Writer and documentary filmmaker Glenn Morey has some stories to share. Through their debut Audible Original, Given Away, Morey and his wife, Julie Morey, tell the stories of 15 Korean War adoptees and their harrowing journeys of survival and resilience as they step outside South Korea for the first time ever.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that in own listening, Morey tends to seek out emotionally impactful tales that explore survival, growth, and identity. Here are some of his favorites.
If it had been possible to listen to this when I was 18, the world would have made much more sense for the next 43 years, and hundreds of conversations about race and racism could have been far wiser.
This well-lauded book has no need for my recommendation. So my partner and I only want to say, thank you, Tommy Orange. This spoken version of There There inspired our work more than any other piece of literature, by far.
This lens, this gentle lens, this harrowing lens may be the only lens that matters, when viewing transracial adoption. It may also be the most revealing way to view race in America.
There are nearly unspeakable truths in these essays. But the mere fact that they are spoken here makes them bearable.
Hearing this novel as spoken word only makes it more visceral and more poetically human. Unforgettable and unmistakably Korean.
Cathy Park Hong is now totally in my head. I look at my always strange Korean face in the mirror, and I hear her voice, gently but insistently changing my inner dialog.
