'Mika in Real Life' by Emiko Jean is our 'GMA' Book Club pick for August
The "Tokyo Ever After" author's latest novel will be released Aug. 9.
"Mika In Real Life," by New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, is our "GMA" Book Club pick for August.
The novel follows 35-year-old Mika Suzuki, whose life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in disaster, she is constantly letting down her traditional Japanese parents and she's just been fired from her latest dead-end job.
Her world changes when Mika receives a phone call from Penny, the daughter she placed for adoption 16 years ago. Penny wants to start a relationship with Mika and Mika desperately wants to be someone Penny can be proud of. What begins as an embellishment of the truth becomes a full-blown fake reality -- one where Mika's alter-ego is put-together and successful at work and in her love life.
The more Mika shares her real hopes and Japanese heritage with her curious daughter and Penny's adoptive widower father, the more she begins to question who she is and what life she wants to lead.
Mika is forced to face the truth about herself and her past: Just who is Mika in real life?
"This book was definitely driven by my desire to explore certain themes -- the bond and often tense relationship between mothers and daughters, the Japanese American identity and intergenerational trauma," Jean said.
"Mika in Real Life" also was Jean's chance to "rethink representation" in art.
"As a woman of color, growing up in the United States, I didn't see myself in the media I consumed," Jean said. "You can imagine what this must teach a child about their value and worth in the world."
Read and listen to an excerpt below and get a copy of the book here.
'Mika in Real Life' by Emiko Jean
In this brilliant new novel by from Emiko Jean, the author of the New York Times bestselling young adult novel "Tokyo Ever After," comes a whip-smart, laugh-out-loud funny, and utterly heartwarming novel about motherhood, daughterhood, and love -- how we find it, keep it and how it always returns.
- $26.03
- $27.99
Related Topics
Trending Reader Picks
ABC News Live