It’s Complicated

An elderly mother goes missing in a crowded train station in Seoul. Her family searches for her, though she seems to have just vanished. Please Look After Mom, by Kyung-Sook Shin, offers readers four unique perspectives of what happened: from her son, from her daughter, from her husband and, ultimately, from herself. In the broader scope, the book is a study of a woman’s life as a mother and what happens to her as her children grow up and move on. The author notes that she used multiple narrators because it allowed her to show how complex and multidimensional we humans are. Moreover, she used the first-person voice only for the mother, because, she notes in an interview on Amazon, “When a woman becomes a mother, she no longer gets to speak or sometimes even think in terms of that ‘I’. The book also takes its readers on a journey through Korean culture, from its food and clothing to its traditions. For those willing to explore deep, churning waters of motherhood and the many facets of regret, neglect, sacrifice, individuality and familial secrets, this book will change you.