Search results for ""Author Kyung-Sook Shin""

Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE''An authentic, moving story that brings to vivid life the deep family connections that lie at the core of Korean culture''Gary Shteyngart''Kyung-Sook Shin''s tale... has hit a nerve''Guardian''A raw tribute to the mysteries of motherhood''New York Times''The most moving and accomplished, and often startling, novel''Wall Street JournalWhen sixty-nine-year-old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family begins a desperate search to find her. Yet as long-held secrets and private sorrows begin to reveal themselves, they are forced to wonder: how well did they actually know the woman they called Mother?Told through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and mother, PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER is at once an authentic picture of contemporary lifTrade ReviewA moving Korean novel questions the reliability of memory * FINANCIAL TIMES *Kyung-Sook Shin's tale... has hit a nerve' * GUARDIAN *shin's prose, intimate, and hauntingly spare, powerfully conveys grief's bewildering immediately . . . A raw tribute to the mysteries of motherhood * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW *A moving portrayal of the surprising nature, sudden sacrifices, and secret reveries of motherhood * ELLE *The most moving and accomplished, and often startling, novel in translation I've read in many seasons ... Every sentence is saturated in detail ... It tells an almost unbearably affecting story of remorse and belated wisdom that reminds us how globalism-at the human level-can tear souls apart and leave them uncertain of where to turn * WALL STREET JOURNAL *A captivating story, written with an understanding of the shortcomings of traditional ways of modern life. It is nostalgic but unsentimental, brutally well observed and, in this flawlessly smooth translation by Chi-Young Kim, it offers a sobering account of a vanished past. ... We must hope there will be more translations to follow * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *An extraodinary novel about regret and our relations with those we love * HARPER'S BAZAAR *Affecting . . . Poignant and psychologically revealing . . . Readers should find resonance in this family story, a runaway bestseller poised for a similar run here * PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY *Kyung-Sook Shin's tale of an elderly woman who goes missing on the Seoul underground has hit a nerve * GUARDIAN *Please Look After Mother made me want to phone my mum * THE TIMES *This story about family, hope and guilt has universal reach. * Big Issue in the North *Tender, thoughtful and well-crafted... -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *I found what is in one sense a terribly sad book, life-affirming, portraying the sorrows and joys of the parent-child relationship, familiar whether you live in rural South Korea, or South London * THE TIMES *Full of emotion, this beautifully written book is like nothing I have ever read before and I thoroughly recommend it. * South Wales Argus *a captivating story, written with an understanding of the shortcomings of traditional ways and modern life. It is nostalgic but unsentimental, brutally well observed and, in this flawlessly smooth translation by Chi-Young Kim, it offers a sobering account of a vanished past... We must hope there are more translations to follow. * THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *The universal resonance of family life lifts a novel rooted in the experience of Korean modernity to international success. A best-seller in her native South Korea, Shin's Please Look After Mom tells the story of Park So-nyo, a devoted, do-all wife and mother who mysteriously goes missing... the book-Shin's first to be translated into English- is a moving portrayal of the surprising nature, sudden sacrifices, and secret reveries of motherhood. -- Lisa Shea * Elle *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... 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. * Kirkus Reviews *ndelible... 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.... Already a prominent writer in Korea, Shin makes her English-language debut with what will appeal to all readers who appreciate compelling, page-turning prose. Stay tuned: [Please Look After Mother] should be one of this year's most deserving bestsellers. -- Terry Hong * Library Journal *what the characters and readers of... South Korean author Kyung-sook Shin discover is that in the mother's absence she is only more powerfully present. * REUTERS *Kyung-Sook Shin's tale.. has hit a nerve.. it certainlytaps the universal tendency to take one's mother for granted. * THE GUARDIAN *

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Book Synopsis''Dreamy, immersive and evocative'' TLS''Darkly beautiful'' Frances Cha''Strange and gripping'' GuardianSan is twenty-two and alone when she happens upon a job at a flower shop in Seoul''s bustling city centre.Haunted by childhood rejection, she stumbles through life - painfully vulnerable, stifled, and unsure. She barely registers to others, especially by the ruthless standards of 1990s South Korea.But over the course of one summer, San meets a curious cast of characters: the nonspeaking shop owner, a brash co-worker, aggressive customers and an enigmatic magazine photographer. Fuelled by a quiet desperation to jump-start her life, she dares, briefly, to dream of connection in an unforgiving world.Translated by Anton Hur

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Book Synopsis''A powerful, elegant page-turner'' J.M. Lee''Gentle yet piercing'' Kirkus ReviewsAfter losing her daughter in a tragic accident, Hon returns to her childhood home in the Korean countryside to look after her elderly father. There, the discovery of a chest of letters compels her to piece together the violent, vibrant story of his life.More than just a portrait of one man, I Went to See My Father asks us to look at the ones we love, uncover the secrets they keep, and finally see who they really are.Affectionate, epic, joyous and lasting, this is the perfect follow-up to beloved classic Please Look After Mother.Translated by Anton Hur

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Book SynopsisAn instant bestseller in Korea and the follow up to the international bestseller, Please Look After Mom; centering on a woman’s efforts to reconnect with her aging father, uncovering long-held family secrets.Two years after losing her daughter in a tragic accident, Hon finally returns to her home in the countryside to take care of her father. At first, her father only appears withdrawn and fragile, an aging man, awkward but kind around his own daughter. Then, after stumbling upon a chest of letters, Hon discovers the truth of her father’s past and reconstructs her own family history. Consumed with her own grief, Hon had been blind to her father’s vulnerability and her family’s fragility. Unraveling secret after secret and thanks to conversations with loving family and friends, Hon grows closer to her father, who proves to be more complex than she ever gave him credit for. After living through one of the most tumultuous times in Korean history, her father’s life was once vibrant and ambitious, but spiraled during the postwar years. Now, after years of emotional isolation, Hon learns the whole truth, from her father’s affair and involvement in a religious sect, to the dynamic lives of her own siblings, to her family’s financial hardships. What Hon uncovers about her father builds towards her understanding of the great scope of his sacrifice and heroism, and of his generation as a whole. More than just the portrait of a single man, I Went to See My Father opens a window onto humankind, family, loss, and war. With this long-awaited follow-up to Please Look After Mom—flawlessly rendered by award-winning translator Anton Hur—Kyung-Sook Shin has crafted an ambitious, global, epic, and lasting novel.Trade Review"A powerful and haunting novel about family, war, loss, and fatherhood." —Pierce Alquist, Book Riot"Kyung-Sook Shin’s I Went to See My Father, deftly translated by Anton Hur, is a quietly epic contemplation on grief and the relationships, responsibilities, and expectations between family members." —Lauren Bo, World Literature Today"Shin successfully crafts yet another beautifully presented and heart-rending tale, giving readers much to ponder. Not to be missed, it will appeal not just to fans of Please Look After Mom but to anyone who enjoys strong, introspective storytelling; also a good candidate for book groups." —Shirley Quan, Library Journal (starred review)"[An] entrancing, subtly insightful novel . . . I Went to See My Father is one of the most fair and balanced treatments I’ve seen of the estrangement that can accompany growing up. This novel, in excellent translation by Anton Hur, is a well-crafted work of realist fiction that explores the power of communication to bring families to a point of greater understanding . . . The way Kyung-Sook Shin draws characters, revealing them layer by nuanced layer, is a marvel. How fortunate we are to have this translation by Anton Hur, providing English-speaking audiences access to the talents of one of South Korea’s most lauded contemporary authors." —David Vogel, Words Without Borders"What begins as a family melodrama becomes a fascinating piece of historical fiction . . . Shin’s profound and passionate love for her home country and its traditions is manifest." —Douglas MacLeod, On the Seawall"[Comprising] quiet, tender exchanges between father and daughter . . . [I Went to See My Father] is a slow and deeply interior novel, dense with memories." —Jung Yun, The Washington Post "Touching . . . Like life itself, this digressive meditation alternates from moments of dullness to startling beauty."—Publishers Weekly "Once more, Shin masterfully glides between quotidian details and astounding feats of survival revealed through multiple voices (older brothers, their mother, a wartime friend) and formats (letters, recordings, long chat messages) to create another universally empathic masterpiece." —Terry Hong, Booklist (starred review)"Gentle yet piercing . . . [I Went to See My Father is a] sensitively crafted family portrait that's both specific and universal and, above all, humane." —Kirkus Reviews"This is one you’ll definitely want to put on your literary map." —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review"Viewers and readers of Korean dramas and novels love a bit of teary nostalgia, and Shin provides it here in spades, and does a good job of it, too . . . Readers who enjoyed Please Look After Mom will find a lot to like here. I Went to See My Father is an interesting work looking at the life of a man who lived through one of the most turbulent periods of Korea’s history, as well as a reminder to the young (and not so young) that older people, our parents and grandparents, lived lives of their own, and have stories that are well worth listening to."—Tony Malone, Tony's Reading List "This is a book which reminds us that we all suffer from the same wounds, that no individual is free from the pains of their geography and that the greatest losses can only be healed where they all begin. Shin, once again, brings the unique history of a distant land into our homes and masterfully catches our hearts from the core, from the familiar bond of a child and a father. " —Defne Suman, author of The Silence of Scheherazade and At The Breakfast Table"A book that makes you hurt all over, and yet smile at the same time. A book where the experience being shared is so immediately palpable, so universal yet Korean, and beautiful and powerful at the same time." —Kim Hyesoon, award-winning author of Autobiography of Death"Kyung-Sook Shin is the writer who made me into a writer. Reading her novel The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness made me discover a loneliness and unsettledness inside me that I didn't know existed, and thus comforted me on a sincere level. I Went to See My Father features the author's hallmark emotional richness combined with a precision of language that pierces the soul. I Went to See My Father shows us an entire generation that suffered through war, in the single character of a father, a modest cattle farmer. Just as Shin's Please Look After Mom gives a voice to the forgotten mother, this novel vividly shows the father as a figure whom we often overlook. Through a narrative so true as to be almost autobiographical, Shin guides us on a journey of heartache to literary catharsis." —Sang Young Park, author of Love in the Big City"An insightful contemplation of memory and connectedness between family members. Shin threads together a lyrical family drama and the multilayered spectrum of Korean history in a compelling epic. It is not only a story of love and pain between father and daughter, but of how memories can heal tragic wounds and restore damaged relationships. A powerful, elegant, page-turner." —J.M. Lee, author of Broken SummerTable of ContentsContentsChapter 1: It’s Been a Long Time Since I’ve Seen YouChapter 2: When You Walk into the NightChapter 3: Inside the Wooden ChestChapter 4: Talking about Him Chapter 5: On the Verge of Goodbye Glossary

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