It sold a million copies within 10 months of release in 2009 in South Korea, is critically acclaimed internationally and the English translation by Chi-young Kim won the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize.

[11] When sixty-nine-year-old Park So-Nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family begins a desperate search to find her.

The novel also considers themes related to the self-sacrifice of mothers in general (and in Korea in particular), the relationship between memories of the past and realities of the present, and the chameleonic aspects of identity.

[12] The novel explores the conflict between the real self and the way people live their life, having lost the opportunities to obtain their aims, is also put forth to the readers.

The style of Please Look After Mom is a bit unusual, as Julie Hunt noted in booklist, "Composed almost entirely in second-person narration, the writing is sharp, biting, and intensely moving.