Compulsion by Heidi Ayare

This is one of those books that is almost impossible to put down, while at the same time almost impossible to keep reading. The story, told in the first person by teen soccer star Jake Martin, basically recounts the moment-by-moment struggle he undergoes to hold on to his self-control and appear "normal" to his friends. Jake suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder; in his case, he must constantly check clocks, his watch, and at times the number of words in a conversation, to make sure everything works out to prime numbers. If not, he freezes and fights nausea, pain and the sense of spiders attacking his brain. Whew.

Jake is also tied to daily routines which, if they're disrupted, threaten to make him totally nonfunctional. The tension that permeates this narrative comes from knowing that sooner or later (probably sooner) something is going to upset his routines. A series of events outside of his control threatens to turn the upcoming championship soccer match into a disaster. If only he can win that game and meet the expectations of his teammates and the whole school, Jake believes he will finally be free from his living nightmare.

Jake's family is dysfunctional--his mother rarely comes out of her room and is fragile both physically and mentally. His father is burdened with debt. Jake's younger sister, Kasey, is his closest friend, but even she is not aware of his illness. Although some of Jake's friends come across chiefly as stereotypes, author Ayarbe makes Jake a convincing and compelling character. Recommended.

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin

Park So-Nyo, the incredibly saintly (and elderly) matriarch of a Korean family of six, disappears after being separated from her husband at a Seoul subway station. The family struggles with disbelief, guilt and desperation as the search stretches from weeks into months. As told through the perspectives of the adult children (oldest son and daughter) and their parents, one realizes that the family never really knew Mother and never appreciated her sacrifices for them.

The author, herself from a rural background, writes vividly of the harshness of rural life and the stresses on families that are split between children who have moved to the cities and the parents who have stayed at home. There are generational as well as geographic differences. How selfish are Hyong-chol and Chi-hon? Did the demands of their careers and urban lives lead inevitably to the breakdown of communication with their parents? Is this typical of their generation?

Shin informs the reader of many aspects of Korean culture: the veneration of ancestors, the role and expectations of the eldest son, the removal of a daughter from her own to her husband's family, responsibilities of children to their parents and siblings to each other. She writes of the importance of education and the devastation when a child either fails in school or cannot go to school. So-Nyo sells her ring so that Chi-hon can stay in school and suffers shame from her own illiteracy. Her husband's younger brother dies tragically, his life seemingly doomed after he has to leave school to work on the farm.

Self-examination and regret permeate the story, but there are also moments of reconnection and affirmation in the family's struggle with its loss.