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This book is titled Please Look After Mother, by Shin Kyung-sook.
It was first published in Korean in 2008 by Changbi Publishers, then published in English in 2011 by Phoenix Fiction. It has 261 pages.
Genre: Literary Fiction

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So-nyo is a wife and mother to five grown-up children. One day, while travelling to Seoul by train, she vanishes. Whilst her family desperately searches for her, they discover the desires and hopes So-nyo kept hidden, and unravel an image of her they never knew.

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Please Look After Mother is set in post-war South Korea, and alternates between So-nyo's home in the countryside, and her children's homes in Seoul.

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The point of views in Please Look After Mother change in every chapter, with the first one from second-person, as told by the one of So-nyo's daughters.

Mother gazed at you in the darkness and said, 'Why do you hide those words? You have to live free, saying whatever you feel,' and pulled her hand from your grasp and rubbed your back. When you were a child, she used to wash your face the same way, with her big soothing hands.

In the second chapter, the story is told from the third-person, mostly centring around the family's oldest son.

His heart brims with the desire to do nothing but look after Mother when she's found. But he has already lost that chance.
He crumples to his knees on the living-room floor.

In the third chapter, the story reverts back to the second person, but is now told from the perspective of So-nyo's husband, and father to their five children.

Your face becomes marred with tears. Even if the world forgets, your daughter will remember. That your wife truly loved the world, and that you loved her.

In the fourth chapter, the story switches to a first-person perspective, and is told by the missing So-nyo, as if she is watching over her children.

You wouldn't know how proud I was to be your mother when I thought about you.

In the epilogue, the perspective returns to the second-person, as told by one of So-nyo's daughters, echoing the first chapter.

Your scream was both a protest against people who knew Mother and hatred of yourself, who hadn't been able to find her.

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This novel mostly centres around Mother (So-nyo) and her family, namely her husband and five children.

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When Mother goes missing on her way in Seoul station, her family puts up missing posters all over the area. As they try to find out where Mother could have possibly gone, they begin to recall all their memories of her, which paints a picture of the person that Mother is and how much she has struggled to provide for her family.

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This book is extremely touching, and the change in perspective adds another dimension to this novel.
The second-person perspective makes the reader feel as if they are actually Mother's daughter, and it makes one reflect on the way they have treated the people in their own lives. This perspective was really refreshing because I have not read many books that use a second-person perspective so effectively like this one. It also made the prose so intimate and personal.

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However, the change in perspective is not always very obvious or easy to decipher. Unlike many other books that employ a change in perspective, there are no indicators of who is speaking at the beginning of the chapter. The results in a bit of work deciphering who is speaking, which makes the reader have to reread each part carefully.

For example, in the fourth chapter, the perspective switches to first person, and is told by Mother. She talks as if she is addressing her children in a letter (addresses them as 'you' instead of by name), which sometimes makes it confusing as to whether it is in first-person or second-person.

I (Mother) knew this was going to happen. How can you (her daughter) laugh in this situation? Your eldest is saying something to you, putting his hat on over there. (this part begins to sound like second-person)

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The story is extremely strong in the use of emotive words and descriptors. It does not use flowery language that is difficult to understand, but uses straightforward words that make the reader feel the same sense of despair or love as the characters within in the novel.
The mental state and breakdown of the characters is written very well in this book, and the reader can see how each character has built their lives from ground up, and how Mother played a part in every single one of them.

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The writer uses very descriptive words that I can apply in descriptive writing. She describes a character's actions which she then links to their character traits. This allows the readers to have a clearer image of who this character is and what their personality is like.

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This book made me realise the impact Mother made on the people around her. The book made me appreciate the people around me, and especially my mother, more.

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I hope you will try this book out because it's really good! (also because i cried so much reading it) :)