I don’t want to exaggerate things but there were paragraphs that made me burst into tears. The book serves as a reminder that one does not need to lose his ever-loving mother or wife before he can value her presence. It also narrates how a husband can take his wife for granted through the years of being together. It portrays a situation where children have grown up, got their own lives and eventually neglected the presence of their mother. It shows how children can be ungrateful to their mother despite what she has sacrificed for the entire family. It depicts how a mother can love unconditionally. Please Look After Mother is such a powerful novel. The last one, Another Woman, was written in the mother’s voice. I’m Home, the third chapter, the husband’s / father’s. The second chapter, I’m Sorry Hyong-chol, was in the son’s voice. The first chapter, Nobody Knows, was in the daughter’s voice. What made this book exceptional is the way the author presented the different point of views of the characters. All of them needed to lose So-nyo before they can re-examine the kind of relationship they had with “Mother.” The husband was also reminded of how he walked fast ahead of his wife whenever they go to public places, how he left the house without saying a word to his wife and how he got angry whenever the wife forgets something. The children realized that they were all busy with their own lives to the point that they were not able to have deep conversations with their mother nor made her feel extra-special. As they desperately search for their lost “mother,” they discovered the never-ending love, support and hope that So-nyo has given them.

Only when she suddenly vanishes that the family started to remember who she really is and what she does for all of them. The award-winning novel is all about Park So-nyo, a mother of five children, who got lost in a train station.

Please look after my mother