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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
tense
reflective
medium-paced
I would add a trigger warning to this book. I'll add it far down below. It is kind of a spoiler but I don't think it is enough to actually mark the hide entire review box.
This is a good book. Although we are getting a translation version, I feel/hope that it was translated well.
There are some fantastic lines that I'd love to pull out of this book. However, I read via audiobook so it is not as easy....and I am too lazy to bookmark it, re-listen, and type it up. Perhaps someday I will level up to this type of excitement but today is not that day.
I enjoyed how this was told by the different viewpoints and then by the Mom. The description of the book kinda gives away what happens but I think I would have guessed it anyway....kind of.
I would add this to the beautifully semi-heartbreaking tag.
I would recommend this to most people. The trigger warning would stop some from reading.
adding TW...
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TW: stillborn (she is in bed with the stillborn for several days)
This is a good book. Although we are getting a translation version, I feel/hope that it was translated well.
There are some fantastic lines that I'd love to pull out of this book. However, I read via audiobook so it is not as easy....and I am too lazy to bookmark it, re-listen, and type it up. Perhaps someday I will level up to this type of excitement but today is not that day.
I enjoyed how this was told by the different viewpoints and then by the Mom. The description of the book kinda gives away what happens but I think I would have guessed it anyway....kind of.
I would add this to the beautifully semi-heartbreaking tag.
I would recommend this to most people. The trigger warning would stop some from reading.
adding TW...
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TW: stillborn (she is in bed with the stillborn for several days)
I believe this book is the first Korean book to make the New York Times bestseller list, and it deserves to be so. This story is about a woman who gets lost in the big city, written from the perspectives of her children, her husband, and the woman herself. The novel made me think about my own relationships with women who raised me (my mother, my paternal grandmother), as well as my current role as a mother. The prose is beautiful and never becomes too sentimental. I'm not sure the novel is a good Mother's Day gift, but it should definitely be read.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
So is the mother dead or not because in the last part of the 4th section it kind of made it sound like she saw the light and because it was 9 months later I just feel like they would have found her. It's amazing how someone can just disappear like that without a trace and you never hear from them again. Also when was the letter about the mom from because it made it seem like it was current. Did they find her in there and that was like it? Someone please shed some light.
3.5 stars
a devastating, honest tale about the sacrifices mothers are willing to make for their families.
would have been 4 stars if not for the weird religious last chapter that felt very out of place.
a devastating, honest tale about the sacrifices mothers are willing to make for their families.
would have been 4 stars if not for the weird religious last chapter that felt very out of place.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
This book made me want to call my mother everyday as well as think of her in a variety of (positive) ways. The narrative from 4 different people, one being the mother herself is engaging and thoughtful. I loved the added layer of Korean culture and not only would recommend this book to others but look forward to seeing other English translations of the author's work.
Told from multiple perspectives, this provides a solid wake-up call to remind us that we often do not "see" the people who are closest to us, those we take for granted. Only after a woman disappears does a husband and their four adult children face issues in their family and in their past. This is one of those books that aches. So much loss, missed love, poverty, illiteracy, and more set in the midst of a changing country, South Korea. This story could and almost certainly does occur in any country in the world. What will a woman give for her family? You'll have to read this deserving novel to find out.