A review by starrysteph
The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir by Jami Nakamura Lin

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

The Night Parade is a truly beautiful book - both in its art (the collection of illustrations by the author’s sister are hauntingly gorgeous) and in its language. 

This is Jami Nakamura Lin’s story, and it’s not framed like many other memoirs or fictional books centered around mental illness. This isn’t a narrative of hitting rock bottom and forging your way towards a triumphant future. It’s as messy as life is, and Lin navigates the reality of living with mental illness and grief: it’s a never ending rollercoaster. You learn to coexist with your ghosts. 

She finds new ways to explore her experience with mental illness, grief & loss, and motherhood. A big part of the storytelling involves the Japanese myth of the Hyakki Yagyo. Sections begin with a yokai, and the narration often uses different elements of folklore and myth. The memoir is also written in a four act structure, which I thought was pretty neat.

I don’t think all the segments are equally successful - and sometimes the connections to the yokai felt a bit forced - but when it worked, boy did it work. Some moments broke me, and others were so relatable. I love memoirs that push boundaries, and this one was a fascinating experiment. 

(Also as someone who has experienced several pyogenic granulomas I was pretty excited to read about Lin’s experience - I mean, they’re a bummer, but this is the first time I’ve seen them mentioned in a book.)

CW: mental illness, death of parent, suicide attempt, miscarriage, pregnancy, forced institutionalization, cancer, terminal illness

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
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