Please Look After Mom

Prepara tu corazoncito porque mommy / family issues alert

tragic how most western people will never understand this masterpiece

This book had some really touching portrayals of motherhood, but it was dragged down by how much of a trope every single character was. I liked the mom's part of the story, the husband was okay, and I think it told an important lesson, but everything was so heavy handed.

muchas cosas para pensar

I read this as part of a BTS book club on a recommendation by the member Kim Namjoon, and it's not my usual type of book, but boy did it hit an emotional note! Usually I give 5 stars to books that make me both laugh and cry and give me something to think on, but this book was much more melancholy and I didn't really laugh per se, but it was certainly emotional, thoughtful and I felt myself thinking very much about the women in my life - mothers and grandmothers- and about family in general. How we treat each other based on how we view each other, the differences between generations and how we view a ‘happy' and ‘fulfilling' life and rarely understand what that means to each individual and situation. What sacrifice is and whether it's worth it in the end. And maybe also a nudge on not taking each other for granted. All these thoughts and emotions ran through me as I read this book and I actually thoroughly enjoyed the journey. It's not exciting or dramatic like some Hollywood mystery, but uses poignant small moments of reminiscing to reveal some truly important things we all could take a little more time to think about. I am certainly still mulling it all over and wiping tears away from the heart-wrenching Epilogue that reduced me to a puddle of tears. Highly recommended, a wonderfully told story that will make you take a good hard look at your own family and the women in your life or maybe even yourself and to see them in a different light, and maybe appreciate them a bit more at the end of it.

I did not understand this book AT ALL.

If you've ever loved a parent, or another human for that matter, try to read this book without feeling an overwhelming wave of selfishness and guilt.

How well do we really know someone? How much are we supposed to really know someone? Chances are not enough and more than we allow ourselves.

Please Look After Mom is not a page-turning thriller. It is an opportunity to be honest with ourselves and our fellow humans about the levels of compassion we are comfortable with.

OMG it's Fifty Shades of Grey for the Korean mother set. It's a rich fantasy where a mother's disappearance sends her kids and husband into spiralling guilt over how they should have paid her more attention while she was around. No wonder it sold millions in South Korea. It feeds on the Korean mother as martyr complex while showcasing what her sacrifices wrought - a wealthy and successful first born son and a daughter who is a world renowned author. Even the daughter who has gone to raise her own kids is doing it in America.

There are so many cultural cues that, while certainly universal, resonate so clearly for a Korean son. And while I resent the clear manipulations on display here, don't think I didn't go and visit my folks immediately after reading the book. I've bumped my rating from a 3 to a 4 simply for the joy of reading my first Korean translation and recognizing so many of the Korean traditions and cues that I spent much of my formative years as a second gen trying to ignore.

This is an astounding book from a number of perspectives. It's every family's story. It was touching to read (and read) the adult children's voices, as well as their father's. It was easy to read, and yet captured visually and emotionally a family trying to make sense of what had happened to their mother.

This was quite a different read for me. The writing style took some getting used to, but once I did I really loved it. You can read my full review here: http://knowitnotsomuch.blogspot.com/2011/09/please-look-after-mom.html

This is a zinger of a novel. (And why, why, why, I ask, am I reading this novel at this time? So mysterious.) No one is looking after Mom and, after a while, Mom just wanders off. Her family doesn't even realize she is missing until she has been lost for some time.




And where does she go? No one knows for sure, but her family sees her, or what they think is her, everywhere.




Told alternately from the point-of-view of the various family members, this is a powerful story. I think I would love it even if I wasn't trying harder than I've ever tried in my life to Look After Mom myself.