Read The World - South Korea - Please Look After Mom

Book: Please Look After Mom
Author: Kyung-Sook Shin
Pages: 272
Book Takes Place In The Country: YES
Author is from the country: YES
I have visited: NO

This is my 130th read for the year.

So-nyo goes missing in a train station one afternoon in a crowded subway in Seoul, Korea.  She was with her husband and meeting her children, and somehow this 69 year old woman just vanished without a trace.  

The family starts a desparate search for her - hanging flyers, following up with people who think they spotted her.  But they always seemed to be one step behind.  The search forces her children and husband to recount their lives with her and face the fact that they might not have known their mother as well as they tbought they did.  

This was a good book.  It flowed well between the characters talking about their upbringing with their mother, and how they didn't treasure how much she cared for them and put their needs before her own.  The children and husband realize they spent most of their lives with So-nyo treating her poorly and not caring enough about her.  They realize they had probably ignored many signs that So-nyo might be having trouble with her memory that would have eventually lead to her disappearance.  

It makes your chest tighten to think how easily something like this could happen.  You have an aging parent who might been having significant problems with their memory, and they wander off.  You have ever confidence that they will be easily found, yet this story shows that this isn't always the case.  She had no identification on her and so no way for people to find out where she belonged.

I think it is a great read and important for adult children to ponder what could happen in their own circumstances.  I am glad I found this book.

Stars: 4