Compassionate, redemptive and beautifully written, PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER will reconnect you to the story of your own family, and to the forgotten sacrifices that lie at its heart. And as the mystery of her disappearance unravels, we uncover a larger mystery, that of all mothers and children: how affection, exasperation, hope and guilt add up to love. Through their piercing voices, we begin to discover the desires, heartaches, and secrets she harboured within. As her children and husband search the streets, they recall So-nyo’s life and all they have left unsaid. Now, traveling from the Korean countryside to the Seoul of her grown-up children, So-nyo is separated from her husband when the doors close on a packed train. In the past she suffered a stroke, leaving her vulnerable and often confused. PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER is the story of So-nyo, a wife and mother, who has lived a life of sacrifice and compromise. I appreciate how the novel illuminates the omnipresence of the gender paradigm (patriarchal one) in Korean society (not to say it’s limited to Korea) through the illustration of strict gender roles in the family. According to the critics, the dim but realistic depiction of the modern Korean middle-class and the accurate portrayal of familial “jung” or bond is what made this novel an instant hit in Korea. The plot is rather predictable, but the highlight of the book is that it lets you experience how some of the sentiments considered by Koreans to be “Korean”- pertinence, remorse, familial bond – is experienced, expressed, and actualized by the characters as the plot unwinds. 1.3 Million copies sold in Korea, it ‘s a tear-jerking story about a lost mother and her family’s struggle to embody the slow societal disconnect from “traditions” due to rapid urbanization. This novel is one of the easier, more approachable books for first-time K-literature readers. You never wondered, did Mother like being in the kitchen?”Ģ99 pages, published 2008, 1.3M Sold in Korea Mother was the kitchen and the kitchen was Mother. You had never thought of Mother as separate from the kitchen.
The following list of books are some of the most influential books in modern Korean literature.ġ) Please Look After Mom by Kyung Sook Shin Most people are advocates of the originals, but I must say there is a unique flavor to translated versions.įor the post today, I want to share with you few of my favorite Korean novels written by Korean authors that are available in English translation. Since then, I enjoyed reading translated versions of various Asian literature. The difference in style, emotion, tone, and the experience the same English language gave me completely threw me off guard. Age 14 was when I first got my hands on a Japanese novel translated in English – “Kafka On the Shore” by Haruki Murakami. The loyalty and newfound success of H.O.T will be tested with the return of demons from their pasts.I went to an “American” school since grade 1, so for the majority of my life, I read English books written mostly by North American writers. They also encounter Zeng Mei Wei ( Yahui Xu), who is fighting to fulfill her dream of becoming a chef, Gordon ( George Young), a celebrity chef who threatens to destroy their reputation and Tai Hu ( Teng Lee), Tai Long's jealous elder brother who aims to sabotage his brother's happiness. H.O.T will have to navigate lies and deceit to discover the true origins behind this recipe. Things appear bleak until they find a mysterious phone number hidden in a biscuit tin that leads them to Chef Zeng Fu Gui ( Chor Meng Chew), a scruffy old man who is more than meets the eye. Bad luck strikes when the last living heir dies before revealing the secret recipe. Ex-convicts with troubled pasts, they plan to take over the business and build better lives. The million-dollar legacy of a famed Peranakan laksa establishment falls into the hands of three unlikely friends, who see each other through thick and thin - business whiz Hao Lun ( Shane Pow), master knifesman Owen Tan ( Ian Fang) and culinary genius Tai Long ( Aloysius Pang) are known simply as 'H.O.T'.
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