My Brilliant Life - Paperback

by Ae-Ran Kim (Author), Chi-Young Kim (Translator)

A BEST OF THE MONTH SELECTION BY OPRAH MAGAZINE
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF 2021

"An eminent South Korean talent makes her American début in this poignant watercolor of a novel . . . Kim is a writer on the move." --O, The Oprah Magazine

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.

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

Author Biography

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.