PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

this book is a story of a mother told by her children. the hardships she endured to provide the best of the best for her kids but was ignored in her final moments. you grieve her loss along with her kids because she is like everyone's mother, stubborn and demanding but kind and loving. i loved each and every word in this novel and it touched my heart. my only takeaway is that whoever reads this story might start missing their mother and trying to show how grateful they are for her existence. 9/10 one of the best i have read this year

It’s all about mother… how children and everyone forget that mother is human being and has her life other than home and kids to look after.

Please Look After Mother by Kyung Sook Shin narrates the tale of a difficult situation that a family finds itself in when one fine day the mother goes missing. Park So Nyo has lived a quiet life looking after her husband, his sister and raising five children. The children, were now all grown up, successful and settled in the city with some of them even having children of their own. It was when their parents were on their way to visit the youngest son that the mother got lost in Seoul subway station. Only after she went missing did the family realize that all along everybody just took her for granted seeing her only as a devoted wife and a caring mother and nothing else.The story is narrated in three different voices - the first two being written in such a way so that the reader becomes the character and only the third voice is written in first person narrative.Although this story is based in Korea, the mother's character can be related or compared to mothers all over the world. In fact when I was reading this book I felt as if the author knew my mother and was writing her story. I would recommend this book to not only 'children' like me but also to all the mothers who spare no time for themselves only to look after and worry about everything else under the sun!

It’s a truly amazing book, I sometimes cried . The author surely knows her jobs

Good book

The concept of the book is excellent: a Korean mother of 4 grown up children, apparently suffering from depression and Alzheimer's, goes missing. And, as her family searches for her, her life is unbundled for the reader through the memories of her children and husband.Unfortunately, the author is not able to flesh out the book very well. The mother is painted more as a saint than human, and the rest of the family too self-centred and uncaring. The narrative is often dull; half-way through the book I was looking forward to its end.

Go for it. It is sad and refreshing at the same time. Many characters,slice of life if it's your thing. You will definitely enjoy it.

A great book rather difficult to understand but nevertheless. The bindings sturdy and the print seems to be good. It an improvement over the last copy I ordered. Would do you good.

Me encantó. La vida de una familia, de una madre vista a través de sus hijos, de su marido. Muy recomendable

Remarkable writing, captivating and moving story told by multiple voices slowly unravelling the beauty and mystery of Mother. Tear were shed. A masterpiece.

This is one of the most movings books I've read in a while. I think that the story is very well told, and it's also a beautiful story. It was great to read it because it gave me another image of Korea, one that's far from the one I had before. I think this is a universal book, a modern classic. I'm so glad I got to read it.

Very beautiful and heartbreaking ! Very well written - true, realistic and so sad

I thought that this book would not be as good as all the hype suggests, but I really enjoyed it. The story is very moving and it makes you reconsider all the relationships in your life that you might often take for granted. I don't know how someone who doesn't know much about Korea would find this book as it presents the culture of the older generation of Koreans, but I definitely think it is readable, and it will give not only an insight into a different culture, but enable you to relate to aspects of familial relationships with someone of a completely different background to you. It is not a difficult read, but I think it might be nice to spread out the reading so that you can reflect on the different voices that are provided in the narrative. It is powerful to read, because of the second person narration - so you feel more intimate with the experiences of the characters. The descriptions of rural life, the details of nature and small things that are part of people's lives are all nicely presented and offer you to stop and observe then appreciate them. Some parts might have been melodramatic, but I thought that such instances weren't sentimental and allowed you to treat these characters as not pitiable, but simply human. The last section of the novel might not be to everyone's taste - with the perspective changing to the mother, and perhaps introduces a supernatural or spiritual aspect to the narrative, but at the same time perhaps it is necessary as you get a definite perspective of the mother. The ending with the religious theme completes the novel well, and gives the book more depth than a standard bestseller might. All in all, this book is definitely worth a read, with the writer's writing and flow adding to the enjoyment of reading and the experiences of the characters helping you to think about your own relationships with people who are close to you, and to appreciate them in a new light.