My brilliant life

The youngest winner ever of multiple important literary prizes in her native Korea, Ae-ran Kim's first full-length novel arrives stateside, hauntingly English-enabled by lauded translator Chi-Young Kim (no relation). Areum suffers from progeria, a rare disease that causes rapid, premature aging: "My dad sees his future eighty-year-old face in mine." At 16, he's the age his parents were when they had him. Their life together has hardly been easy, although undoubtedly, love and devotion have never been in short supply. His immediate plan is to "write a story of my parents from the very beginning and give this to them for my seventeenth birthday." Knowing their time together is limited, "instead of awards or a college diploma, I would gift them a story." With a final hospital stay looming, Areum agrees to appear on a reality TV show that promises him much-needed funds and connects virtually with another ill teen with whom he shares hopeful dreams. In a narrative about fatal illness, compounding moments of insight and joy resonate deeply, with heartwarming results.