My Brilliant Life - Ae-ran Kim
This book is so beautiful. A breath of fresh air, a reminder or message to us all that life is fleeting but that we all matter. It slowly winds its way around your heart and you probably won’t realize how much it has gripped you until you read the last sentence and burst into tears.
Areum was born with a very rare condition that makes his body age much faster that it would normally. By the time he reaches the age of 16, his body is that of an elderly man (estimated around 80 years old), with all of the conditions that that comes with (potential heart failure, looming blindness, etc). Knowing that he may not have much longer to live, Areum decides to write his parents’ story, as a gift to them on his 17th birthday. But as time goes on this story ends up being more of a documentation of the stories he has heard of how his parents met and fell in love, Areum’s own childhood, and the last year of his life. Through Areum’s thoughts we learn about the discovery of his illness at the age of two, his life growing up with his condition, his loneliness, his deepest thoughts and feelings, his friendships, his hopes, and his dreams…
My Brilliant Life is so delicate, gentle, but all the same extremely powerful: you can’t help but think about your own life and about ways to make it more meaningful. I highlighted quite a few phrases while reading, words that I want to keep close to me to remind me to live, no matter how dire the outside might seem right now.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.