“Only after Mom went missing did you realize that her stories were piled inside you, in endless stacks. Mom’s everyday life used to go on in a repeating loop, without a break. Her everyday words, which you didn’t think deeply about and sometimes dismissed as useless when she was with you, awoke in your heart, creating tidal waves.”
Please look after mother | Kyung Sook Shin
Keywords: Korean literature, Korean fiction, family, loss, memories
Genre: Fiction
Length: short medium long
Country: South Korea
Review .
“Please look after mother” has been one of the most beautiful discoveries of the year.
Something tells me we’ve all been to that point where we asked ourselves “Who are my parents? Who are they as people, as personal beings?”.
Mothers are these almost mythical creatures that stick with us from birth until we die. Present or absent, caring or dismissive, physically or just as an idea at the back of our heads, “mother” is something we cannot distance ourselves from, no matter how much we try. It’s what made us.
One mother, four children, one husband and the weight of Korean culture upon the shoulders of one woman. Only when she gets separated from her husband in the busy subway station of Seoul, Park So-Nyo’s identity becomes a question of importance for her family. Just who was she? This person who cared for her family, who sacrificed to no end for the sake of her children and husband, who was given to carry weights she was not responsible for, who was she?
We get to know So-Nyo through recounts and monologues of her family members, only to her her own version towards the end. She takes the last place even in the book that has her at the centre, such a telling thing.
Emotional, strong, cutting. Healing. “Please look after mom” is a book that stays with you. It burrows into your heart and stirs things deeply buried. I makes you want go to your own mom and ask “Just who are you?”. Definitely worth a reading.
“Mom’s eyes held yours for a moment. ‘I don’t like or dislike the kitchen. I cooked because I had to. I had to stay in the kitchen so you could all eat and go to school. How could you only do what you like? There are things you have to do whether you like it or not.’ Mom’s expression asked, What kind of question is that? And then she murmured, ‘If you only do what you like, who’s going to do what you don’t like?”
Please look after mother | Kyung Sook Shin
Musings of a reading addict 
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