Chapter 1 Nobody Knows
Chapter 2: I'm sorry, Hyungcheol
Chapter 3: Here I Come
Chapter 4 Another Woman

Epilogue_Rose Rosary
commentary

A masterpiece that beautifully and poignantly portrays our mother's life and love.
A novel crystallization that brings together the long-standing flow of Shin Kyung-sook's literature!

Shin Kyung-sook, who has made her mark on the history of Korean literature and established herself at the center of the novel world, has published her novel, "Please Look After Mom," which was serialized in "Creation and Criticism" from the winter of 2007 to the summer of 2008 and received a warm response.
This is his sixth full-length novel, following the publication of 『Lee Jin』 last year.
After the serialization, the author meticulously revised the four-chapter manuscript and added an epilogue of about 100 pages.

This novel begins with the disappearance of a mother who had always been there for her and given her endless love, and whom she took for granted. The novel unfolds with excitement from the very beginning.
The process of losing his father's hand at the subway station and recovering his memories while tracing the traces of his missing mother maintains a tense tension like a mystery novel until the very end.
By disappearing, the mother becomes a new and more precious presence to the family.
Each chapter unfolds from the perspectives of the mother, her husband, and her children as they search for their mother, putting up flyers and placing advertisements, captivating the reader with its powerful appeal.
The shift in perspective from daughter (Chapter 1) - eldest son (Chapter 2) - father and husband (Chapter 3) - mother and wife (Chapter 4) - daughter (epilogue) poignantly portrays the inner lives of mothers and families that each person has kept, but that they either do not know about or inadvertently ignore.
Each chapter has the dramatic effect of a complete monologue in itself.
The image of the mother that resides within each of us gives us a unique feeling, but they are connected and permeate each other to create an excellent mosaic.


Aren't you my first child?
Is this all you've done for me? Everything about you is a new world to me.
You made me try everything for the first time.
It was my first time feeling so full and it was my first time breastfeeding.
When I gave birth to you, I was exactly the same age as you are now.
When I first saw your red, sweaty face with your eyes closed… … I heard that everyone was surprised and happy after having their first child, but I think I was sad.
Did I give birth to this baby… … What should I do now? (…) Whenever I was tired, I would go into the room and spread out your little fingers while you were lying there.
And feel my toes too.
And then I would feel stronger.
I was really excited when I first put on the shoes.
When you came to me, toddling, I would burst out laughing. Even if you poured out gold and silver treasures in front of me, I wouldn't have laughed like that.
And what about when you sent me off to school? They pinned your name tag to your chest along with a handkerchief, and why did I feel so proud?
What can compare to the fun of watching your calves grow thicker?
(…) Look, if it weren’t for you, when would I ever come to Seoul? (Pages 93-94)

This is a story told by a mother who came to Seoul for the first time in her life by train, carrying her eldest son's graduation certificate, while falling asleep in the dormitory of the local government office where her son was staying.
It is part of the eldest son's memories of his mother after he lost her while living a busy life, forgetting that the village office was his first job.
The mother that the son remembers is a person who only looks at her children, in a tearful and pitiful way.
The belated realization that while he had been running on the road to success, looking only forward, he had neglected his mother, who was closest and most precious to him, brought tears of sorrow to the son.
The image that daughters remember of their mothers is not much different.


You painfully realized that your mother was the same age you are now when she took the night train to the city and back to the country.
A woman.
A woman who forgot the joy of being born, her childhood, her girlhood, and her dreams, got married before her period even began, gave birth to five children, and gradually disappeared as her children grew up.
A woman who is not surprised or shaken by anything for her children.
A woman whose life was marked by sacrifice and then disappeared.
You compared yourself to your mother.
Nevertheless, my mother was a world in itself.
If you were my mother, you wouldn't be running away from fear like you are now.
(Page 275)

I can't live like my mom, but why did I want to live like her? Why didn't I ever think about this when she was around?
If I, the daughter, was in this state, how lonely must my mother have felt in front of other people?
How could such an injustice happen, that I had to make sacrifices without anyone understanding me?

Sister.
Will the day ever come when we can be with our mothers, even if it's just for a single day? Will I ever be able to understand them, listen to their stories, and comfort their dreams, buried somewhere in the mists of time, and spend time with them? If I were given that time, even if it's not just for a day, but even for a few hours, I would tell my mother:
I love everything my mom did, the mom who was able to do it, and the life my mom lived that no one remembers.
I respect you. (Page 262)

The moment when it is revealed that even this ordinary mother, who was born in a rural village called 'Jinmoe', gave birth to five children without receiving any education, and lived only looking after her children, actually harbors her own romanticism and heartbreaking love, doubles the dramatic fun of this novel.
The mother's hidden love story, which is revealed only in Chapter 4, leaves a shocking and sad aftertaste.

I'll let you go now.
You were my secret.
You were in my life, someone no one would ever guess when they think of me.
Even though no one knew you were in my life, you were the one who brought me a raft and helped me cross the water safely whenever the tides were rough.
I'm glad you were here.
I came to tell you that I was able to cross over my life because I could come to you when I was anxious rather than happy. (…)… … I am leaving now. (pp. 236-37)

This novel poignantly answers the difficult questions we often think about but try to ignore: What kind of person is our mother to us? How did our mothers live their lives as mothers, wives, and women?
These sad yet beautiful episodes of the mother, which are scattered throughout the book, leave readers deeply moved, enough to make them stop reading and shed tears of regret.
It's a quick read, but it makes you stop and let your heart sink before you can move on to the next scene.
The detailed writing style and inner descriptions are so excellent that they can be considered the pinnacle of Shin Kyung-sook's novels.
Not only does the universal theme of motherhood evoke memories, but the delicate writing style and descriptions that lead the story's flow like water give the reader the rare experience of feeling as if the narrator's confession perfectly matches their own.
It makes it difficult for the reader to escape from the work by making them think that it is not a novel but a story about 'me'.


How can we possibly fathom all that our mothers, who stand like empty shells behind us today, have accomplished?
I just tried to restore that heartbreaking love, passion, and sacrifice.
It is my humble hope as a writer that the lives of these buried mothers will have some social significance. (Author's Note)

The mother in the novel is the mother of us all.
The author says that "hoping that mothers' lives will have some social meaning" is a "simple hope," but the social significance and impact of this novel are enormous.
In a reality where mothers' lives have not changed much even in today's world of rapid industrialization and cutting-edge technological civilization, the author's low, deep voice brings deep reflection and tears to all of us.
In the history of Korean literature, there are very few works that allow readers to experience the love of mother and family as deeply as this novel, so it can be said to be “a rare species of novel that is almost on the verge of extinction in today’s world” (Baek Nak-cheong).
The author's earnest plea to not turn away from her life as a woman before being a mother, which has always been buried in the background in our society, will soon change into a wish for all of us as we read on.

"Please Take Care of Mom" ​​is a novel in which the author rewrote his previous text, that is, his life, line by line.
If there is any expression of supreme respect to say that a writer spends his entire life writing and rewriting only one work, this would be it.
In that sense, "Please Look After Mom" ​​is a brilliant novelistic crystallization that brings together the long-standing flow of Shin Kyung-sook's literature, while perhaps also the work that most powerfully reveals the fateful expression of Shin Kyung-sook's novels, which will one day be rewritten. (...)
Your mother, who was born in a mountain village called Jinmoe on the Korean Peninsula and lived a life of ups and downs, our mother whom we meet everywhere in Joseon, and the universal life of mother itself.
The position of mother.
What explanation is needed here? (Jeong Hong-su's commentary on "Pieta, the Eternal Return")

What this novel awakens is not limited to family affection or a mother's sacrifice.
This work leads all people born as humans to deep contemplation about the origin of their lives and existence.
What is even more valuable is that through these fundamental questions, we can establish a new intuition and positivity about life.
Also, the missing mother returns as an embodiment of love that embraces all the wounds and sorrows of the world.
The image of the mother, a phantom revealed through the testimonies of those who witnessed her disappearance in each chapter—the mother with her slit-like eyes, blue slippers, and a deep wound on her instep—consistently evokes an image of infinite fragility, yet transparent and goodness, that can sometimes seem unrealistic.
The author completes the epilogue with an effort to keep his missing mother on earth until the end.
So, mothers are like the Virgin Mary, who exists everywhere in the world, yet with her sacred hands, she comforts pain and wounds and hears confessions about original sin.
The novel ends with the narrator saying with difficulty, “Please take care of Mom, Mom,” after seeing the Pieta statue, which is an excellent ending that reminds us of the symbol of love that our mothers hold.
This novel is a 'sure success' (Baek Nak-cheong) among Shin Kyung-sook's novels and is a story about 'the original sin of all the children of the world' (Lee Jeok).
As we read the novel, we will suddenly wonder what kind of childhood our mothers lived, what dreams they had, why they were so devoted to their children and husbands, and what secrets of love they kept in their hearts that they could not bring themselves to tell, and we will miss our mothers.
Through the story that begins with the mother's absence, the author paradoxically reminds us that it is not too late and that there is still much time left to love.