I Went to See My Father

Memory, Silence, the Weight of Understanding

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This is one of those novels that doesn’t make a grand entrance. It arrives quietly—and stays. I Went to See My Father by Kyung-Sook Shin follows Hon, a daughter returning home to care for her aging father, and slowly, painfully, discovering the parts of his life she never knew. It's about war and family, but mostly, it's about memory—what we remember, what we try to forget, and what we're finally ready to understand.

What Stayed With Me:

• The way silence filled the space between characters.

• How the book revealed grief not through outbursts, but through the gentle erosion of distance.

• The haunting, slow pace that lets you sit with the things we often avoid.

A Line I Kept Rereading:

“Please let him be by your side. Endure with him, enjoy the sunlight with him, pick fruit with him, sweep the snow with him, all of that. Tell him your stories and listen to him tell his. What else is there to do for each other?”

Would I Recommend It?

Yes—especially if you’ve ever looked at a parent and realized how much you still don’t know.
This book doesn’t try to wrap grief up in a bow. It lets it sit there, quietly, and lets you sit with it too.

Where to Read It:

I Went to See My Father is available on Amazon — or read along with us in the My Asian Era book club on Fable.