Please Look After Mom - bookrastinating.com

Hardcover, 237 pages

English language

Published April 5, 2011 by Knopf.

ISBN:: 978-0-307-59391-7

(1 review)

When sixty-nine year old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, and vanishes, their children are consumed with loud recriminations, and are awash in sorrow and guilt. As they argue over the "Missing" flyers they are posting throughout the city - how large of a reward to offer, the best way to phrase the text - they realize that none of them have a recent photograph of Mom. Soon a larger question emerges: do they really know the woman they called Mom?

Told by the alternating voices of Mom's daughter, son, her husband and, in the shattering conclusion, by Mom herself, the novel pieces together, Rashomon-style, a life that appears ordinary but is anything but.

This is a mystery of one mother that reveals itself to be the mystery of all our mothers: about her triumphs and disappointments and about who she is …

When sixty-nine year old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, and vanishes, their children are consumed with loud recriminations, and are awash in sorrow and guilt. As they argue over the "Missing" flyers they are posting throughout the city - how large of a reward to offer, the best way to phrase the text - they realize that none of them have a recent photograph of Mom. Soon a larger question emerges: do they really know the woman they called Mom?

Told by the alternating voices of Mom's daughter, son, her husband and, in the shattering conclusion, by Mom herself, the novel pieces together, Rashomon-style, a life that appears ordinary but is anything but.

This is a mystery of one mother that reveals itself to be the mystery of all our mothers: about her triumphs and disappointments and about who she is on her own terms, separate from who she is to her family. If you have ever been a daughter, a son, a husband or a mother, Please Look After Mom is a revelation - one that will bring tears to your eyes.

1 edition

bungakumi reviewed Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin

Review of 'Please Look After Mom' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

2.5

the first chapter was a lot more compelling than the rest of the book.. I think the use of 2nd person was something interesting, given how unusual it is and all.
however, the book itself took me way longer than it should have because it just wasn't that interesting overall and I think it was not a satisfying story, even the ending seemed a bit too much, the characters both bland and kind of annoying. the premise was more interesting than the story itself tbh. oh well.

I persevered because abandoning books is something I am very reticent to do but maybe I should've stopped reading it after the first chapter because, in the end, what did I gain from it? not much.