Kyung-sook Shin is the author of numerous works of fiction and is one of South Korea's most widely read and acclaimed novelists. Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Amazon Vine. Publisher: Knopf (April 5, 2011), 256 pages. It's message is universal - read the book and share it with people that you love. While on the surface it is a story about an older South Korean woman, it is really a story about love, parenthood, sacrifice, and family. Please Look After Mom is an amazing read and one of the best books that I've read in a long time.

Other reviewers have mentioned how Park So-nyo's story made them think of their lives and I echo this response, reading the book has me examining the close relationships in my life. The emotions that the story invokes goes beyond cultural lines: helplessness, desperation, shame, admiration, guilt, regret, and deep respect. Each reveals aspects of Park So-nyo's life and her family life. Shin tells the story from four perspectives: daughter, son, husband and wife. Her husband and children begin a systematic search for her and as they do so, they realize that things have not been well with their mother for some time now. Please Look After Mom tells the story of Park So-nyo, an elderly mother of five and grandmother, who gets separated from her husband in the subway at Seoul. Written by one of South Korea's most widely read and highly respected authors, this is her first book translated into English. I was very excited to read and review the book when offered the chance through the Amazon Vine program. I'd read a review of Please Look After Mom in the New York Times.

Please look after mom pages