Helpful Score: 2
It was a very good book and spoke to the relationship we have with our parents and how little we often know about them, their feelings and needs. It especially happens now as children leave home and often live far away. It made me think a lot. It was written to point this out in a culture that once took care of their elders and which has now changed.
Helpful Score: 1
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2012/07/please-look-after-mom.html
Please Look After Mom is a book translated from Korean. Kyung-sook Shin is an acclaimed South Korean author, and this is her first book that has been translated into English.
It is the story of a family. Rather, it is the reflections of one family. The premise is simple - Mom is missing. She went missing at a subway station when Father let go of her hand and lost sight of her. She is elderly and ill. The family is looking frantically for her, but she is nowhere to be found.
Who is the family? It is Father and the three children. The book is in four parts and presents reflections on the life of the family over the years from different perspectives. The elder daughter, the only son, the father/husband, and finally Mom herself mixed in with glimpses of the younger daughter who is herself a mother.
The complexities of the relationships explored and the emotions felt are beautifully expressed in this book. Essentially, it is a book of regrets. Things that should have been done and said. Actions and people or really the person who should never have been taken for granted. Expressed in a cliche, this book is all about the fact that "you don't know what you've got until it's gone." Expressed in a song lyric, this book would be about the fact that "I just wish I could have told him [her] in the living years."
I absolutely loved this book and walked away to call the people in my life and let them know my love and appreciation for them. What a wonderful debut translation of this author's. I hope we are fortunate enough to read more.
Please Look After Mom is a book translated from Korean. Kyung-sook Shin is an acclaimed South Korean author, and this is her first book that has been translated into English.
It is the story of a family. Rather, it is the reflections of one family. The premise is simple - Mom is missing. She went missing at a subway station when Father let go of her hand and lost sight of her. She is elderly and ill. The family is looking frantically for her, but she is nowhere to be found.
Who is the family? It is Father and the three children. The book is in four parts and presents reflections on the life of the family over the years from different perspectives. The elder daughter, the only son, the father/husband, and finally Mom herself mixed in with glimpses of the younger daughter who is herself a mother.
The complexities of the relationships explored and the emotions felt are beautifully expressed in this book. Essentially, it is a book of regrets. Things that should have been done and said. Actions and people or really the person who should never have been taken for granted. Expressed in a cliche, this book is all about the fact that "you don't know what you've got until it's gone." Expressed in a song lyric, this book would be about the fact that "I just wish I could have told him [her] in the living years."
I absolutely loved this book and walked away to call the people in my life and let them know my love and appreciation for them. What a wonderful debut translation of this author's. I hope we are fortunate enough to read more.
* * *. On Amazon's Top 100 for 2011.
An aging mother mysteriously disappears from a subway station. As they search for her, each member of her immediate family thinks back to special events that made her stand out as a mother or wife.
Each chapter changes to continue the story in a different person's viewpoint; what I can only describe as the "second person" viewpoint. It is this unique style that keeps you riveted to this small book as you read about this family and their missing mother/wife. Keep some hankies handy.
Add a * if you are someone who knew/knows the value your mother was/is in your life.
An aging mother mysteriously disappears from a subway station. As they search for her, each member of her immediate family thinks back to special events that made her stand out as a mother or wife.
Each chapter changes to continue the story in a different person's viewpoint; what I can only describe as the "second person" viewpoint. It is this unique style that keeps you riveted to this small book as you read about this family and their missing mother/wife. Keep some hankies handy.
Add a * if you are someone who knew/knows the value your mother was/is in your life.
Very poignant, I read this in one night. After I finished the book, I wanted to call everyone I loved.
