemic issues come into sharper focus. Through her personal story, Chung explores broader questions about family bonds, inherited trauma, and the intersection of adoption with race and class in America. The memoir examines how love persists and transforms across these divides, while confronting the limitations of individual remedies for collective failures.

Readers describe this memoir as an intimate look at grief, class inequality, and the American healthcare system through Chung's experience losing both parents. Many note its honest portrayal of caregiver burnout and the financial strain of medical care. Readers appreciated: - Clear, straightforward writing style - Authentic exploration of complicated parent relationships - Documentation of systemic healthcare failures - Relatability for those who've lost parents Common criticisms: - Repetitive narrative structure - Some sections feel emotionally distant - Pacing issues in the middle chapters Ratings: Goodreads: 4.1/5 (2,800+ ratings) Amazon: 4.3/5 (280+ ratings) Sample reader comments: "Captures the messiness of watching parents decline" - Goodreads reviewer "Important perspective on America's broken systems" - Amazon reviewer "Sometimes meandering but ultimately moving" - LibraryThing review "The healthcare critique feels urgent and necessary" - StoryGraph user

Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong A Korean American writer examines grief, identity, and intergenerational trauma through personal essays that connect her experiences to broader cultural and historical contexts.

Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief by Victoria Chang Through letters and documents, a poet chronicles her family's immigration story and explores the intersection of loss, memory, and Asian American identity.

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden A memoir traces the author's coming of age as a queer, biracial teenager in Florida while grappling with family addiction, loss, and complex parent-child relationships.

The Still Point of the Turning World by Emily Rapp Black A mother documents her journey through grief and examines the nature of parental love after her infant son receives a terminal diagnosis.

An Enlarged Heart by Florence Williams A science journalist investigates the physiological and neurological impacts of grief following the end of her marriage while weaving in research on loss and healing.

🌟 Nicole Chung's previous memoir, "All You Can Ever Know," was named a Best Book of the Year by over 20 publications, including The Washington Post and NPR 📚 The book explores the stark healthcare disparities in America through the lens of Chung's working-class parents in rural Oregon who couldn't afford adequate medical care 💫 Chung wrote much of "A Living Remedy" during the COVID-19 pandemic, while processing the grief of losing both her parents within two years 🎓 The author was adopted as a baby by white parents in a small Oregon town, and her experience as a transracial adoptee influences her perspective on family bonds and loss 🖋️ Before becoming an author, Chung served as the editor-in-chief of Catapult magazine and the managing editor of The Toast, both significant platforms for emerging writers