Mika in Real Life: A Novel

Product Information

Bighearted, sometimes bawdy, and always brave, Mika in Real Life explores the inescapable bonds between mothers and daughters, the enduring families by friendship that we make, and the weight of secrets that keep us from creating ourselves. This hilarious, tender, and very real novel is for every human trying to figure it out-basically, all of us Nancy Jooyoun Kim, bestselling author of The Last Story of Mina Lee

Keeping up the pretence over the phone is one thing. But when Penny and her widowed adoptive father Thomas spring a visit on Mika, things get complicated. Author Emiko Jean, who penned the best-selling YA novels Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming , examines the sometimes fraught reality of mother-daughter relationships and how a delightful, lovable character learns to stop running away from the truth about herself. KT: There’s a part in your book where two characters are talking about their contentious relationship, and someone says, “Shouganai,” which is roughly translated as “it cannot be helped.” When thinking about family, I thought this was quite a beautiful message, but were you hoping to convey? This book surprised me in a good way and I’m really glad I read it. Of course I definitely recommend this one, but with the caveat that each person’s experience reading it will be different. On that note, I also wanted to share this interview that Emiko Jean did, where she talks about her inspiration for this book — it’s a very insightful read: Told in both narrative and epistolary format; Mika in Real Life started with a letter Mika wrote to Penny, a daughter that she had to place for an adoption when she was 19. At the age 35, Mika gets in touch with Penny again after Penny’s adoptive mother passed away. Mika’s life was at the lowest at that time (getting fired, failed in relationship with no savings); conflicts came and an unexpected incident making it worst when Mika fakes her success just to look good for Penny. In between making peace with her past and to start believing in herself, now Mika needs to make a decision before she loses Penny again.

Find a Book

At 35 years old, Mika has just been fired from her job and had to ask her parents, again, for money to make ends meet. Living with her hoarder best friend, Mika's last relationship was also a massive failure. So Mika is surprised when she gets a phone call from the daughter she gave up for adoption sixteen years ago. Her daughter who wants to meet Mika. Mika is ashamed of what her life looks like, and one white lie spirals into a series of many and Mika struggles to keep up the facade. EJ: So, I draw from my own personal experiences and observations. I remember, and I still do think, looking at my own daughter who looks very much like me physically, and wonder about her journey in life. And I think that’s kind of natural for a parent to think about their child’s trajectory, if it will mirror their own or diverge. For me, I remember kind of wishing that she wouldn’t have the same path as I did. Like, you never want to see your kids struggle, right? And you don’t want them to suffer or to have any pain. It’s super-idealistic and also super-unrealistic. Even the relationship that Mika and her biological daughter, Penny, were trying to build was written in a way that creates empathy in readers without needing to have gone through that same experience themselves. Goodreads Synopsis: Mika Suzuki is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny—the daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. That one phone call changes everything.

Shondaland caught up with Emiko Jean to discuss the inspirations for her new novel, mother-daughter relationships, and more. Emiko Jean has a way of writing characters I lied about my life because of the fact I have to read a book. 😂😂😂 Sounds pretty accurate actually…"

EJ: Again, I think this is another universal thing that most women can relate to because there have been millions of dollars and hours spent gaslighting women that they should look a certain way; they need to be a certain way. You know, especially [with this idea that] women can have it all, which isn’t true. And so, Mika very much is a product of that. But she’s also a product of her own mother’s discontent. Emiko Jean has been on my radar for awhile now - she’s local! But this is the first book of hers I’m actually reading, and it was a delight.

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, and successful in love and her career. 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. A wonderful, life-affirming story about second chances, parenthood and love. By turns tender, funny, and deeply romantic, I was rooting for Mika, Penny and Thomas Lauren Ho, author of Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic and Last Tang Standing Emiko Jean is a wonderful storyteller and brilliant word weaver. She crafts characters you feel like you've known forever, you simultaneously root for them while wanting to shake some sense into them. Mika was no different and while she truly was the conductor of the hot mess express, she was beautiful and doing her best to grow up!Without giving too much of the book away, let me just say that this story is filled with humor and insightful observations. Mika is a beautifully flawed character that you will root for from the start. The side characters are also well written and interesting. There is a trauma alluded to early on in the book which is slowly explored throughout the story. The effects caused Mika to halt her dreams. The toll that took on her life was captivated in the following line: We meet Mika at 35 when she’s just been fired from her latest job. She’s doing a little retail therapy when she gets a call out of the blue. A call from the daughter she gave up for adoption 16 years ago. They start to build a relationship over the phone and then Penny decides she wants to visit Mika in Portland.