A million-plus-copy best seller in South Korea and poised to become an international sensation—Please Look After Mom is the stunning, deeply moving story of a family’s search for their mother, and of the desires, heartaches, and secrets they discover she harbored within.
On a family visit to the city, Mom is right behind her husband when the train pulls out of Seoul Station without her, and she is lost, possibly forever. As her children argue over how to find her and her husband returns to their countryside home to wait for her, they each recall their lives with her, their memories often more surprising than comforting. Have they lived up to her expectations? Was she happy? Through the piercing voices of daughter, son, and husband, and through Mom’s own words in the novel’s shattering conclusion, we learn what happened that day, and explore an even deeper mystery—of motherhood itself.
At once steeped in the beauty and complexities of the East and rich with a universal tenderness, Please Look After Mom has a revelatory emotional power. You will never think of your mother the same way again after you’ve read this book.
"Kyung-sook Shin is a best selling Korean author who is finally in translation here in the States. And, oh my, how glad I am. Her writing is mesmerizing, deep and beautiful. She pushes the reader into the story by literally using referring to "you" as the narrating character. "You" are looking for your 69 year old mother who disappeared in a Seoul subway station on the way to a birthday dinner. Sometimes "you" are the oldest daughter, other times "you" are the favored son. Sometimes you are looking through the lives and memory of the negligent husband, sometimes "you" are the ever-working but never appreciated mother of the family. The intensity of this way of story telling is heart-breaking and addictive--putting this book down is almost impossible. Keep some tissues handy, and make sure you have a free evening, then dive into this book and ride the emotional tidal wave--you will close the book exhausted but grateful for the journey."
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