Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean: With a dash of self-deprecation and a smattering of alternative 
spirit, Mika in Real Life is a slow burn that needs a trigger warning. With her life seemingly falling apart again, Mika receives contact from her daughter Penny who she gave up for adoption 16 years prior. Despite being incredibly well intentioned, Mika finds herself in a web of lies so intricate, she must literally hire in some crew to play the part of the life she’s knowingly led daughter Penny to believe she leads.
Unfortunately, her perfect storm, albeit, wrapped up in a bun of fear of disappointment, is thwarted when her mother crushes her spirit, creating a situation where, as the saying goes, honesty is the best policy – however, harsh at the time. And as everyone and everything needs to regain trust, (which naturally takes time), Mika realises that she has at least found the space to figure out how to reconcile herself with her past and her past choices in order to make better ones down the line – hopefully!
Joining Mika on her joining, initially felt like knowing you were going to crash the car but had little control over when or how badly. The only true surprise being, it was her own mother that brought about the key action kernel. And whilst it was easy to see her as the big bad villain, it was fairly clear early on, that Mika’s mother wasn’t the focus (and yet she kind of was) and her baggage wasn’t worth unpacking despite it being critical to the family reconciling itself or finding self-actualisation.
Most triggering was the punctuated nature of Mika’s past. Whilst it was kind of clear it was heading in one direction to further clarify and justify where Mika was at with herself, her former motherhood and her teenage choices, still painted a pretty intense picture – sometimes critical events in our lives are simply bigger rocks than we have the capacity to carry . And when things became explicitly clear when Mika dared sabotage herself and a potentially beautiful relationship, so many questions about trauma came to the fore.
Covering parenthood, adoption, sexual violence, and more importantly, what loss truly means in the wake of horror, Mika in Real life inspires a compassionate and thoughtful view of the world. Mostly though, there was a whole lot of love to love, and for that alone, despite some very messy parts, I highly recommend.
Book Info:
Publication: 2nd August 2022 | William Morrow |
At thirty-five, Mika Suzuki’s life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. She’s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, she’s been fired from her latest dead-end job.
Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny—the daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother, and in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of. Faced with her own inadequacies, Mika embellishes a fact about her life. What starts as a tiny white lie slowly snowballs into a fully-fledged fake life, one where Mika is mature, put-together, successful in love and her career.
The details of Mika’s life might be an illusion, but everything she shares with curious, headstrong Penny is real: her hopes, dreams, flaws, and Japanese heritage. The harder-won heart belongs to Thomas Calvin, Penny’s adoptive widower father. What starts as a rocky, contentious relationship slowly blossoms into a friendship and, over time, something more. But can Mika really have it all—love, her daughter, the life she’s always wanted? Or will Mika’s deceptions ultimately catch up to her? In the end, Mika must face the truth—about herself, her family, and her past—and answer the question, just who is Mika in real life?
