Reviews

Starfish – Akemi Dawn Bowman (ARC Review)

September 8, 2017

But some people are just starfish – they need everyone to fill the roles that they assign.

Kiko’s story is so tough to read at points – not only due to her childhood trauma, but also due to her struggles as a biracial young woman in a rural town. Her father is Japanese and her mother is white, and her mother has spent Kiko’s entire life shaming her half-Asian appearance, name, and culture.

She once told me she wished she had given me and my brothers more “traditional” names because she was “kind of over the Japanese thing.” You know, because being Asian is a trend or something.

On top of growing up with a narcissistic mother who has essentially ruined any chance at self-esteem Kiko ever had, she is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and suffers from extreme social anxiety. As someone who has suffered from severe anxiety my entire life, Kiko’s mental health struggles are portrayed in a way that I related so hard to.

Normal people don’t need to prepare for social interactions. Normal people don’t panic at the sight of strangers. Normal people don’t want to cry because the plan they’ve processed in their head is suddenly not the plan that’s going to happen.

While I will say that this book comes with serious trigger warnings for childhood sexual abuse, familiar abuse/neglect, and mental health illnesses, the story is simultaneously just as touching as it is heartbreaking. I spent the entire story rooting for Kiko because I wanted so badly to see her heal and move forward in life. Akemi drew such a beautiful story, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA contemporaries and is not going to be too upset by the aforementioned triggers.

While this book does also involve a romance subplot, I was pleased to find that it rarely felt like the forefront of the story; first and foremost, Starfish is the progression of an incredible young woman learning how to accept herself for the first time.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

releases sep 26, 2017

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14 Comments

  • Reply Sarah September 8, 2017 at 11:29 am

    Ah, this sounds like a really good read! I just went and put a hold on it at my library so that when it comes in I can read it. 🙂

  • Reply Nerd Narration September 8, 2017 at 11:35 am

    This keeps moving up my TBR further and further with every review I read! Glad you enjoyed it! Great post!

  • Reply thebookprophet September 8, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    I got approved for this on NetGalley and cannot wait to read it! Great review

  • Reply One Lovely Blog Award – Windowsill Books September 9, 2017 at 1:05 am

    […] Howling Libraries […]

  • Reply dragonwaffles September 9, 2017 at 4:26 am

    Wow this sounds like such an interesting read! I will definitely be on the look out for this one when it comes out <3!

  • Reply The NetGalley Tag – howling libraries September 17, 2017 at 10:11 am

    […] last ARC review was for Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman, and you can read that 5-star review here. I’ve reviewed two “review copy” titles since then, but both of those were […]

  • Reply Goodreads Monday – Lost Among the Pages September 18, 2017 at 10:21 am

    […] discovered this book when a review for it by Destiny @ howlinglibraries, popped up in my […]

  • Reply September ’17 Haul & Wrap-up – howling libraries September 30, 2017 at 10:05 am

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  • Reply T10T: Favorite 2017 Releases – Contemporary Edition! – howling libraries December 12, 2017 at 12:02 am

    […] 5. Starfish – Akemi Dawn Bowman –  September 2017 TA biracial Japanese-American girl is just trying to make her way through the world as an artist, all the while combating the racism her mother pushes on her everyday for not looking “white enough”. Another heartbreaker, but it’s so good. (POC: Japanese, biracial, own-voice) REVIEW HERE […]

  • Reply January ’18 Haul – howling libraries January 31, 2018 at 11:03 am

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  • Reply worrying about the world – of ceiling wax and other things March 3, 2018 at 5:01 am

    […] Kiko, generalized anxiety that impacts all aspects life, or any other diagnosed anxiety disorder. Many readers have found themselves echoed in Kiko’s […]

  • Reply T10T: Own-Voice Books for Under-Represented Cultures – howling libraries March 27, 2018 at 12:02 am

    […] — Akemi Dawn Bowman I could not possibly make this list without adding one of my favorite contemporary reads of 2017, Starfish. It’s about a biracial Japanese/white girl, and it dives into a lot of the […]

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