Title: Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin
Pages: 288
Publisher: Phoenix
Available: Amazon, Kindle
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Look-After-Mother-Kyung-Sook/dp/0753828189
Rating: 3/5
Translated from the Korean by Chi-Young Kim
All her life So-riyo acts as wife and mother to her five children without thanks nor asking for any gratitude, supporting them whenever needed. One day though, a tragedy happens, So-riyo leavers and her family are left to look for her in the hope they can find her.
When So-riyo does this, she leaves a trail that reveals a So-riyo they never knew existed, and the book goes to great lengths to keep the reader wanting to find out more about her life, the one she kept hidden.
From the moment you start reading, you can feel the stress and anxiety of So-riyo's family at her being missing. They realize there are only so many things they can do to get people to help them find her before people lose interest and in time forget her name. I liked that she had certain quirks, instead of celebrating her birthday on her day, as her husband's birthday was close to hers, she would share her day with his and celebrate both. To all, she seems a likeable and selfless person, even if she did have a darker side they didn't know.
Please Look After Mother is about missed opportunities,and the deep love and affection we all feel for our mothers, yet there is also a moral part to this to not take too much advantage of our mothers being around. The book is full of inspired stories about their mother and the sort of person she was and why they want her back.
Winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012
This book comes with reading group notes.
Other books:
I'll Be Right There
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