Please Look After Mother: The 10th anniversary of the million copy Korean bestseller (W&N Essentials) - Softcover

Kyung-Sook Shin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753828189 ISBN 13: 9780753828182

Publisher: W&N, 2012

Synopsis

Combining a unique setting with universal themes, PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER is a beautifully rendered novel about sacrifice, guilt, and the ties of family love.

PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER is the story of So-nyo, a wife and mother, who has lived a life of sacrifice and compromise. In the past she suffered a stroke, leaving her vulnerable and often confused. Now, travelling from the Korean countryside to the Seoul of her grown-up children, So-nyo is separated from her husband when the doors close on a packed train.

As her children and husband search the streets, they recall So-nyo's life, and all they have left unsaid. Through their piercing voices, we begin to discover the desires, heartaches, and secrets she harboured within. And as the mystery of her disappearance unravels, we uncover a larger mystery, that of all mothers and children: how affection, exasperation, hope and guilt add up to love. Compassionate, redemptive and beautifully written, PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER will reconnect you to the story of your own family, and to the forgotten sacrifices that lie at its heart.

About this title

Review

Intimate and hauntingly spare. . . . A raw tribute to the mysteries of motherhood (NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW)

A moving portrayal of the surprising nature, sudden sacrifices, and secret reveries of motherhood (ELLE)

The most moving and accomplished, and often startling, novel in translation I've read in many seasons ... Every sentence is saturated in detail ... It tells an almost unbearably affecting story of remorse and belated wisdom that reminds us how globalism-at the human level-can tear souls apart and leave them uncertain of where to turn (WALL STREET JOURNAL)

A captivating story, written with an understanding of the shortcomings of traditional ways of modern life. It is nostalgic but unsentimental, brutally well observed and, in this flawlessly smooth translation by Chi-Young Kim, it offers a sobering account of a vanished past. ... We must hope there will be more translations to follow (TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT)

This story about family, hope and guilt has universal reach. (Big Issue in the North)

Tender, thoughtful and well-crafted... (Boyd Tonkin The Independent)

I found what is in one sense a terribly sad book, life-affirming, portraying the sorrows and joys of the parent-child relationship, familiar whether you live in rural South Korea, or South London (THE TIMES)

Full of emotion, this beautifully written book is like nothing I have ever read before and I thoroughly recommend it. (South Wales Argus)

a captivating story, written with an understanding of the shortcomings of traditional ways and modern life. It is nostalgic but unsentimental, brutally well observed and, in this flawlessly smooth translation by Chi-Young Kim, it offers a sobering account of a vanished past... We must hope there are more translations to follow. (THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT)

The universal resonance of family life lifts a novel rooted in the experience of Korean modernity to international success. A best-seller in her native South Korea, Shin's Please Look After Mom tells the story of Park So-nyo, a devoted, do-all wife and mother who mysteriously goes missing... the book-Shin's first to be translated into English- is a moving portrayal of the surprising nature, sudden sacrifices, and secret reveries of motherhood. (Lisa Shea Elle)

Book Description

Combining a unique setting with universal themes, PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER is a beautifully rendered novel about sacrifice, guilt, and the ties of family love.

About this edition

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0753828189
• ISBN 13: 9780753828182
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288