''Please Look After Mom'' () is a novel by South Korean author

Kyung-sook Shin Kyung-Sook Shin, also Shin Kyung-sook or Shin Kyoung-sook (, born 12 January 1963), is a South Korean writer. She was the only South Korean and only woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012 for '' Please Look After Mom''. Life Kyung-So ...

. It sold a million copies within 10 months of release in 2009 in South Korea, is critically acclaimed internationally and the English translation by

Chi-young Kim Chi-young Kim is a Korean-to-English literary translator who lives in the United States. Originally having trained as a lawyer and translating as a hobby helping her mom, Kim became a professional literary translator after graduation, whe she s ...

won the 2011

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to writer ...

. The novel has been adapted as a stage play and musical. As of April 2012, the book has sold two million copies and the publisher has printed a 10,000-copy special edition to commemorate the achievement. The book was also chosen by Oprah to be one of her "18 Books to Watch for in April 2011 and by Amazon as one of its "Best Books of the Month: April 2011".

Plot

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? The novel explores the loss, self-recrimination, and in some cases, self-discovery caused by the mother's disappearance. The novel also considers themes related to the self-sacrifice of mothers in general (and in Korea in particular), the relationship between memories of the past and realities of the present, and the chameleonic aspects of identity.The novel explores the conflict between the real self and the way people live their life, having lost the opportunities to obtain their aims, is also put forth to the readers.

Style

The style of ''Please Look After Mom'' is a bit unusual, as Julie Hunt noted in booklist, "Composed almost entirely in second-person narration, the writing is sharp, biting, and intensely moving."The author drifts the narration from reality to memories and memories to reality.

Characters

*Park So-nyo - mother of four children *Hyong-chol - So-nyo's oldest son *Chi-hon - So-nyo's eldest daughter *Yu-bin - Chi-hon's boyfriend *Yun Chin Hyong-chol's daughter *Yun Kyun - So-nyo's brother in law *Hong Tae-hee: a director of an orphanage whom she donated to

Stage play cast

Jung Hye-sun Jung Hye-sun (born Jung Young-ja; February 21, 1942) is a South Korean actress. Jung made her entertainment debut as a voice actress with the KBS Daejeon Daejeon () is South Korea's fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of 1.5 m ...

- Park Son-yo *Sim Yang-hong - Mr Yun *

Kil Yong-woo Kil Yong-woo (born December 17, 1955) is a South Korean actor. In 2010, he played one of the main characters in the stage adaptation of the bestselling novel '' Please Look After Mom''. Filmography Film Television series Web series Var ...

- Young-chul *Seo Yee-sook - Ji-yeon

Reception

The book was also chosen by Oprah to be one of her "18 Books to Watch for in April 2011 and by Amazon as one of its "Best Books of the Month: April 2011". Additionally, ''Please Look After Mom'' won the

in 2011.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Please Look After Mom at Goodreads
2009 novels 21st-century South Korean novels Novels set in Korea