Please Look After Mom: A Novel by Kyung-Sook Shin (English) Paperback Book

Description: Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin, Kyong-Suk Sin A million-plus-copy bestseller in Korea--this is the stunning, deeply moving story of a familys search for their mother in an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description NATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE • When sixty-nine-year-old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family begins a desperate search to find her. Yet as long-held secrets and private sorrows begin to reveal themselves, they are forced to wonder: how well did they actually know the woman they called Mom?"A terrific novel that stayed with me long after Id finished its final, haunting pages." —Abraham Verghese, bestselling author of The Covenant of Water"A raw tribute to the mysteries of motherhood." —The New York Times Book ReviewTold through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and mother, Please Look After Mom is at once an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love."A suspenseful, haunting, achingly lovely novel about the hidden lives, wishes, struggles and dreams of those we think we know best." —The Seattle Times Author Biography KYUNG-SOOK SHIN is the author of numerous works of fiction and is one of South Koreas most widely read and acclaimed novelists. She was the first woman to be awarded the Man Asian Literary Prize (for Please Look After Mom), and she has also been honored with the Manhae Literature Prize, the Dong-in Literature Prize, and the Yi Sang Literary Prize, as well as Frances Prix de lInaperçu. Please Look After Mom is her first book to appear in English. It will be published in twenty-nine countries and has sold over 2 million copies in South Korea alone. Review "A moving portrayal of the surprising nature, sudden sacrifices, and secret reveries of motherhood." —Elle "Intimate and hauntingly spare. . . . A raw tribute to the mysteries of motherhood." —The New York Times Book Review "Here is a deeply felt journey into a culture foreign to many—yet with a theme that is universal in its appeal. A terrific novel that stayed with me long after Id finished its final, haunting pages. This is a real discovery." —Abraham Verghese, bestselling author of The Covenant of Water"Lovely. . . . Please Look After Mom, especially its magical, transcendent ending, lifts the spirit as only the best writing can do." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune "A suspenseful, haunting, achingly lovely novel about the hidden lives, wishes, struggles and dreams of those we think we know best." —The Seattle Times"Shin renders a tender and beautiful portrait of South Korea, but the novel recognizes a familial dilemma experienced throughout the world." –Ms. Magazine blog"The most moving and accomplished, and often startling, novel in translation Ive read in many seasons. . . . Every sentence is saturated in detail. . . . It tells an almost unbearably affecting story of remorse and belated wisdom that reminds us how globalism—at the human level—can tear souls apart and leave them uncertain of where to turn." —Pico Iyer, Wall Street Journal "The novel perfectly combines universal themes of love and loss, family dynamics, gender equality, tradition, and charity with the rich Korean culture and values which make Please Look After Mom a great literary masterpiece." —Seattle Post-Intelligencer "An authentic, moving story that brings to vivid life the deep family connections that lie at the core of Korean culture. But it also speaks beautifully to an urgent issue of our time: migration, and how the movement of people from small towns and villages to big cities can cause heartbreak and even tragedy. This is a tapestry of family life that will be read all over the world. I loved this book." —Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story "Haunting. . . . The novels language—so formal in its simplicity—bestows a grace and solemnity on childhood scenes that might otherwise be overwrought. . . . Throughout the novel, the rhythms of agrarian life and labor that Shin deftly conveys have a subtle, cumulative power." —Boston Sunday Globe "An affecting account of a slow-burn family break-up. . . . Well-controlled and emotionally taut. . . . What distinguishes this novel is the way it questions whether our pasts, either public or private, are really available for us to recollect and treasure anyway." —The Financial Times"A captivating story, written with an understanding of the shortcomings of traditional ways of modern life. It is nostalgic but unsentimental, brutally well observed and, in this flawlessly smooth translation by Chi-Young Kim, it offers a sobering account of a vanished past. . . . We must hope there will be more translations to follow." —Times Literary Supplement (London)"A poignant story of a family told in four voices. . . . Shins storytelling and her gift for detail make Please Look After Mom a book worth reading." —Post and Courier"Shin perceptively explores the greatest mystery—not Moms disappearance, but who Mom really was. Every mom, that is." –Richmond Times-Dispatch"Here is a wonderful, original new voice, by turns plangent and piquant. Please Look After Mom takes us on a dual journey, to the unfamiliar corners of a foreign culture and into the shadowy recesses of the heart. In spare, exquisite prose, Kyung-sook Shin penetrates the very essence of what it means to be a family, and a human being." —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March"Shin is a scribe with a slow and steady pulse; this is writing that allows you to meander with your own thoughts (and reflect on your own mother, perhaps), while still following the physical and mental travels of her characters. . . . Plain and softy insistent eloquence." —Hyphen Magazine "Intriguing. . . . It is easy to see the source of this global popularity, for not only is Shins absorbing novel written with considerable grace and suspense, but she also has managed to tap into a universality: the inequitable relationship between a mother and her children." —Bookpage "An arresting account of the misunderstandings that can cloud the beauty of the affection and memories that bind two very different generations. . . . A touching story that effectively weaves the rural, ages-old lifestyle of a mother into the modern urban lives of her children." —Newark Star-Ledger Review Quote "Shins novel, her first to be translated into English, embraces multiplicity. It is told from the perspectives of four members of [a missing womans] family; from their memories emerges a portrait of a heroically industrious woman. [Mom] runs their rural home like a factory, sews and knits and tills the fields. The family is poor, but she sees to it that her childrens bellies are filled . . . Only after her children grow up and leave their home in [the countryside] does Moms strength and purposefulness begin to flag. Questions punctuate [the] narrative and lead to a cascade of revelations, discoveries that come gradually. . . Shins prose, intimate, and hauntingly spare, powerfully conveys griefs bewildering immediacy. [Daughter] Chi-hons voice is the novels most distinct, but Fathers is the most devastating. . . . And yet this book isnt as interested in emotional manipulation as it is in the invisible chasms that open up between people who know one another best. . . . A raw tribute to the mysteries of motherhood." -Mythili G. Rao, The New York Times Book Review "The universal resonance of family life lifts a novel rooted in the experience of Korean modernity to international success. A best-seller in her native South Korea, Shins Please Look After Mom tells the story of Park So-nyo, a devoted, do-all wife and mother who mysteriously goes missing. . . . Primarily composed of four sections narrated by Park, her eldest son, her husband, and one of their two daughters, the book-Shins first to be translated into English-is a moving portrayal of the surprising nature, sudden sacrifices, and secret reveries of motherhood. . . . As the novel progresses and Parks whereabouts remain unclear, much that can be forgotten between mothers and children, husbands and wives, and among siblings resurfaces in the voices of this family desperate to locate the one person who was and always will be the center of their lives." -Lisa Shea, Elle "Titles to Pick Up Now: This best-seller set in the authors native Korea examines a familys history through the story of the matriarch, mysteriously gone missing from a Seoul train station." -Karen Holt, O, the Oprah Magazine "Indelible . . . In four distinct voices, the character of Mom-a rural farmwoman whose hands could nurture any life-is reassembled by her eldest daughter, whose books Mom couldnt read; her eldest son, for whom she could never do enough; her husband, who never slowed down; and finally Mom herself as she wanders through memories both strange and familiar. Shins breathtaking novel is an acute reminder of how easily a family can fracture, how little we truly know one another, and how desperate need can sometimes overshadow even the deepest love. VERDICT: Already a prominent writer in Korea, Shin finally makes her English-language debut with what will appeal to all readers who appreciate compelling, page-turning prose. Stay tuned: Mom should be one of this years most-deserving bestsellers." -Terry Hong, Library Journal Description for Reading Group Guide The discussion questions and topics that follow are intended to enhance your groups conversation about Kyung-sook Shins Please Look After Mom , at once an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love. Discussion Question for Reading Group Guide 1. While second-person ("you") narration is an uncommon mode, it is used throughout the novels first section (the tale of the daughter, Chi-hon) and third section (the tale of the husband). What is the effect of this choice? How does it reflect these characters feelings about Mom? Why do you think Mom is the only character who tells her story in the first person? 2. What do we learn about the relationship between Chi-hon and her mother? What are the particular sources of tension or resentment between them? Why does Chi-hon say to her brother, "Maybe Im being punished . . ." (p. 73)? 3. Why is it significant that Chi-hon is a successful writer, and how does her career affect her position in the family? What does this mean for her relationship to her mother, who is illiterate? How does it happen that her mother begins to treat Chi-hon like "a guest" when she visits home (p. 18)? 4. Moms life has been defined by her relationships to others and the needs of her family. When her daughter asks her, "Did you like to cook?" how does Moms reply summarize the divide between her own and her daughters generations (p. 60)? How is the generational gap between you and your parents, and/or you and your children, at all similar to, or different from, this one? 5. What are some of the reasons for the special bond between the eldest son, Hyong-chol, and his mother? 6. Why does Hyong-chol feel that he has disappointed his mother? Why does she apologize to him when she brings Chi-hon to live with him (p. 95)? Why do you think he hasnt achieved his goals (p. 119)? 7. Why is food such a powerful element in Hyong-chols memories of his mother? 8. How do you explain the fact that Mom has been seen by various people wearing blue plastic sandals, with her foot badly injured, although when she disappeared she was wearing low-heeled beige sandals (pp. 68, 77, 78, 96, 97)? What do you make of the pharmacists story of treating her wounded foot and calling the police (pp. 106-107)? Does Moms own narrative solve this mystery? 9. The Full Moon Harvest is a festival in which Koreans traditionally return to their family home to honor their ancestors. Hyong-chol reflects that people are now beginning to take holidays out of the country instead, saying, "Ancestors, Ill be back" (p. 98). What feelings do memories of their mothers preparations for the festival stir up in Chi-hon, Hyong-chol, and their father (pp. 98-104)? 10. Weeks after his wife disappears, her husband discovers that for ten years she has been giving a substantial amount of money--money their children send her each month--to an orphanage where she has taken on many responsibilities (pp. 124-30). How does the husband react to this and other surprising discoveries about her life? 11. After Mom has gone missing, her husband says to himself, "Your wife, whom youd forgotten about for fifty years, was present in your heart" (p. 131). Discuss the pain and regret Moms family feels, including in the context of the books epigraph from Franz Liszt, "O love, as long as you can love." Have they followed this edict successfully? Why do you think Kyung-sook Shin chose this quote to open her story? 12. Taking out the burial shrouds his wife had made for the two of them, her husband remembers her wish that he die first: "Since youre three years older than me, you should leave three years earlier" (p. 144). What is the effect of the way this passage moves from poignancy to humor and back again? Similarly, how do grief and warmth, even happiness, intertwine as he recalls his wifes generosity and her hands applying a warm towel to his arthritic knee (p. 150)? 13. Do you think Moms husband and children would have been able to help her if they had paid her and her illness more attention? Or, given her aversion to the hospital and the way she hid her sickness, was what happens to her inevitable? 14. Discuss the return of Mom as storyteller and narrator in the fourth section. What is inventive about this choice on the authors part? What surprised you--and what remained a mystery? 15. How does Moms feeling for her younger daughter differ from her feeling for Chi-hon? Why was she able to be more attached to the younger daughter than the elder one (pp. 193-97)? How is the use of the second person here--Mom addressing her daughter as "you"--different from the use of second person in chapters 1 and 3? 16. What do her children and husband discover about Moms life only after she disappears? How do her actions express her generosity and benevolence? Do you see some of her activities as ways of seeking self-fulfillment? Was she, through giving to others, taking care of herself? 17. What are we to understand of the fact of Moms possibly being spotted, in chapter 2 ("Im Sorry, Hyong-chol"), in the various neighborhoods where Hyong-chol has lived in Seoul? In Moms own narrative (chapter 4, "Another Woman"), what is the connection between herself and the bird her daughter sees "sitting on the quince tree" (p. 188; see also p. 182). 18. At the end of the fathers section, he says to his older daughter, "Please . . . please look after your mom" (p. 176). How does Chi-hon carry out this directive? How is it related to her feelings about the Piet Excerpt from Book 1 Nobody Knows Its been one week since Mom went missing. The family is gathered at your eldest brother Hyong-chols house, bouncing ideas off each other. You decide to make flyers and hand them out where Mom was last seen. The first thing to do, everyone agrees, is to draft a flyer. Of course, a flyer is an old-fashioned response to a crisis like this. But there are few things a missing persons family can do, and the missing person is none other than your mom. All you can do is file a missing-person report, search the area, ask passersby if they have seen anyone who looks like her. Your younger brother, who owns an online clothing store, says he posted something about your mothers disappearance, describing where she went missing; he uploaded her picture and asked people to contact the family if theyd seen her. You want to go look for her in places where you think she might be, but you know how she is: she cant go anywhere by herself in this city. Hyong-chol designates you to write up the flyer, since you write for a living. You blush, as if you were caught doing something you shouldnt. You arent sure how helpful your words will be in finding Mom. When you write July 24, 1938, as Moms birth date, your father corrects you, saying that she was born in 1936. Official records show that she was born in 1938, but apparently she was born in 1936. This is the first time youve heard this. Your father says everyone did that, back in the day. Because many children didnt survive their first three months, people raised them for a few years before making it official. When youre about to rewrite "38" as "36," Hyong-chol says you have to write 1938, because thats the official date. You dont think you need to be so precise when youre only making homemade flyers and it isnt like youre at a government office. But you obediently cross out "36" and write "38," wondering if July 24 is even Moms real birthday. A few years ago, your mom said, "We dont have to celebrate my birthday separately." Fathers birthday is one month before Moms. You and your siblings always went to your parents house in Chongup for birthdays and other celebrations. All together, there were twenty-two people in the immediate family. Mom liked it when all of her children and grandchildren gathered and bustled about the house. A few days before everyone came down, she would make fresh kimchi, go to the market to buy beef, and stock up on extra toothpaste and toothbrushes. She pressed sesame oil and roasted and ground sesame and perilla seeds, so she could present her children with a jar of each as they left. As she waited for the family to arrive, your mom would be visibly animated, her words and her gestures revealing her pride when she talked to neighbors or acquaintances. In the shed, Mom kept glass bottles of every size filled with plum or wild-strawberry juice, which she made seasonally. Moms jars were filled to the brim with tiny fermented croakerlike fish or anchovy paste or fermented clams that she was planning to send to the family in the city. When she heard that onions were good for ones health, she made onion juice, and before winter came, she made pumpkin juice infused with licorice. Your moms house was like a factory; she prepared sauces and fermented bean paste and hulled rice, producing things for the family year-round. At some point, the childrens trips to Chongup became less frequent, and Mom and Father started to come to Seoul more often. And then you began to celebrate each of their birthdays by going out for dinner. That was easier. Then Mom even suggested, "Lets celebrate my birthday on your fathers." She said it would be a burden to celebrate their birthdays separately, since both happen during the hot summer, when there are also two ancestral rites only two days apart. At first the family refused to do that, even when Mom insisted on it, and if she balked at coming to the city, a few of you went home to celebrate with her. Then you all started to give Mom her birthday gift on Fathers birthday. Eventually, quietly, Moms actual birthday was bypassed. Mom, who liked to buy socks for everyone in the family, had in her dresser a growing collection of socks that her children didnt take. Name: Park So-nyo Date of birth: July 24, 1938 (69 years old) Appearance: Short, salt-and-pepper permed hair, prominent cheekbones, last seen wearing a sky-blue shirt, a white jacket, and a beige pleated skirt. Last seen: Seoul Station subway Nobody can decide which picture of Mom you should use. Everyone agrees it should be the most recent picture, but nobody has a recent picture of her. You remember that at some point Mom started to hate getting her picture taken. She would sneak away even for family portraits. The most recent photograph of Mom is a family picture taken at Fathers seventieth-birthday party. Mom looked nice in a pale-blue hanbok, with her hair done at a salon, and she was even wearing red lipstick. Your younger brother thinks your mom looks so different in this picture from the way she did right before she went missing. He doesnt think people would identify her as the same person, even if her image is isolated and enlarged. He reports that when he posted this picture of her, people responded by saying, "Your mother is pretty, and she doesnt seem like the kind of person who would get lost." You all decide to see if anyone has another picture of Mom. Hyong-chol tells you to write something more on the flyer. When you stare at him, he tells you to think of better sentences, to tug on the readers heartstrings. Words that would tug on the readers heartstrings? When you write, Please help us find our mother , he says its too plain. When you write, Our mother is missing , he says that "mother" is too formal, and tells you to write "mom." When you write, Our mom is missing , he decides its too childish. When you write, Please contact us if you see this person , he barks, "What kind of writer are you?" You cant think of a single sentence that would satisfy Hyong-chol. Your second-eldest brother says, "Youd tug on peoples heartstrings if you write that there will be a reward." When you write, We will reward you generously , your sister-in-law says you cant write like that: people take notice only if you write a specific amount. "So how much should I say?" "One million won?" "Thats not enough." "Three million won?" "I think thats too little, too." "Then five million won." Nobody complains about five million won. You write, We will reward you with five million won , and put in a period. Your second-eldest brother says you should write it as, Reward: 5 million won . Your younger brother tells you to put 5 million won in a bigger font. Everyone agrees to e-mail you a better picture of Mom if they find something. Youre in charge of adding more to the flyer and making copies, and your younger brother volunteers to pick them up and distribute them to everyone in the family. When you suggest, "We can hire someone to give out flyers," Hyong-chol says, "Were the ones who need to do that. Well give them out on our own if we have some free time during the week, and all together over the weekend." You grumble, "How will we ever find Mom at that rate?" "We cant just sit tight; were already doing everything we can," Hyong-chol retorts. "What do you mean, were doing everything we can?" "We put ads in the newspaper." "So doing everything we can is buying ad space?" "Then what do you want to do? Should we all quit work tomorrow and just roam around the city? If we could find Mom like that, Id do it." You stop arguing with Hyong-chol, because you realize that youre pushing him to take care of everything, as you always do. Leaving Father at Hyong-chols house, you all head home. If you dont leave then, you will continue to argue. Youve been doing that for the past week. Youd meet to discuss how to find Mom, and one of you would unexpectedly dig up the different ways someone else had wronged her in the past. The things that had been suppressed, that had been carefully avoided moment by moment, became bloated, and finally you all yelled and smoked and banged out the door in rage. When you first heard Mom had gone missing, you angrily asked why nobody from your large family went to pick her and Father up at Seoul Station. "And where were you?" Me? You clammed up. You didnt find out about Moms disappearance until shed been gone four days. You all blamed each other for Moms going missing, and you all felt wounded. Leaving Hyong-chols house, you take the subway home but get off at Seoul Station, which is where Mom vanished. So many people go by, brushing your shoulders, as you make your way to the spot where Mom was last seen. You look down at your watch. Three oclock. The same time Mom was left behind. People shove past you as you stand on the platform where Mom was wrenched from Fathers grasp. Not a single person apologizes to you. People would have pushed by like that as your mom stood there, not knowing what to do. How far back does ones memory of someone go? Your memory of Mom? Since you heard about Moms disappearance, you havent been able to focus on a single thought, besieged by long- forgotten memories unexpectedly popping up. And the regret that always trailed each memory. Years ago, a few days before you left your hometown for the big city, Mom took you to a clothin Details ISBN0307739511 Author Kyong-Suk Sin Short Title PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOM Language English ISBN-10 0307739511 ISBN-13 9780307739513 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Pages 272 Year 2012 Publication Date 2012-04-03 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2012-04-03 NZ Release Date 2012-04-03 US Release Date 2012-04-03 UK Release Date 2012-04-03 Subtitle A Novel Publisher Random House USA Inc Series Vintage Contemporaries Imprint Random House Inc Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:44056111;

Price: 40.49 AUD

Location: Melbourne

End Time: 2025-01-02T02:04:48.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 AUD