Please Look After MomA Novel

A stunning story about a prodigal family
The tale of the prodigal son is a familiar one, but Kyung-Sook Shin has taken it one step further, telling the story of an entire prodigal family in Please Look After Mom. Tenderly translated into English from the original Korean, and interpreted for narration by a quartet of voices, Shin has produced a stunner.

After the matriarch of a singularly ungrateful family goes missing at a Seoul train station, her husband and adult children engage in a sudden, desperate effort to find her. While Park So-Nyo's family puts together fliers and coordinates search efforts, we are witness to their inner monologues, which allow them to recount a series of memories centering on her. We find that she is unflaggingly selfless and giving to children who won't offer her respect — or even a bed to sleep in when she visits — and a husband who considered her feelings to be of such little importance that his mistress was even installed as a member of the household for a time.

At times, it can seem impossible to continue Please Look After Mom after suffering story upon story of the general neglect of Park So-Nyo. But it is in the face of her disappearance that her family's love for her comes across. We hear their regrets and their shame. And when the Parks come to the early realization that they just want So-Nyo back, whole, to take care of, listeners would be well-advised to reach for a box of tissues and a phone — set on speed dial for Mom.