![]() ![]() Readers should find resonance in this family story, a runaway bestseller in Korea poised for a similar run here. Partly a metaphor for Korea’s social shift from rural to urban, partly an elegy to the intensity of family bonds as constructed and maintained by self-denying women, this is tender writing.” -Īffecting. The narration by four different family members exposes guilt and insights all around, from unmarried daughter Chi-hon, a novelist, to herself. ![]() ![]() An enormous publishing success in South Korea, this simple portrait of a family shocked into acknowledging the strength and heroic self-sacrifice of the woman at its center is both universal and socially specific. Stay tuned: Mom should be one of this year’s most-deserving bestsellers.Ī mother’s disappearance exposes family consciences, secrets and dependencies. ![]() VERDICT: Already a prominent writer in Korea, Shin finally makes her English-language debut with what will appeal to all readers who appreciate compelling, page-turning prose. Shin’s breathtaking novel is an acute reminder of how easily a family can fracture, how little we truly know one another, and how desperate need can sometimes overshadow even the deepest love. In four distinct voices, the character of Mom-a rural farmwoman whose ‘hands could nurture any life - is reassembled by her eldest daughter, whose books Mom couldn’t read her eldest son, for whom she could never do enough her husband, who never slowed down and finally Mom herself as she wanders through memories both strange and familiar. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |