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The Bookies will discuss Please Look After
Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin.
Booklist Review: This novel from widely acclaimed Korean author Shin focuses on
motherhood and family guilt. Park So-nyo, mother of four now-adult children,
has gone missing in a
Seoultrain station on the way to visit them. The novel is told in four parts, from
the perspectives of, first, her daughter, and then, her firstborn son, her
husband, and finally, So-nyo herself. Composed almost entirely in second-person
narration, the writing is sharp, biting, and intensely moving. So-nyo's
children continually battle with their own guilt for not taking better care of
her while reminiscing about the times when they were young, growing up in
incredible poverty in the countryside. The children come to terms with their
mother's absence in their own ways, and their father repents for a lifetime of
neglect. When So-nyo's voice enters the narrative, the portrait of a troubled
but loving family is complete. Secrets are revealed, and the heart of a mother
is beautifully exposed. This Korean million-plus-copy best-seller is an
impressive exploration of family love, poverty, and triumphing over hardship.
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