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A review by utopiastateofmind
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
I will forever be a fan of lost princesses. What struck me about Tokyo Ever After was not only the narration style - which was charming and endearing at once - but also Izumi's feelings growing up in a mostly white community. The ways she shortens her names, looks for it on key chains, and her own self-erasure. Those scenes were like echoes of my own teenage years. Tokyo Ever After is infused with Izzy's quirkiness, her character that screams off the pages. Another element I loved was the relationship between Izzy and her parents.
Her feminist and outspoken mother, her dad who has a good heart, but is struggling to be a new father. As an adoptee, I think another way Tokyo Ever After came for my heart was the way Izzy feels like it was just her and her mother against the world, but not by her own choice. How the lack of information and choices made by others, which put your life into motion, feels almost like that choice is taken away from you. And th ways she pins hopes and dreams on finding our parents, that connection to a country we want to belong to? Ooff....all the feels.
I will forever be a fan of lost princesses. What struck me about Tokyo Ever After was not only the narration style - which was charming and endearing at once - but also Izumi's feelings growing up in a mostly white community. The ways she shortens her names, looks for it on key chains, and her own self-erasure. Those scenes were like echoes of my own teenage years. Tokyo Ever After is infused with Izzy's quirkiness, her character that screams off the pages. Another element I loved was the relationship between Izzy and her parents.
Her feminist and outspoken mother, her dad who has a good heart, but is struggling to be a new father. As an adoptee, I think another way Tokyo Ever After came for my heart was the way Izzy feels like it was just her and her mother against the world, but not by her own choice. How the lack of information and choices made by others, which put your life into motion, feels almost like that choice is taken away from you. And th ways she pins hopes and dreams on finding our parents, that connection to a country we want to belong to? Ooff....all the feels.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism