A review by sonalipawar26
Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
'That child who sprang from my own flesh and blood is perhaps the creature I'm most distant from,' says the sixty-something narrator.
Isn't it true for the most of us though? Tumultuous mother-daughter relationships are a tale as old as time.
If you are a woman, you'll relate to this relationship being as complex as a maze that has no exit. You are stuck with each other, butting heads at the smallest issue. But then you look for each other at the minutest inconvenience as well. You can't live together, you can't live apart.
Concerning My Daughter navigates the 'treacherous shoals of the mother-daughter relationship' [as Morticia Addams from Wednesday quoted]. The narrator is a sixty-something woman working as a carer at the hospital for senior citizens waiting to take their last breath. She has a thirty-something daughter, who won't do things the 'traditional' way. She can't understand why her daughter chose the hard life.
Her daughter then moves in with her along with another woman. But they are not just friends, and the mother isn't ready to come to terms with their true relationship.
This book brings out the nuances and several layers to mother-daughter relationships brilliantly. Moreover, it is also a commentary on palliative care and are not cared for properly.
This novella is subtle yet impactful. You find yourself empathising with the daughter, but then you start understanding the mother and her internal conflicts, too. Apart from being about mothers and daughters, it is provides a perspective on the LGBTQ+ community through the lens of the older generation. Of course, you might not agree with the.
A lot was left to read between the lines, and my only woe with the book is that it was too short to peel the layers of a mother-daughter relationship.
Isn't it true for the most of us though? Tumultuous mother-daughter relationships are a tale as old as time.
If you are a woman, you'll relate to this relationship being as complex as a maze that has no exit. You are stuck with each other, butting heads at the smallest issue. But then you look for each other at the minutest inconvenience as well. You can't live together, you can't live apart.
Concerning My Daughter navigates the 'treacherous shoals of the mother-daughter relationship' [as Morticia Addams from Wednesday quoted]. The narrator is a sixty-something woman working as a carer at the hospital for senior citizens waiting to take their last breath. She has a thirty-something daughter, who won't do things the 'traditional' way. She can't understand why her daughter chose the hard life.
Her daughter then moves in with her along with another woman. But they are not just friends, and the mother isn't ready to come to terms with their true relationship.
This book brings out the nuances and several layers to mother-daughter relationships brilliantly. Moreover, it is also a commentary on palliative care and are not cared for properly.
This novella is subtle yet impactful. You find yourself empathising with the daughter, but then you start understanding the mother and her internal conflicts, too. Apart from being about mothers and daughters, it is provides a perspective on the LGBTQ+ community through the lens of the older generation. Of course, you might not agree with the.
A lot was left to read between the lines, and my only woe with the book is that it was too short to peel the layers of a mother-daughter relationship.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Violence