Mika in Real Life

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It's a beautifully written exploration of relationships, mothers and daughters, adult friendship, and the complexities of adoption. I also had a real soft spot for Thomas and enjoyed seeing a positive but realistic representation of a single father. I like the sensitive teenage Penny— she teaches Mika a responsibility and it kind of heartwarming too to read their parts. What follows is a heartfelt, funny and insightful tale of self discovery that explores the powerful bond between a parent and child.

While I think the romance element could have been left out, I still appreciated Mika and Penny’s journey as mother and daughter and would highly recommend listening to the audiobook narrated by Sura Siu and Andi Arndt. This book is such a relatable book and fuck I have a soft spot for relatable and realistic fiction book. As Mika rescues herself from a downward spiral of heartbreak and loss, she weaves for us a primer on healing our broken relationships. At 35, she's unlucky in love and career, a failure in the eyes of her Japanese parents, and mother of a baby, Penny, she gave up for adoption. I want more books like this where we don't see characters do a full 180, but rather where they end up at a point where they realize things need to change.I rooted for her, I stood beside her, she spoke through me, and I love her, but she just didn't dazzling in my eyes though. Mika in Real Life is all about making deep connections, figuring out one’s identity, and rebuilding one’s life. Mika in Real Life' focuses on identity and the diversity of parental bonds : NPR's Book of the Day Young adult author Emiko Jean is out with her first book for adults – Mika in Real Life. In juxtaposing the various parent / child relationships within the narrative — between Mika and her parents Hiromi and Shige, between Mika and her biological daughter Penny, between Penny and her adopted parents Thomas and Caroline — Emiko Jean explores the complicated dynamics of parental love and how it not only can manifest itself in different ways, but also can be heavily impacted by culture and upbringing.

Of course, the illusion can only last so long; it is when Mika’s lies come crashing down that her real life can actually begin. I also liked that when Penny moves near for the summer, it’s because of her own athletic ability, hard work and talent, rather than just drifting around without purpose.

I really enjoyed spending time with Mika- a relatable 30 something who is dissatisfied with where she is in life. Penny announces that she has spent her birthday money on a flight to Portland to meet Mika, visit her home and attend her big gallery opening.

The second one did stabbed me right in my heart, I was bawling my eyes when I hear the hurtful words that directed toward Mika and I understand that so much how she felt, I cried with her. An endearing, joyful tale about finding (and accepting) yourself' Good Housekeeping'Smart and offbeat funny: think Maria Semple' i'A sheer delight' Rochelle Weinstein'Had me laughing, crying and cheering' Lauren Kate'Hilarious, tender and very real . All she’d wanted was to protect Penny from the truth… She had wanted to show Penny that the adoption had been worth it for both of them. I was rooting for her at every step and enjoyed reading as she found herself while getting to know Penny.At first contentious, their relationship grows and when the truth of Mika's life comes out, watch out!

I recommend going in knowing that this is a book about people and their imperfect lives and letting Mika, Penny, Tom and the supporting characters immerse you in their journey. But the first one is the main one; it isn’t too graphic, but it also doesn’t shy away from the fear the character feels in that moment. In fact, that’s one of the things that stood out the most for me — how Jean was able to strike such a perfect balance throughout the story between the serious and humorous elements without verging into melodramatic (not an easy feat with these types of stories). It's able to maintain a light feeling throughout the story despite the characters hitting painful life hiccups. This book tackles complex situations - Mika is contacted by Penny, the daughter she put up for adoption sixteen years before.

Mika was such a great character, and I loved tagging along her journey into finding herself and healing from past trauma. I was hoping for some emotional damage from this book, and that did not happen, but it was a great work of fiction about life, love, loss and motherhood.