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A review by emmabreads
Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman
3.0
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★★★☆☆ - 3.5 stars
“Some people are just starfish. They need the world to sit around them, but you can’t spend your life trying to make a starfish happy.”
this was such a heartwarming book! i enjoyed it.
this book is about a girl named Kiko Himura who is half-Japanese and loves to draw. she struggles to fit in, not only because of her ethnicity, but also because of her emotionally abusive mother. Kiko struggles with a lot of anxiety too, and is quite nervous about social interactions. art is her escape. she had applied to her dream art school, Prism, and was anxiously waiting on their response. but she begins to spiral when her also abusive uncle moves in to her house. to make matters even worse, Kiko is then rejected from Prism.
when her friend convinces her to go to a party, she finds her childhood best friend, Jamie who is visiting family. with desperation to escape her abusive mother and uncle, she and Jamie go back to California to explore art schools. it is there that Kiko learns to love herself and understand the true meaning of beauty.
i definitely resonated with Kiko a lot. her struggles with insecurities parallels with experiences I’ve had before. she is easy for a young teen girl to connect with. she overthinks everything, no matter how big or small, and has deep feelings only her drawings can express. some of her dialogue was a bit cringey at points, but i overall enjoyed her character. it was very empowering to read about her taking pride in her culture, and the quotes were so touching.
the verbal abuse was so subtle, it was almost excusable. however, the truth is that any form of abuse, no matter how small or big, is never okay. one could easily say her mother just needs a bit of help…but unfortunately, as Kiko said, meds wouldn’t change the type of person she is. Kiko’s mother likes to gaslight and cover up her bad actions with false affection. at first, I thought Kiko was being dramatic, but I quickly realized that her mother is truly a pitiful human being. first of all, she is responsible for Kiko’s countless insecurities. she constantly compares Kiko to magazine models and literally makes fun of her, from telling her she gained weight, to saying her nose is “too big.” second, she doesn’t support Kiko’s passions at all. Kiko will attempt to show her drawings to her mother, but she refuses to pay any attention. and worst of all, Kiko’s mother does absolutely nothing about the abusive uncle. that’s what really tipped me off the edge. I felt terrible for Kiko. having a monster like that continue to live in her house is awful.
people choose to navigate abuse in different ways. while Kiko’s brothers preferred to stand down and stay quiet, Kiko was desperate for her mother to love her. she was more confrontational, which I liked. there was this thing the author did where she put “what I want to say” and then “what I actually say” which helped develop Kiko’s character a lot. at first, she was too scared to speak up for herself, but by the end, the things she wanted to say were said.
even though Kiko was brave enough to stand up to her mother, her younger brother wasn’t. he attempted to commit suicide later in the novel, which was a very unexpected theme, considering this is a YA novel. i did appreciate this element though, it gave the story a lot more emotion and meaning. their living situation was anything but easy, and i think the author did a good job at showing the devastation that could be caused.
the other characters contributed to Kiko’s development a lot as well. both Jamie and Hiroshi taught her to be proud of who she is. i found this to be a really moving part of the novel.
I know this isn’t the type of book you’re supposed to pick favorite characters in, but Hiroshi had to be my favorite. all of his dialogue was so meaningful and wise, plus his love for his family really connected me to him. he was such a kind man and i truly appreciated his character.
the writing was good—nothing i’d rave over, but it gets a solid thumbs up. i can tell a lot of effort was put into this, which i highly appreciate!
i’ve done this spiel countless times, but 3 stars is a good rating in my world. the reason i’m not crazy about this book is that i quite literally forgot about it the second day. i can’t put my finger on why, but it just didn’t feel as memorable as i had hoped. it was also boring at times. i thought more time would be spent visiting the art schools and a bit more adventure would be involved, but i was mostly let down. still, i loved so many aspects of the story, especially the lessons that were taught. not a book i’d necessarily recommend, but if you’ve had this laying around for a year like i did, it teaches some great lessons for younger teens.
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★★★☆☆ - 3.5 stars
“Some people are just starfish. They need the world to sit around them, but you can’t spend your life trying to make a starfish happy.”
this was such a heartwarming book! i enjoyed it.
this book is about a girl named Kiko Himura who is half-Japanese and loves to draw. she struggles to fit in, not only because of her ethnicity, but also because of her emotionally abusive mother. Kiko struggles with a lot of anxiety too, and is quite nervous about social interactions. art is her escape. she had applied to her dream art school, Prism, and was anxiously waiting on their response. but she begins to spiral when her also abusive uncle moves in to her house. to make matters even worse, Kiko is then rejected from Prism.
when her friend convinces her to go to a party, she finds her childhood best friend, Jamie who is visiting family. with desperation to escape her abusive mother and uncle, she and Jamie go back to California to explore art schools. it is there that Kiko learns to love herself and understand the true meaning of beauty.
i definitely resonated with Kiko a lot. her struggles with insecurities parallels with experiences I’ve had before. she is easy for a young teen girl to connect with. she overthinks everything, no matter how big or small, and has deep feelings only her drawings can express. some of her dialogue was a bit cringey at points, but i overall enjoyed her character. it was very empowering to read about her taking pride in her culture, and the quotes were so touching.
the verbal abuse was so subtle, it was almost excusable. however, the truth is that any form of abuse, no matter how small or big, is never okay. one could easily say her mother just needs a bit of help…but unfortunately, as Kiko said, meds wouldn’t change the type of person she is. Kiko’s mother likes to gaslight and cover up her bad actions with false affection. at first, I thought Kiko was being dramatic, but I quickly realized that her mother is truly a pitiful human being. first of all, she is responsible for Kiko’s countless insecurities. she constantly compares Kiko to magazine models and literally makes fun of her, from telling her she gained weight, to saying her nose is “too big.” second, she doesn’t support Kiko’s passions at all. Kiko will attempt to show her drawings to her mother, but she refuses to pay any attention. and worst of all, Kiko’s mother does absolutely nothing about the abusive uncle. that’s what really tipped me off the edge. I felt terrible for Kiko. having a monster like that continue to live in her house is awful.
people choose to navigate abuse in different ways. while Kiko’s brothers preferred to stand down and stay quiet, Kiko was desperate for her mother to love her. she was more confrontational, which I liked. there was this thing the author did where she put “what I want to say” and then “what I actually say” which helped develop Kiko’s character a lot. at first, she was too scared to speak up for herself, but by the end, the things she wanted to say were said.
even though Kiko was brave enough to stand up to her mother, her younger brother wasn’t. he attempted to commit suicide later in the novel, which was a very unexpected theme, considering this is a YA novel. i did appreciate this element though, it gave the story a lot more emotion and meaning. their living situation was anything but easy, and i think the author did a good job at showing the devastation that could be caused.
the other characters contributed to Kiko’s development a lot as well. both Jamie and Hiroshi taught her to be proud of who she is. i found this to be a really moving part of the novel.
I know this isn’t the type of book you’re supposed to pick favorite characters in, but Hiroshi had to be my favorite. all of his dialogue was so meaningful and wise, plus his love for his family really connected me to him. he was such a kind man and i truly appreciated his character.
the writing was good—nothing i’d rave over, but it gets a solid thumbs up. i can tell a lot of effort was put into this, which i highly appreciate!
i’ve done this spiel countless times, but 3 stars is a good rating in my world. the reason i’m not crazy about this book is that i quite literally forgot about it the second day. i can’t put my finger on why, but it just didn’t feel as memorable as i had hoped. it was also boring at times. i thought more time would be spent visiting the art schools and a bit more adventure would be involved, but i was mostly let down. still, i loved so many aspects of the story, especially the lessons that were taught. not a book i’d necessarily recommend, but if you’ve had this laying around for a year like i did, it teaches some great lessons for younger teens.
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