Random Reads

Please look after Mother - by Kyung-Sook Shin 

(translated from Korean to English by Chi-Young Kim)

You know, I always have trouble reminding myself that the books I read are fictional. 

I tend to assume they are somewhat biographical and sometimes I get to drawn into the emotions.

Normally, I would just run my fingers through the spines of the books and pick out the one my fingers rest on. I would look at the title and preface before deciding if I would borrow it. That way, I let the book find me because I am a drifter who do not have preference for most stuff. 

"Please look after Mother" is a very poignant book. I had to break this up because while some episodes stung my heart, some episodes stung my eyes. Disintegration of a family's love in our modern times are somewhat unavoidable. Especially when you have children who are grown and are busy with their respective careers and are living in cities afar. No parent would want their children to cling to them (I think); successful careers and praises about their children would bring pride and joy to most aged parents. The Korean culture reminds me of our local Chinese culture as well. But their Asian pride  is more pronounced than ours.

The author is gifted in bringing out the nuances of the human thought process. Like how the aged parents bought for themselves a pair of "Parents' Day" pin / brooch because they are afraid their friends or neighbours might think badly of their five children who had forgotten "Parents' Day" and failed to buy their parents a pair of pins that read - "Thank you for giving me life". These are the kinds of things we think are a fad and not important but to some elderly, they matter. 

The long-suffering Mother thought nothing of her sacrifices and was never missed until she got lost at the train station and couldn't find her way back. p.s: she was never found.