“To become better, we became bad without hesitation.”

My reflection and interpretation of Lim Sol Ah’s <My Best Life>, the bitterest coming-of-age in a long time

The Lesson Learned

From the winner of 4th Munhak Dongne (Literary Community) College Novel Category in 2015, poet, author, and activist Lim Sol Ah’s semi-autobiography “My Best Life” caught me off guard with more-than-feisty girls’ experience through adolescence. Three girls did this not without a fight against the society, institutions, families, among themselves, and within themselves. A poignant translated summary from IU: “To become better, we became bad without hesitation”. The story broke me in the first few chapters without too much effort. By the midpoint of the story, I was actually hesitating to stop reading because I was not able to empathize with the girls. “Why on earth did they do this?!”

Is this for me? Am I ready for the book?

I wish I knew how to choose the right fiction for myself. I’m grateful to the person who recommended this and throughout the process, it just made me think harder “What is right?” if you are not the one experiencing it? As an adult or a child, as an individual, we are forever living in our own parallel worlds. At least, I was asked to pause, reconsider, and stop judging because I am not in the best position to fully understand a sixteen-year-old.