My Brilliant Life, Aeran Kim
My Brilliant Life, Aeran Kim
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My Brilliant Life

Author: Ae-ran Kim, Chi-Young Kim

Narrator: Raymond J. Lee

Unabridged: 5 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/26/2021


Synopsis

“A moving, earnest, and deeply-felt exploration of a unique family in all its joys and disappointments . . . an utter delight.” —Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

Ae-ran Kim's My Brilliant Life explores family bonds and out-of-the-ordinary friendships, interweaving the past and present of a tight-knit family, finding joy and happiness in even the most difficult times.

Areum lives life to its fullest, vicariously through the stories of his parents, conversations with Little Grandpa Jang—his sixty-year-old neighbor and best friend—and through the books he reads to visit the places he would otherwise never see.

For several months, Areum has been working on a manuscript, piecing together his parents’ often embellished stories about his family and childhood. He hopes to present it on his birthday, as a final gift to his mom and dad; their own falling-in-love story.

Through it all, Areum and his family will have you laughing and crying, for all the right reasons.

A Macmillan Audio production from Forge Books

“This novel snuck up on me and captured my heart.” —Margarita Montimore, USA Today bestselling author of Oona Out of Order

"Kim's beautifully written novel is exquisitely brought to life by Raymond J. Lee's performance." -- AudioFile Magazine

About Ae-ran Kim

AE-RAN KIM was born in Incheon, South Korea, the youngest of three daughters. She has won the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Kim Yu-jeong Literary Award, Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award, and the Prix de l'Inaperçu, among others, for her short fiction and collections. My Brilliant Life is her first novel.

About Chi-Young Kim

CHI-YOUNG KIM (translator) is based in Los Angeles, California. She has translated more than a dozen books, including Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin (Man Asian Literary Prize-winner and New York Times bestseller), and works by You-jeong Jeong, Young-ha Kim, and J.M. Lee.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Taufiq

My Brilliant Life is a novel with a story-within-a-story theme, and Kim Ae-ran’s writing is quite delicate. Areum, is born to teenage parents who had a forbidden romance at 17. His character is very endearing. He suffers from a rare condition called progeria, where he ages at an accelerated rate. For......more

I feel this story is an honest portrayal of our complex thoughts and emotions when we face with something unfamiliar and complicated, when things turned out to be so physically and emotionally trying to the point of getting numb, and how we try to deal them with all we have. It really doesn't matter......more


Quotes

“This novel snuck up on me and captured my heart.”
Margarita Montimore, USA Today bestselling author of Oona Out of Order

“Poetic . . . the humor, wisdom, and grace of this family carry us through a touching story of the hardest of times.”
—Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is

“A moving, earnest, and deeply-felt exploration of a unique family in all its joys and disappointments.”
Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

“This is one of those novels where the characters seem to have immortal souls. They’re so real to me I feel like adding them to my Christmas card list. When you read this book, give them my regards. Let them know I still think about them.”
Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

“Stylish and engaging, this eloquent book encompasses with compassion and discernment the ordinary miracles of birth and death and everything in between.”
Kathleen Rooney, national bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

“Areum discovers more wisdom, humor, and insight in seventeen years of life than many of us find in a lifetime.”
Heather Harpham, author of Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After

“Reading Ae-ran Kim is to fall in love with her.”
Kyung sook Shin, New York Times bestselling and Man Asian Prize winning author of Please Look After Mom