Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Mika In Real Life

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Mika In Real Life by Emiko Jean

16 reviews

sophia_sunflower's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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estock36's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book was personally very relatable for me. I feel like it handled the different sides of adoption well. I loved the writing style and characters (aside from a couple that I don't think you are supposed to really like). I enjoyed seeing the main character's personal development towards the end but I could have done without the romance as it was pretty unbelievable to me. I also couldn't tell if this was YA or adult fiction, but it felt like a YA book to me. These couple of points resulted in a few quarter stars being taken off but aside from those I enjoyed it overall and plan to share it with others. Definitely an emotional roller coaster that everyone can take something away from after reading (4.25 stars).

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hotmessmamareads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mika in Real Life is a beautiful and tender emotional ride through motherhood, generational and cultural conflict, overcoming past traumas/fears, and coming into one’s own. I picked it up on a whim, and didn’t know a whole lot about it going into the tale apart from what was on the back cover–and oh, am I glad I did.

I loved every moment of it and didn’t expect that it would be so incredibly moving. There were striking sentences about parenthood peppered throughout that caused me to stop and reflect – and many, many moments of painful relatability when the story delves into exploring the disconnect between Mika and her mother. Ultimately, there was also a lot of love–familial, relationship-wise, friendship-wise, and loving oneself–infused in the tale, even when Mika experienced challenges.

I appreciated the way information and the resolution of issues was gradual, as it allowed me to really note the ways in which Mika grows. Along a path marred by her own mistakes, she learns to be brave, to stand on her own, to find her strength, her voice, her art, herself.

It was a joy to read, and the difficult topics were delicately navigated. There was so much authenticity woven into Mika’s character, culture, thoughts and emotions. It was easy for me to identify and empathize with her, which made the journey through her story far more emotional. I laughed. I cried. I related. I reflected.

There’s not really much more I can ask from any story than that.

For readers interested in content warnings, it may be helpful to note that the story does include the following: adoption, teenage pregnancy, sexual assault/rape, complicated relationship with rigid/stoic parents, death of a parent.

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alanakuni's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

although i dont have a lot of first hand experience with a lot of the themes in this book the characters felt v authentic and imperfect. i really enjoyed listening to it and fell in love with all the diff characters.

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yesdnil's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I thought the budding romance between Mika and [character] took away from the more interesting plotline of Mika and Penny reconnecting. I found myself skimming some chapters towards the middle/end. Hiromi was just a consistently awful/negative character, and reading about her was unbearable.

Pet Peeve: The novel's typeface (in the hardcover at least) made all of the chapters read like a never-ending text message.

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alysereadsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, especially from the perspective as an adoptee. Though categorized as romance, make sure you check the trigger warnings before reading. I thought Mika was a relatable likeable character and I liked the overall exploration of mother/daughter relationships (both between Mika and her mother and Penny and Mika).

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bibliophilecats's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Was ich mir erhofft habe: Ich kenne bereits ein Jugendbuch der Autorin, welches mir gefallen hat. Der Plot dieses Buches klang auch gut.

Was mir gefallen hat: Mir hat sehr gut gefallen, dass es Mika nicht besser geht, weil sie eine Beziehung findet sondern dass sie alleine sich entschließt, etwas zu ändern und den Weg alleine geht. Keine „Wunderheilung durch die Liebe“. Das finde ich viel realistischer.

Was mir nicht gefallen hat: Die Schlafzimmersequenz hätte für mich weniger detailliert sein können.

Sprecherin: Die Sprecherin war in Ordnung. Insgesamt eher langsam.

Übersetzung: An ein paar wenigen Stellen hat mich der deutsche Text irritiert und ich habe mich gefragt, ob es an der Übersetzung liegt. Zum Beispiel sagt Mikas Freundin zu ihr, es wäre auch schwer gewesen „Penny aufzugeben“. Ich vermute, das ist die Übersetzung von „to give up a baby for adoption“, was ich im Deutschen aber besser als abgeben statt aufgeben bezeichnen würde. Auch habe ich Zweifel, dass die 16-jährige Penny wirklich Apfelwein trinkt und denke, dass es eher ein ungenaue Übersetzung des amerikanischen „apple cider“ (ohne Alkohol), im Gegensatz zum „hard cider“.

Fazit: Das Buch hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Es hat sich mit schwierigen Themen beschäftigt und diese mit dem nötigen Gewicht betrachtet ohne dabei mich als Leser total zu deprimieren. Es endet auf einer hoffnungsvollen, positiven Note. Und auch die Nebencharaktere waren liebenswert.

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