[Book] House of Mrs. Soonrye

Title: House of Mrs. Soonrye 

Author: Yoo, Eunsun 

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The name of a 75-year old lady who owns a villa (a residence) is Soonrye which means pilgrimage. Her name implies her hopes to live the rest of her life as a pilgrimage travelling around the world.

She worked as a professional massagist at a sauna and earned a lot of money through that job. With her money, she bought a building where she rents houses to people. What makes her building special is that the rental fee does not follow the market price. She rents the house only at a cost she needs for her living. Thus her building is very popular among people and there is actually a list of people waiting to rent the house. 

The narrator of the book is Soorim who is 16 years old girl and the closest of Mrs.Soonrye. Soorim was raised by Mrs. Soonrye when Soorim was a baby. Soorim's grandfather was a boyfriend and a tenant of Mrs. Soonrye. Because Soorim's mom suffered from postpartum depression after giving birth to the first and second daughter in a raw that Soorim was put in the hands of her grandfather. That is why Soonrye and the grandfather raised Soorim till Sooirm went to the elementary school.  Soorim loved Soonrye more than her parents and she visited Soonrye's building everyday.

Soorim's parents kicked out soorim's grandfather from his apartment to own that and look down on the neighborhood that the Soonrye's building was located. Soorim's father, a graduate of a prestigious university, worked as a part time teacher at a university. He only cared about the grade of the first daughter. He did not earn enough money to support the family but took granted of his sister's financial support. Dreaming of become a full time professor one day, he excused himself that he can pay back all the financial support one day once he become a full time professor. 

The grandfather who worked hard to buy an apartment was kicked out of that place because of his daughter and even that apartment was put into auction due to his failed investment. The story continues as Soorim's family was left with debt and no money. 

This is a story about how a life of a family changes after all. In the beginning you can feel that the parents of Soorim were not a true grown ups. It was Soorim who acted as a grown-up and lead the family to go through a tough situation. 

This book gives the reader to think about what it means to be a grown up. Personally it gave me an opportunity to think about what kind of a person I want to be. A part from my profession and my career, I seriously thought about what kind of characteristics I want to have and I should aim to have. We should not identify ourselves only with our career. Career is important part of a person but that is not the person itself. However, many people think that career explains everything about them. After reading this book, I thought that my characteristics should be the focus of what I want to be and what I should be rather than the career. 

Here are some quotes I found very memorable in this book. 

"Do you know who is an adult? It is a man who tries to live on his own."

"Good adults try to live on their own, helping others." 

"Soonrye says thank-you a lot. It is something that I don't hear often from my family. I remembered Soonrye's favourite quote 'tourists demands while pilgrimage appreciates.'"

"Soonrye, you know. When I have children one day, I want to raise a child who is happy to be born. I am happy to be born and grateful to live as a human. I would like to feel uncomfortable about uneasy feeling but try to be truly happy, just like me right now."