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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
It was slow going at first but I still enjoyed the ride. The last one hundred pages made me emotional.
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Relationships are complicated. This beautiful book examines the way family relationships evolved for one Korean family. When the mother of the family starts getting ill and suffers from a severe stroke, no one wants to truly acknowledge what was happening until it was too late. While trying to board a subway train in Seoul, the mother gets separated from her husband and is lost. Forever. Told from 4 points of view -- the oldest daughter, oldest son, husband, and finally, the mother herself, this was a beautifully moving book. One of my favorites of the year.
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I had to DNF because this book is an exercise in guilt and depression. Add to that the plagiarism kerfuffle and well... Life's too short for misery-porn.
It is a touching theme: when a woman goes missing her adult children realise that they never really knew her at all. It does make you want to grab your family and hold them tight. But it also deals with this by lionising the stereotypical doting Asian Mom trope - she's practically perfect in every way, all housework, saving money and making preserves for everyone. Even when she can be harsh to her kids, she ends up begging forgiveness and never once does anything purely for herself. It's a bit troubling that this never gets challenged much beyond one interaction with an outsider character who gets asked if he thought his own toiling mother had been happy with her life (he's offended at the suggestion, saying she was a woman of another time).
There's also something detached about the writing, but to be fair I find that a lot with translations. Maybe it is just that something is lost when taking it into English.
The UK hardback cover is a beauty, but it hides a lot more angst than I can deal with.
It is a touching theme: when a woman goes missing her adult children realise that they never really knew her at all. It does make you want to grab your family and hold them tight. But it also deals with this by lionising the stereotypical doting Asian Mom trope - she's practically perfect in every way, all housework, saving money and making preserves for everyone. Even when she can be harsh to her kids, she ends up begging forgiveness and never once does anything purely for herself. It's a bit troubling that this never gets challenged much beyond one interaction with an outsider character who gets asked if he thought his own toiling mother had been happy with her life (he's offended at the suggestion, saying she was a woman of another time).
There's also something detached about the writing, but to be fair I find that a lot with translations. Maybe it is just that something is lost when taking it into English.
The UK hardback cover is a beauty, but it hides a lot more angst than I can deal with.