Simply put, I guess this is one of the reasons why this book is such a hit, especially in South Korea. Guilt tripping much? Probably, but more than anything, this approach in her story- the decision to write in second person and to use ‘you’ as if the narrator was talking to himself/herself- Kyung Sook weaves the pain of the Park family with our own grievances against our own mothers, be it as painful as theirs or not.īut more than anything really, I think what this novel simply wants to dish out to everyone is to cherish our own mothers before it is too late. As the story progress, you as the reader becomes the fifth children in the Park family who is just as guilty as everyone else. This book plunges the reader in its pages by simply narrating in second person (you, you are, etc.) With this technique, Kyung Sook managed to successfully make the readers partake in the guilt of the Park children as well as their father’s for losing mom- their mom who also have a name besides “mom”, their mom who was illiterate and was born and bred in the country, their mom who already showed signs of sickness, their mom who everyone took for granted as a strong and independent person. Let’s face it, we’ve all made our mothers cry whether we like it or not in this lifetime.

Though I believe that this book is essentially not a sad book -but a beautiful novel about forgiveness- it will definitely trip up readers in every possible chance into a gulf of guilt to their own mothers, regardless if they’ve done good or bad by them. Please Look After Mom, Shin Kyung Sookīased on one phrase alone from the book, it is enough for any serious reader to realize that Kyung Sook’s book is something not to be taken lightly nor to be read without enough emotional stamina. That Mom is the person you want to call whenever you despair about something in this city. When you call out “Mom,” you want to believe that she’s healthy. Please stop yelling at me and stroke my head please be on my side, whether I’m right or wrong. The word “Mom” is familiar and it hides a plea: Please look after me. Right from the very first page of this novel, you’ll ask yourself: when was the last time did I think of my mother as a person in her own being, and not just as my mom, mama, or ma?

Armed with nothing, this book attacked me with a ferocious breathtaking perspective on what it truly means to be a mother, to have a mother, and to lose one’s mother.

Truth to be told, I had no idea what this book is about except from what I’ve gleaned from the title and the fact that it was a best-selling novel in South Korea. Upon finding out that their mother got separated from their father at the subway on the way to their family gathering in Seoul, the Park family came together to look for her but as the search start to become hopelessly bleak, they all discovered that they never knew who ‘Mom’ was all along…

Please look after mom review