I had no idea who Sumi Jo was until I came across this audiobook on Storytel, My Life My Own Melody - translated from Korean by Storytel Korea, narrated by Erin Lee - certainly because I am not familiar with the world of Opera. She is known as the world's most popular Asian bel canto soprano and the highest selling classical singer. I was instantly fascinated by her and was interested in learning how an Asian from South Korea ended up in Rome and became the world's best soprano. This book celebrates the 35th anniversary of Sumi Jo's international debut in 2021.

Sumi Jo calls the story of her life dramatic and starts by telling about her childhood and her complex relationship with her mother. The first chapter was my favorite and left a mark on me, probably because now I am a mother myself. Her mother wanted her daughter to have a music career that she never had, and that's why she was super strict with her in regards to her music lessons. Sumi Jo later recalls that, though she hold grudges against her mother, she was the one who carved a path for her and played an important role in her success and that she can't thank her enough for it. But she can't tell her mother all that now because her memory is deteriorating. For the rest of the book, Sumi Jo talks about her career, her success, racism she faced in her career, amazing teachers she worked with, the tours around the world, and how Rome became her second home. While I was progressing with the later chapters, my mind was stuck in that first chapter, about the author and her feelings about her mother.

That reminded me of the Hindi movie 3 Idiots. The biggest lesson from that movie was probably that let children decide their career for themselves! Though I think this should be the case in theory, in practicality I couldn't shake the feeling of what I would have been if my parents hadn't set me on this path? As much as it is important for parents to understand the interests of their children, is it not also important that they guide them towards their career? Would Sumi Jo had been so successful today if her mother wasn't strict with her in her childhood? No one can say for sure, because of course, hard work and luck also plays a role. Still, I can't deny that parents do play an important role in setting their children's career.

This autobiography didn't leave a huge impression and I feel that it was mainly about Sumi Jo's career and her success rather than more stories from her personal life, but that first chapter did leave an impression on me. This audiobook narration, however, was wonderful.