Kyung-sook Shin

This book was a bit hard to get through because it was very slow. It's about a Korean family. The mother of the family is missing after a trip to Seoul. The mother suffers from dementia. She and her husband take a trip to Seoul on a train. Unfortunately, her husband gets on the train, but she gets caught up in the crowd and doesn't make it on the train. The story revolves around finding her, and how the loss affects her family. The family talks about their memories of her and how they feel about each other. It was a really good story.… (altro)

While I enjoyed reading this, I spent quite a bit of the time thinking that I had no idea where this book was going or what it was trying to do. Thinking to myself — are the violets a metaphor? A metaphor for what? What is going on with this character? Am I just being dense, too exhausted or distracted to get it, or is this intentional?

Things mostly came together for me in the final scenes, but they didn't REALLY click until I read the author's afterword. This was a very rare case where I wish I had read the afterword first, I think I would have gotten more out of the book. (Normally I don't even read introductions.) The book is a little drifty sometimes (but of course, so is San, the main character), and San's behavior is often odd and difficult to identify with or even understand. I think the back copy set me up to expect a different kind of book than what the author was trying to deliver. (I was reading an ARC though, maybe the published version is different?)

There was a lot of loneliness here, and a few scenes that I think will really stick with me. I am definitely glad that I read it, and am more likely now to seek out other books by Shin.… (altro)