Sixty-nine-year-old Park So-nyo disappears in a crowded Seoul subway station after losing her husband’s hand in the rush. In the weeks following her disappearance, her adult children and husband search the city while confronting their individual failures as a family. The narrative shifts between the perspectives of the daughter, the eldest son, and the father, revealing how they ignored So-nyo’s physical illness and illiteracy. They discover that the woman they viewed only as a domestic caretaker had a private life, complex desires, and burdens she never disclosed.
Readers interested in the shifting dynamics of traditional Korean family structures find this book a sobering look at domestic sacrifice. It appeals to those who examine the friction between rural heritage and modern urban life. The reader walks away with a concrete understanding of how labor is distributed within a household and the specific ways children ignore the humanity of their parents. It provides a detailed account of how grief functions when it is rooted in collective guilt and the realization that a family member has become a stranger.
Inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Mindful Reader. Which reader are you?
Insights from Please Look After Mom
“Did you know Mom liked strawberry jam?”
Living as a mother often means being invisible in plain sight. Her children realized they didn't even know if she liked eating soft or hard rice.
Missing her at the Seoul station feels like a slow death. They keep looking for a blue plastic slipper that doesn't belong to anyone.
“I am a woman who can’t read or write.”
Mothers have dreams before they become just Mom. Her secret letter to the priest shows a woman who wanted to be more than a kitchen shadow.
Sacrifice is a quiet habit that ruins the body. She walked on a festering foot for years while her children bought expensive city shoes.
- Published
- 2008
- Publisher
- Knopf
- ISBN
- 9780307593917
- Language
- EN
