Kyung Sook Shin is back with such a tender novel about war and fatherhood that could be considered a sequence to her most beloved work Please look after mom. And Anton hurt’s translation is beautiful as usual.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A moving and heartbreaking story about complex familial relationship, familial love, and dealing with grief.
Deeply moving, compelling and relatable to anyone watching their parents age and the responsibilites that come with that.

Thanks to the publisher and the author for lending me a copy.
Picturesque, but it did bore me at times when i felt like it dragged on a bit too long.

This was such an interesting story! I really enjoyed the unique plot and the characters. I look forward to the author’s next work!

I really wanted to love this book because I am a fan of Kyung-Sook Shin’s work! I thought it was a beautiful novel that worked backwards to show (instead of telling) readers what kind of man Hon’s father is. What didn’t work for me: pacing and constant change of POVs. Made it really difficult to get hooked and stay engaged. But the culmination at the end was truly heartwarming.

It seemed excessively long. The writing is adequate. It's written in the style of a memoir. The pacing and characters appear to be a little quirky at times. It is quite descriptive, and the tempo is moderate. This, along with what appeared to be lengthy "stream-of-consciousness" passages from various individuals to convey their observations and memories, resulted in pages of babbling. Granted, there were significant themes incorporated, but this format was difficult for me to follow.

I wanted to love this. The premise is one that I found so fascinating, one that I empathized with in spades, but the execution left me somewhat empty.

This is a slow (slow) tale of a woman who goes home to visit her father after her daughter's death. Her father is not someone she could say she is close to, using recounts of her childhood to demonstrate her tenuous relationship with him. However, as she begins to explore her house, unearthing pieces of the past, she catches more glimpses of the man her father was, how he became the man he is, and the things he never said.

The emphasis on letters was an excellent idea, but the execution was wanting. It made the story drag on longer than necessary and slowed the pacing. I sometimes wondered how many letters I would have to sit down and read through because it felt inconsequential.

The setting and scenery were melodic, its tone melancholic and soft, where the hums and patterns of rural living were captured lovingly. I found myself loving the soft moments of the quiet rural life the most.

Overall, it was a slow read that I would recommend to those who want to slip into something quiet and slow. Thank you, Netgalley and Astra House for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kyung-Sook Shin's Please Look After Mother was one of my favorite books ever so I was really excited to read I went to See My Father! Unfortunately, the format didn't work as well with this book. I Went to See My Father is still heartwarming and reflective, but it lost my attention at around 25%. I had no connection to the story and the characters, and honestly it's quite forgettable; I couldn't even recall anything from this book. I loved the writing and the translation, though!

Wrote a review for On the Seawall...a wonderful work that speaks to family dynamics and culture...I thoroughly recommend it.

DOUG

This was criminally boring. I made it to 40% in and then just skipped to the very last 5% of the book. I feel like I missed absolutely nothing. It's just a bunch of non-linear reflections on the protagonist's relationship with her father. I felt nothing for the characters and was not interested in the 'story' at all.

A far cry from Please Look After Mom.

After two years of dealing with her own grief, Hon returns to the countryside to care for her aging and frail father while her mother is hospitalized in Seoul. When Hon stumbles upon a chest of letters, she learns things about her father she never knew before and confronts her own emotions of regret and guilt.

Just like Shin's previous novel, I WENT TO SEE MY FATHER is a delicate and somber story that will make you reflect on your own personal relationship with your father. Shin has always been able to write incredibly emotional and heartbreaking stories and this was no different. Anton Hur perfectly captured these feelings and the weight of everything that is left unsaid with his skillful translation. However, I found the pacing of the novel to be very slow and combined with extremely long chapters; made it hard for me to devote 100% of my attention while reading. The story began to pick up and I became invested when Hon found the chest of letters and started reading them. Hon has always remembered her father to be a hardworking and humble farmer—one that their village highly respected. But through letters and interviews with family members and Father's long-lost friends, Hon discovers the pressures Father grew up with, the devastating consequences of the war, and the ripple effect it had on generations. Shin beautifully blends Korean history into this story—exhibiting Korea's resiliency during a time of deep agony.

I loved that while Hon's remembrance of key events in her childhood differed from her siblings and mother's; each of their recollections and understanding of Father was still a testament to his love for them. This book served as a reminder for me of not only parental love but of their humanity before becoming parents—their dreams, passions, traumas and experiences they had, spoken or not. It made me reflect on my own relationship with my parents and remember that they are also growing older by the day. Although I enjoyed PLAM more, FATHER was still a touching read with many tender father-daughter moments.

Thank you Astra House Books and Netgalley for the eARC.

3.5/5

“Life has ambushes…..But to live through it, that is human.”

A middle-aged mother dealing with the unexpected loss of her only child chooses to re-engage in the familial duties when she opts to look after her father when other siblings take their mother away to the hospital in Seoul. This involves a trip to the rural Korean countryside where she was reared as a farmer’s daughter. Her father is an elderly, resourceful, and sensitive man who is highly respected in the community. When she witnesses her father’s bouts of melancholy including rivers of tears that stream randomly from a lifetime of painful memories, and nights filled with insomnia or violent thrashing caused by nightmares – she realizes that there is much she doesn’t know about the man who raised a household of successful children amid abject poverty.

The novel pivots when a chest of letters is discovered and the daughter probes her father’s memory, finds long lost friends, and questions her mother and siblings’ recollection about key events. This is where the novel shined for me – through the examination of one man’s life, it reveals several decades of Korean history – specifically the devastating effects (starvation, malnutrition, pestilence, illness, violence/torture, etc) on the rural poor during the Korean War, Japanese occupation and in the aftermath of failed government programs and social policies on its disenfranchised, undereducated citizens. It delves deeper when the author imparts how the culture and traditional belief systems stemming around birth order (and the responsibilities that accompany it), gender, etc. shaped their daily living and choices that affected lives and caused emotional wounds. In short, her father’s experiences represent the trials and tribulations of the Korean people. Throughout the novel, her father’s humanity was tried and tested repeatedly through a hard-lived life; his survival and sacrifices were truly a testament of his determination and resistance to ensure the survival and prosperity of his children (and future generations).

The passages are very descriptive and pacing is fairly slow. Combine this with the use of what seemed like elongated “stream-of-consciousness” passages from various characters to convey their observations and memories – it came across as pages of ramblings. Granted there were key points embedded, but this style was a bit taxing for me to get through (I don’t think the Kindle formatting helped here either) and I found myself skimming just to get to the embedded points (which were quite essential to the plot/story). However, it could just be a personal nit of mine; others may not mind this style. Highly recommended for the historical content – emotionally engaging – but not so much on the delivery.

Thanks to Astra Publishing House and NetGalley for the opportunity to review in exchange for an honest review.

Hon returns home to take care of her aging father. As she realizes the extent of his current health condition and becomes his caretaker, she also finds things from his past that give insight to his youth, the effect of the war, and his role in their family. Hon sees that there were many events she was not privy to, but that shaped her father's and her family's lives. Readers of family sagas, memoirs, or recent Korean history will be interested in this one.

Definitely a moving and heartwarming book that makes us question our own relationship to our parents and their history.
I had a hard time with the switching of POVs and the overall structure of the book.

I can recommend this if you like family sagas and Korean literature.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, many years ago, I read and loved PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOM (PLAM), to which this is billed as a follow-up. However, I just didn't connect with this novel, and it left me wanting more.

The story follows a woman who goes home to look after her aging father while her mother goes to a doctor's appointment in Seoul. I read PLAM ages ago, so I may be missing the connection, but I'm guessing it's just that they both chronicle a child's love and memories of their parent—this time, a father, and not a mother. And I love that idea, especially since I'm close with my own dad, so I thought this book would really get me good.

However, I felt held at an arms length for the entire story. While some of that may have to do with the translation, I think my bigger issue is the way the narrative is structured. For most of the book, there were three general timelines—her father's childhood, the narrator's memories, and the present day. This would be fine, except every few paragraphs seemed to switch from one timeline to another, dropping in to one story while the other wasn't completed yet. It felt very choppy and made it hard for me to feel connected to any of the characters or what they were going through.

The second half of the book gets a bit more interesting, when we hear directly from other family members, which include longer recollections. I found this section to be more potent and moving, but that couldn't save the rest of the book for me. I left the reading experience feeling nothing, which is a bit shocking for such a personal subject matter.

I'm sad this one didn't work for me, as I've also enjoyed THE COURT DANCER by Shin. I'm still curious to read VIOLETS—maybe a more plot-driven novel will work better for me.

I Went to See My Father by Kyung-Sook Shin is a beautifully written novel that explores the complex relationships between family members through a daughter's journey to visit her dying father. The protagonist, a middle-aged woman named Hon, is struggling not only with the death of her daughter but with feelings of guilt and regret over her relationship with her father. As she spends time with him, she begins to confront these emotions and to come to terms with the past. She learns there is so much more to her father than she ever could have imagined. While he is flawed and deeply human, he is more than just a father and a simple country farmer.  He led a rich life, full of sacrifices, mistakes, devotion, and love.

It started off a bit slow for me, but soon I was drawn into the story through the author's skillful use of language and imagery, creating a deeply moving and poignant atmosphere. I couldn't help but reflect on my own experiences with family. Truthfully, this novel made me want to spend more time with my own parents, having a feeling of childhood nostalgia and a need to see them as more than just my parents.

Overall, I Went to See My Father is a well worthwhile read. Shin's writing creates a lasting impact that will stay with the reader long after the final page is turned. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys literary fiction that is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant.

Read this, if you like:
• books about forgiveness
• family drama
• books that read like memoirs
• learning about other cultures 

*review also shared on Amazon and Goodreads

Thank you Netgalley and Astra House for this ARC

Battling with her own loss, Hon, our middle-aged protagonist, has distanced herself from her parents and hasn’t seen them for years. The novel opens when she hears about mother being taken to the hospital, and that father is alone at home. Her sister also tells her that father had cried when their mother had left home. Hearing about her father crying is enough for Hon to catch the train and go to visit him, bridging the distance she had built over the years.

This heartrending as well as heart-warming novel is an offering from a daughter to her father – an offering of remembrance and acknowledgement. It is also an act of atonement the protagonist seeks for taking so much for granted. Spending time with her father, she becomes the child her daughter was to her – loved, adored, and missed. She also sees her father in a new light as she learns about his struggle-filled past in a country torn apart by war.

The photographs lined up on the walls, the rooms in the house, and the bridge she passed to go to school and on that bridge the memory of her father unmistakably conjures an unforgettable image.

Kyung-Sook shin wonderfully blends the history of a place and how it shapes its people with personal histories and how we ultimately reconnect with the lost halves of ourselves through memories. This follow up of Please Look After Mom, too, is deeply moving. There were many instances in the novel where I teared up thinking of my own parents. The palpable sadness Hon’s father experiences throughout hits really hard.

Through Hon, I took my own personal journey to my childhood home where my ageing parents live on their own waiting for my visits. Visits that are rare due to geographical distance.
Like Hon, I had a deluge of questions flooding through me. When did my parents grow so old that they repeat the same things over and over again? When was the last time I hugged them or held their hands? When did the skin on the back of my mother’s hand grow so thin and stretchy?
This is an important novel for the times we live in, where family systems have constantly been challenged and redefined. It also bravely explores the meaning of growing old in a society that constantly capitalises on youth and productivity.

A translator brings readers closer together by bridging cultural divides. Translations make it possible to gain a greater understanding of other cultures and societies. A translator understands the nuances and subtleties of both languages in order to faithfully represent them. This is where Anton Hur’s beautiful and moving translation comes in. Hur’s translation of this novel is just brilliant. It establishes the fact how stories can move through languages and cultures and reach a widely varied world of readers and become relatable.

I’ve loved Kyung-sook Shin’s writing ever since I read Please Look After Mom a few years ago, so I was very excited when I got an ARC of her latest novel. I Went To See My Father is not only a story about a daughter reconnecting with her aging dad, but also her dealing with her own grief. Similar to how Please Look After Mom was told, the story of Hon’s father is told through multiple perspectives.

This is a slice of life kind of story so I had expected it to be slow and immersive, but I understand this kind of writing is not for everyone. You have to be in the proper state of mind to be able to appreciate books like this. This is the perfect book to read though if you want to learn more about Korea’s culture and history.

There were lots of moments in this book that moved me emotionally, because I can relate to the main character, Hon, taking care of an aging parent. It reminds me that we often just see our parents as just that - our parents. But we often forget that they were also young once, that they also have their own colorful stories, painful experiences and traumas, hidden deep inside of them. Getting these stories out of them would not only be healing for them, but for us as well. This book has a lot of moving insights about family, and for that, this is a worthwhile read for me.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first glance, and in the beginning, it seems that this is (only) a story about a modest father, about hard life, poverty, exhausting work in the fields, about the constant concern for his children and their education. About a father that wanted a better life for his children, a life that would be better than his own, a life that lacked education, was filled with constant hardship and worry.
Father in his frailness gives away more than he intended to. His past, secret life comes to light.
Does that change the father in the eyes of daughter?
The daughter is the (partial) narrator of the story, a writer who not only deals with her sick father and his secrets, thinks about her sick mother in the hospital, her siblings, she has her own burden to carry - the accidental death of her young daughter she blames herself for.
I liked the refreshing change of perspective from the daughter to other characters in the novel who become narrators for a chapter. They talk about the father because the daughter asked them to, she is writing about him and she is trying to find out the truth at the same time. Their testimony is in various forms, a letter, an audio recording, a conversation with her.
This is a novel about family, secrets and after all, about life. What connects everyone is the constant need to have a better life, to try harder, constant worry and constant faliure.
I specially liked delicate writing style, the daugther's recollections about details of her childhood, her childhood home, about the small things that made her life beautiful, the moments of beauty.
Sad, harsh, subtle, melancholic and wonderful.

This read definitely brought out a lot of emotions in me. It reminds me of a saying that children never really know their parents. I don't remember where I heard it from but that was definitely some of the vibe of this book. Of course thank goodness that's not where this book ended, I enjoyed reading about the discovery of Hon's father's hidden self. Maybe even his full self, the one that was kept from her for so long.