{"product_id":"i-went-to-see-my-father-isbn-9781662601378","title":"I Went To See My Father","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn instant bestseller in Korea and the follow up to the international bestseller, \u003ci\u003ePlease Look After Mom;\u003c\/i\u003e centering on a woman’s efforts to reconnect with her aging father, uncovering long-held family secrets.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwo years after losing her daughter in a tragic accident, Hon finally returns to her home in the countryside to take care of her father. At first, her father only appears withdrawn and fragile, an aging man, awkward but kind around his own daughter. Then, after stumbling upon a chest of letters, Hon discovers the truth of her father’s past and reconstructs her own family history. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConsumed with her own grief, Hon had been blind to her father’s vulnerability and her family’s fragility. Unraveling secret after secret and thanks to conversations with loving family and friends, Hon grows closer to her father, who proves to be more complex than she ever gave him credit for. After living through one of the most tumultuous times in Korean history, her father’s life was once vibrant and ambitious, but spiraled during the postwar years. Now, after years of emotional isolation, Hon learns the whole truth, from her father’s affair and involvement in a religious sect, to the dynamic lives of her own siblings, to her family’s financial hardships. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat Hon uncovers about her father builds towards her understanding of the great scope of his sacrifice and heroism, and of his generation as a whole. More than just the portrait of a single man, \u003ci\u003eI Went to See My Father \u003c\/i\u003eopens a window onto humankind, family, loss, and war. With this long-awaited follow-up to \u003ci\u003ePlease Look After Mom—\u003c\/i\u003eflawlessly rendered by award-winning translator Anton Hur—Kyung-Sook Shin has crafted an ambitious, global, epic, and lasting novel.Contents\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 1: It’s Been a Long Time Since I’ve Seen You\u003cbr\u003eChapter 2: When You Walk into the Night\u003cbr\u003eChapter 3: Inside the Wooden Chest\u003cbr\u003eChapter 4: Talking about Him \u003cbr\u003eChapter 5: On the Verge of Goodbye \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGlossary\"A powerful and haunting novel about family, war, loss, and fatherhood.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003ePierce Alquist, \u003ci\u003eBook Riot\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Kyung-Sook Shin’s\u003ci\u003e I Went to See My Father\u003c\/i\u003e, deftly translated by Anton Hur, is a quietly epic contemplation on grief and the relationships, responsibilities, and expectations between family members.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eLauren Bo, \u003ci\u003eWorld Literature Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Shin successfully crafts yet another beautifully presented and heart-rending tale, giving readers much to ponder. Not to be missed, it will appeal not just to fans of \u003ci\u003ePlease Look After Mom\u003c\/i\u003e but to anyone who enjoys strong, introspective storytelling; also a good candidate for book groups.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eShirley Quan,\u003ci\u003e Library Journal \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[An] entrancing, subtly insightful novel . . . \u003ci\u003eI Went to See My Father\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most fair and balanced treatments I’ve seen of the estrangement that can accompany growing up. This novel, in excellent translation by Anton Hur, is a well-crafted work of realist fiction that explores the power of communication to bring families to a point of greater understanding . . . The way Kyung-Sook Shin draws characters, revealing them layer by nuanced layer, is a marvel. How fortunate we are to have this translation by Anton Hur, providing English-speaking audiences access to the talents of one of South Korea’s most lauded contemporary authors.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eDavid Vogel, \u003ci\u003eWords Without Borders\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What begins as a family melodrama becomes a fascinating piece of historical fiction . . . Shin’s profound and passionate love for her home country and its traditions is manifest.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eDouglas MacLeod, \u003ci\u003eOn the Seawall\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Comprising] quiet, tender exchanges between father and daughter . . . [\u003ci\u003eI Went to See My Father\u003c\/i\u003e] is a slow and deeply interior novel, dense with memories.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJung Yun, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\"Touching . . . Like life itself, this digressive meditation alternates from moments of dullness to startling beauty.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Once more, Shin masterfully glides between quotidian details and astounding feats of survival revealed through multiple voices (older brothers, their mother, a wartime friend) and formats (letters, recordings, long chat messages) to create another universally empathic masterpiece.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eTerry Hong, \u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Gentle yet piercing . . . [\u003ci\u003eI Went to See My Father \u003c\/i\u003eis a] sensitively crafted family portrait that's both specific and universal and, above all, humane.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is one you’ll definitely want to put on your literary map.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Erin Kodicek, \u003ci\u003eAmazon Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Viewers and readers of Korean dramas and novels love a bit of teary nostalgia, and Shin provides it here in spades, and does a good job of it, too . . . Readers who enjoyed Please Look After Mom will find a lot to like here. I Went to See My Father is an interesting work looking at the life of a man who lived through one of the most turbulent periods of Korea’s history, as well as a reminder to the young (and not so young) that older people, our parents and grandparents, lived lives of their own, and have stories that are well worth listening to.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Tony Malone, Tony's Reading List\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"This is a book which reminds us that we all suffer from the same wounds, that no individual is free from the pains of their geography and that the greatest losses can only be healed where they all begin. Shin, once again, brings the unique history of a distant land into our homes and masterfully catches our hearts from the core, from the familiar bond of a child and a father. \"  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Defne Suman, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Silence of Scheherazade\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAt The Breakfast Table\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A book that makes you hurt all over, and yet smile at the same time. A book where the experience being shared is so immediately palpable, so universal yet Korean, and beautiful and powerful at the same time.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Kim Hyesoon, award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eAutobiography of Death\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Kyung-Sook Shin is the writer who made me into a writer. Reading her novel \u003ci\u003eThe Girl Who Wrote Loneliness\u003c\/i\u003e made me discover a loneliness and unsettledness inside me that I didn't know existed, and thus comforted me on a sincere level. \u003ci\u003eI Went to See My Father\u003c\/i\u003e features the author's hallmark emotional richness combined with a precision of language that pierces the soul. \u003ci\u003eI Went to See My Father\u003c\/i\u003e shows us an entire generation that suffered through war, in the single character of a father, a modest cattle farmer. Just as Shin's \u003ci\u003ePlease Look After Mom\u003c\/i\u003e gives a voice to the forgotten mother, this novel vividly shows the father as a figure whom we often overlook. Through a narrative so true as to be almost autobiographical, Shin guides us on a journey of heartache to literary catharsis.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Sang Young Park, author of \u003ci\u003eLove in the Big City\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An insightful contemplation of memory and connectedness between family members. Shin threads together a lyrical family drama and the multilayered spectrum of Korean history in a compelling epic. It is not only a story of love and pain between father and daughter, but of how memories can heal tragic wounds and restore damaged relationships. A powerful, elegant, page-turner.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—J.M. Lee, author of \u003ci\u003eBroken Summer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eKyung-Sook Shin is one of South Korea’s most widely read and acclaimed novelists. She has been awarded the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Dong-in Literary Award, the Man Asian Literary Prize, and many others. Shin is the author of 8 novels, 8 short story collections, and 3 essay collections, including the \u003ci\u003eNYT\u003c\/i\u003e-bestselling \u003ci\u003ePlease Look After Mom\u003c\/i\u003e, which has been published in more than forty countries. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTRANSLATOR BIO: \u003c\/b\u003eAnton Hur was double-longlisted and shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize and has worked on several of Kyung-Sook Shin’s books. He lives in Seoul.","brand":"Astra House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303266373861,"sku":"NP9781662601378","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781662601378.jpg?v=1767729736","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/i-went-to-see-my-father-isbn-9781662601378","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}