Please Look After Mom

Some books get a lot of positive press, or, at least, decent press, which turns out to be completely true. Then, there are those with the aforementioned positive press that, for whatever reason, are difficult to get into. Please Look After Mom falls into the latter category.

The different chapters appear to be written with a different character as the main person trying to find Mom, but in a stilted way. The first segment is in the third person: you go to see Mom, you wonder where Mom is, Mom is proud of you, you tell Mom...It feels more like an exercise one might find in a college writing class: "And please, write your story consistently in the third person..." The second chapter was similarly written, but with another of the lost woman's children as the central character, looking for Mom.

The premise is interesting enough: Mom has gotten lost while heading somewhere by train; her adult children must find her. Written by a more skilled writer, it could have been spellbinding. However, the stilted writing detracted from the book enough that I had trouble reading it. Granted, it may have been the fault of the translator; however, I doubt it.

If you have one book to buy this month, find another one. Borrow this one from your local library; then, if you find it more enjoyable than I did, buy it. Otherwise, find something that you're sure to enjoy for years to come.

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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