Concerning My Daughter

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Kim excavates the complexities of a mother and daughter's relationship in her excellent debut...Kim's compassionate portrayal of the narrator's contradictions and ever-changing feelings makes her project captivating and moving. Readers will be grateful to discover this new author." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) Her daughter’s involvement in a case of unfair dismissal involving gay colleagues from the university where she works is similarly strange to her. In Concerning My Daughter, translated from Korean by Jamie Chang, Kim Hye-jin lays bare our most universal fears on ageing, death and isolation to offer, finally, a paean to love in all its forms. Concerning My Daughter is one of the best character studies I've read in years—thoughtful, complicated and surprisingly kind, it raises important questions about aging, family, and both the cost and the value of change.”

Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-jin - Pan Macmillan

Why can’t you just accept me for who I am? I’m not asking you to agree with me on every little thing. Weren’t you the one who told me that there were all kinds of people in the world? Who live different lives? You said different wasn’t bad! You’re the one who taught me all that. How come these things never apply to me? Hayatım boyunca bunun için çabaladım. İyi evlat. İyi kardeş. İyi eş. İyi anne. İyi komşu. Ve bir dönem de iyi öğretmen.First published in South Korea in 2017 as 딸에 대하여 ("About My Daughter"), Kim Hye-jin’s award-winning novel’s translated here by Jamie Chang. The contrast between speaking up and remaining silent is evident throughout the novel. Green speaks out against injustice while her mother prefers to keep quiet and not get involved in other people’s problems. Although their generational differences seem insurmountable, gradual change can be observed as they confront challenges at their workplaces. At the nursing home, cost-cutting measures loom, and the mother struggles to provide the level of care her elderly dementia patient deserves. At the university, with LGBTQ colleagues unfairly dismissed, Green joins the fight against their discriminatory practices. Although mother disagrees, as she takes in the scene at the protest, she reflects on her life and the passage of time.

Concerning My Daughter | Kim Hye-jin | 9781529057676 | NetGalley Concerning My Daughter | Kim Hye-jin | 9781529057676 | NetGalley

Ya da belki. Korkağın tekiyim. Hiçbir şey duymak istemeyen, risk almaktan kaçan, başkasının meselesine burnunu sokmayan biriyim. Etliye sütlüye karışmayan, kıyafetleri kirlenmesin diye hep kenarda duran biriyim. Duyulmak istenenleri söyleyen, görülmek istenen ifadeyi takınan, çaktırmadan geri adım atan kişiyim. Yine de iyi biri olmak mı istiyorum? Peki ya konu kızım olduğunda?’ How do I explain that I see myself in that woman whose wrists and ankles are bound? How do I articulate such a vivid premonition? Is it her fault that she has nothing and no one? Am I seeing myself in her because I’ve given up hope of depending on my daughter in old age? Will I – and even my daughter – likewise find ourselves punished by a rude, wretched wait for death at the end of our interminable lives? How far will I go to avoid that? And the world that she will reach, that I won’t be around for – what will it look like? Better than this? Or more relentless? Prize-winning Korean author Kim Hye-Jin’s debut confronts familial love, duty, mortality, and generational schism through the incendiary gaze of a tradition-bound mother faced with her daughter’s queer relationship. What an interesting sparse novel, told from an unlikely perspective about queer lives in Korea and investigativing other issues like ageism, elder care, and how the heteropatriarchay and capitalism fail to fulfill their promises, especially to women. I was fascinated to read that this author began this book with the idea of trying to see things from her mother's point of view. Diving into the perspective of an older generation steeped in deepseated homophobia and sexism is not for the faint of heart.Meanwhile, the nursing home where she works insists that she lower her standard of care for Jen, an elderly dementia patient who traveled the world as a successful diplomat, chose not to have children, and has no family. Outraged, Green’s mother begins to reconsider the unfair consequences of choosing one’s own path.

Concerning My Daughter — Restless Books Concerning My Daughter — Restless Books

The end solution is for the daughter to move in with her mother, but we realise the issue isn’t so much financial as social, as she brings “Lane”, her partner, for seven years, with her. “That girl” as the narrator refers to her, who is slow to realise and unable to accept that the two girls are in a long-term relationship and not just friends.I can't help but be moved by a story about women meeting, fighting, helping each other, looking after one another, and raising their voices against the prejudice and criticism they are subject to.” An admirably nuanced portrait of prejudice. . . . one that boldly takes on the daunting task of humanizing someone whose prejudice has made her cruel.” The mother finds Jen’s choices as incomprehensible as her daughter’s choices, but at the same time admires Jen for her travels and independence. Still, Jen has ended up in care and as her memory and connection with the present fades, the nursing home’s commitment to her care fades. The mother feels a strong responsibility toward Jen despite being pressured by the nursing home to cut corners in ways that affect Jen’s health. New Book Announcement: “The Inscription of Things: Writing and Materiality in Early Modern China” by Thomas Kelly El retrato que mi Kim Hye-jin hace de su protagonista, de la hija de esta y del choque que ambas tienen, transmite verdad por todas partes. Rara vez me pasa que empatice tantísimo con personajes que defienden ideales anticuados o que tienen pensamientos o comentarios intolerantes tan brutales como los que muestra la protagonista, y que pese a todo, sea imposible sentir rechazo hacia ella, y que como lector estés deseando que aprenda, que comprenda. Casi como si quisieras que te comprendiera a ti mismo. Es increíble lo bien construida que está la protagonista.

The Bookseller - Rights - Picador bags Hye-jin’s Korean

And yet when the care home where she works insists that she lower her standard of care for an elderly dementia patient who has no family, who travelled the world as a successful diplomat, who chose not to have children, Green’s mother cannot accept it. Why should not having chosen a traditional life mean that your life is worth nothing at all? Pese a que tiene muchos temas principales, que ahora tocaré, creo que el más importante es el que hace relación a la homofobia de la madre hacia la hija, y creo que es el tema que más destaca, no porque sea el único central, porque lo son varios, sino porque es el único que se toca de manera diferente. Mientras que temas como el desprecio a las personas de cierta edad o el esclavitud laboral reciben una crítica directa a través de su protagonista, de sus reflexiones y sus quejas, la homofobia es criticada a través de la intolerancia e ignorancia de ella misma, fruto de su educación y de una cultura que enseña a vivir dando más importancia a la opinión social, que a la felicidad propia o de los seres queridos. Por eso choca la cantidad de comentarios horribles que la madre suelta sobre su hija, sobre su nuera o sobre la homosexualidad en general, pero la autora sabe crear bien ese personaje, para que el lector, aún horrorizándose de lo que piensa, pueda entender su circunstancia e ir asistiendo poco a poco al avance y a la apertura de su mente. No de forma tan rápida como nos gustaría y llena de contradicciones, eso sí, pero demostrando perfectamente la confusión mental por la que está pasando la madre.As the mother’s understanding of her daughter grows, she finds she is unable to resist Lane’s unwavering patience and caring attention. The mother’s aches and pains are debilitating and her appetite is gone. Lane, who has also been wounded amidst the chaos of the protests, brings herbal tea and muscle relaxant patches for the mother and herself. They tend to each other’s wounds, creating a moment of communion that recalls the Last Supper. This is a transcendent moment of mutual care. Lane becomes the mother’s business, marking a clear turning point in the novel. When a widowed, aging mother allows Green, her thirty-something daughter, to move into her apartment, all she wants for her is a stable and quiet existence like her own. Ideally, a steady income and, most importantly, a good husband with whom to start a family.