My Brilliant Life
Publisher,St Martin's Press
Publication Date,
Format, Paperback
Weight, 420 g
No. of Pages,
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.
Well-written, bittersweet and full of insight. Areum, who suffers from a disease that makes him age incredibly quickly, builds a tapestry of family memories and stories.As the book progresses you start seeing how Areum felt like his illness was causing his parents a lot of sadness. That was almost more painful than his actual physical struggles because of progeria.
This is a tender and moving story about what it is to be alive, to be a boy who will age and die before his parents, never knowing what it is to have friends his own age.
This is a tender and moving story about what it is to be alive, to be a boy who will age and die before his parents, never knowing what it is to have friends his own age. However, Areum has cooly accepted what is ahead of him. Despite being born to clueless teen parents, I love how their bond being so close and always have each other during tough time. A heartfelt reading for me and I cried a lot!