The haunting opening line of the novel immediately sends you shivering into a feeling of panic, a sense of anxiety that slaps you with the reality that life is not a guarantee. You are reminded of the brutal fact that our parents will at some point no longer be around. And you begin to think to yourself, "What will I do; how will I react; how will I go on when one or both of my parents are gone?"
While the four voices narrating this novel worry and desperately search for their missing mother and wife, they each bring forward lost memories of a woman they only truly begin to know after her disappearance. For the first time, they realize and understand the sacrifices she had made. They burden themselves with the task of analyzing and discerning the obstacles of Mom's marriage and the challenges of raising children in poverty. They attempt to comprehend the decisions Mom allowed herself to make.
Originally published in Korea, Please Look After Mom has been translated for English readers to absorb and treasure. It is a moving story about a mother's love for her family that transcends cultural boundaries. For anyone who is a mother, has a mother, or wants to remember a mother, Please Look After Mom will provide a deeper appreciation for the thankless, unseen, profound roles moms quietly perform to make our lives a little easier.
Oooh, this looks good.....
ReplyDelete