Women's Fiction, Asian Peoples & Cultures - Fiction & Literature, Family & Friendship - Fiction, Asian Fiction - General
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Overview
A million-plus-copy best seller in Korea—a magnificent English-language debut poised to become an international sensation—this is the stunning, deeply moving story of a family’s search for their mother, who goes missing one afternoon amid the crowds of the Seoul Station subway.Told through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and mother, Please Look After Mom is at once an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love.
You will never think of your mother the same way again after you read this book.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
Traditional Chinese edition of Please Look After Mom. Shin Gyeong Suk (Shin Kyung-sook), author of bestselling novel "Lijin" creates a heartbroken and elegant story with a stereotypical mother who invisibly stands behind her children as her sons and daughters, who depend on her so much, push her away. "Please Look After Mom" begins with a family searching for their missing mother at a subway station in Seoul. They were visiting from a small country village... This novel is translated into English and published on 4/5/2011 by Knopf and is featured on the NYT Books on 3/30/2011. It debuted on Amazon at #15 on 4/5/2011. In Chinese. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Shin's affecting English-language debut centers on the life of a hardworking, uncomplaining woman who goes missing in a bustling Seoul subway station. After Park So-nyo's disappearance, her grown children and her husband are filled with guilt and remorse at having taken So-nyo for granted and reflect, in a round-robin of narration, on her life and role in their lives. Having, through Mom's unstinting dedication, achieved professional success, her children understand for the first time the hardships she endured. Her irresponsible and harshly critical husband, meanwhile, finally acknowledges the depth of his love and the seriousness of her sacrifices for him. Narrating in her own voice late in the book, the spirit of Mom watches her family and finally voices her lifelong loneliness and depression and recalls the one secret in her life. As memories accrue, the narrative becomes increasingly poignant and psychologically revealing of all the characters, and though it does sometimes go soggy with pathos, most readers should find resonance in this family story, a runaway bestseller in Korea poised for a similar run here. (Apr.)Library Journal
The Korean title of this indelible novel, Omma rul put'ak hae, contains a sense of commanding trust that is missing in its English translation: "I entrust Mommy [to you]." That trust is irreparably splintered when Mom disappears after becoming separated from her rushing husband on a busy Seoul Station platform. In four distinct voices, the character of Mom—a rural farmwoman whose "hands could nurture any life"—is reassembled by her eldest daughter, whose books Mom couldn't read; her eldest son, for whom she could never do enough; her husband, who never slowed down; and finally Mom herself as she wanders through memories both strange and familiar. Shin's breathtaking novel is an acute reminder of how easily a family can fracture, how little we truly know one another, and how desperate need can sometimes overshadow even the deepest love. VERDICT Already a prominent writer in Korea, Shin finally makes her English-language debut with what will appeal to all readers who appreciate compelling, page-turning prose. Stay tuned: Mom should be one of this year's most-deserving best sellers. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/10.]—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DCBook Details
Published
April 28, 2011
Publisher
Yuan Shen/Tsai Fong Books
Pages
247
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9789861333649