Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Please Look After Mother by Kyung-sook Shin

2 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gosh, this book was difficult for me. Reminded me of The Giving Tree. My mother loved that book because of the Christian symbolism, but I suspect it was also because she identified with the tree. She read this book as well and asked me to read it too. I’d forgotten about that until today. Now I wish I’d read it while she was alive, while she was reading it too, so we could’ve discussed it together. Thus, this book was hard to read because it made me pine for my mother who was similarly a long-suffering saint like the book's mother and wife. And it’s compounding my grief, the grief that is ever present. I feel like this mother character could be any Korean mother. I think that’s a key reason for the book’s success.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Miscarriage and War

painausten314's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I wasn’t used to the second-person narration used in this novel, but once I understood the flow of the story, I was hooked. 

This story had me thinking long and hard about my own mother and her role in my life. It was an emotionally complex and heartbreaking story. I hope to read more of this author’s work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Dementia, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death and War