When So-nyo, 69, gets separated from her husband and vanishes among the crowds of the Seoul metro station, their children are overwhelmed with loud recriminations and are soaked in sadness and shame. As they debate the size of the prize to offer and the best way to phrase the language on the "Missing" flyers they are distributing across the city, they realize that none of them have a current image of Mom. Soon, a broader issue arises: do they actually know the lady they refer to as Mom? 

 

The novel, told in the alternating voices of Mom's daughter, son, husband, and, in the shocking conclusion, Mom herself, pieces together a life that appears ordinary but is anything but. 

 

I expected a novel about a mother to hit me deeply. This review is most likely on for me.  As a matter of fact, I never had a close relationship with my mother. I expected a book about someone's mother's death to be very moving for me. I don't believe I ever "loved" my mother, therefore I know it's something that would remain a fantasy for me. Nonetheless, I like this book a lot. I have nothing more to say.