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Start giftingMy Brilliant Life
Narrator
Raymond J. Lee
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
Translator
Chi-Young Kim
Length
5 hours 34 minutes
Language
English
“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
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.
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.
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Reviews
“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