Review For STARFISH By Akemi Dawn Bowman--5*

Title: Starfish

Author: Akemi Dawn Bowman

Genre: Teens & YA

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing

(26 Sep 2017)

Hardback: 352 pages

ISBN: 978-1481487726

FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.
But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.
From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.


I read my first review on this book and knew immediately it was one I had to read. It was sad, beautiful, and so achingly real. I've often wondered how families of different cultures handled sharing these differences with their children. In this case, not well at all. 
Kiko's mom was a real piece of work and so, so familiar. Though the author never specifically said she was bipolar, from personal experience, I assumed so.  I grew up with a sister who is dead on this starfish. This is such an apt description for a bipolar individual and so much better than "bat-shit crazy" (my description for her for the last 40+ years).  
Unfortunately, until about 10 years ago, I wasn't very familiar with this condition. Also unfortunately, my granddaughter is barely surviving growing up in similar circumstances. A Mom that is always criticizing her, telling her that she is useless, ugly and not worth the air she breathes. A Mom that keeps her isolated so that she doesn't have friends nor develop life skills. She "home schools" her. This is her way of having total control and being answerable to no one.
For the most part, as grandparents, your hands are tied. Offering emotional support and simply being there for them is about the sum total of help that you can give. If you attempt to run interference then you get cut totally out of their life.  Unless the bipolar parent is physically abusive, you can do little. In most cases, the bipolar individual presents a totally different face to outsiders. Outsiders typically think you are overreacting.
This book shows how this emotionally cripples the children caught in the middle of the vicious cycle where everything revolves around the starfish. It's me! me! me! 24/7. Anxiety and fear becomes a way of life for these children. 
A copy of this book will be in my personal library so that when my granddaughter is a couple of years older, I can let her read it to see that there is a possibility of light at the end of the road.  

Akemi Dawn Bowman is the author of STARFISH. She’s a proud Ravenclaw and Star Wars enthusiast, who served in the US Navy for five years and has a BA in social sciences from UNLV. Originally from Las Vegas, she currently lives in England with her husband, two children, and their Pekingese mix. STARFISH will be published later this year (9/26/17, Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster), with a second YA contemporary to follow in Fall 2018. She is represented by Penny Moore of Empire Literary.