Kimchi Mamas

Book Club Discussion Post: "Please Look After Mom"

Hey Book Clubbers!   Welcome to the discussion thread for "Please Look After Mom." 

Please submit answers to any or all of the following discussion topics in a comment below:

1. Initial impressions of the author's overall writing chops, style, theme.
2. When Chi-hon asks Mom, "Did you like to cook?” how does Mom’s reply summarize the divide between her own and her daughter’s generations (p. 60)?  How would YOU answer if your child asked you the same question?
3. Out of all the major characters (Chi-hon, Hyong-chol, the younger sister with 3 children, Mom, Dad), who do you think was most responsible, if anyone, for Mom's disappearance?
4. What are the details and cultural references that make this story particularly Korean?  What elements make it universal?
5. One of my favorite parts was the story of the bizarre friendship between Mom and Lee Eun-Gyu (p. 200-211).  Were any mysteries solved with their story, or did it just enshroud Mom with even more layers of secrecy?
6. Grade the book on an A-F scale

I will gather answers and post a summary in two weeks, resulting in our very first official Kimchi Mama group book review!  So please make sure to at least grade the book!

--Julie

Shakespeare, Gangnam Style

I was spending my lunch hour watching "Gangnam Style" for the hundredth time, and PSY's lyrics, in their brevity and cleverness, really reminded me of the Bard himself.  

So...since there is every other sort of "Gangnam Style" mash-up out there, why not "Gangnam Style in the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet"?

By day, a girl whose warmth and care inspire,
Whilst holding coffee cup, relaxing grace,
When night, it cometh, feels her heart a-fire,
This contradict'ry woman, I will chase.

Tho virile male, I'm no fortune's fool.
My warmth, it matcheth yours during the day.
My coffee, chuggeth all before it cools,
My heart, it bursts, when night her charms display.

Your love'ble beauty earneth fair remark,
Oh you, yes you, doth make this life worthwhile;
Together, 'til the bitter end, and hark!
Hey Sexy Lady, Oppa's Gangnam Style.

Above the runners soar the men who fly.
A man who knows a thing or two, am I.

Exeunt Julie, PSY, and Billy Shakespeare.

A Piece of Korean Romance

When people think of the world's greatest tragic romances, they may conjure up Romeo and Juliet, Rhett and Scarlet, or Cathy and Heathcliff.  However, I hope after this, people will also think of Eung-Tae Lee and his widow.

In 1998, South Korean archaeologists found the mummified remains of Eung-Tae Lee, who died in 1586, buried with one of the saddest, most romantic letters I have ever read, written by his widow.  Here's just a small snippet: (hat tip to Letters of Note...seriously, folks, it is the best blog out there right now.)

How did you bring your heart to me and how did I bring my heart to you? Whenever we lay down together you always told me, "Dear, do other people cherish and love each other like we do? Are they really like us?" How could you leave all that behind and go ahead of me?

So long ago, and she was so distraught, she could easily have jumped off the nearest Lover's Leap to rejoin her love.  But she didn't!  She had to raise their son, and here's the dramatic twist...SHE WAS PREGNANT WITH THEIR SECOND!!!  So instead of completely succombing to her grief, she cut off her hair, weaved her locks into one last pair of sandals for her husband, and buried them with him!  Even Sophocles and Shakespeare couldn't come up with a gesture more poignant than that.  Le sigh.

Romance, it's in our blood, Kimchi brothers and sisters, and for much longer than "Winter Sonata" has been on syndication.  Now go forth and woo.

--Julie