**contains spoilers"
I have complicated feelings about this book - while I'm really glad Kiko found a warm, accepting chosen family, and a completely unrealistic romantic partner in the end, this to my knowledge rarely, if ever happens.

Damaged people will generally end up with other damaged people. Those warm, loving, well-adjusted families will avoid you like the plague. They will be friendly but they will not welcome you into their fold, nor will they ever really understand you.

****and why is there a jellyfish and not a starfish on the cover? ( )

This is a young adult book touching some mental adult issues. Kiko just wants to get into Prism Art school in NYC. When that fails, her dreams collapse and she goes along with her childhood friend, Jamie, to California.

This is a young adult book. So there is a misunderstood protagonist and a dreamy love interest. This time however there is some Asian representation with a rare Asian male and white female parent dynamic (twice).

Kiko is an artist. And at the end of most chapters, she describes a sketch she makes to "illustrate" Kiko's moods. I appreciated the author allowing me to imagine Kiko's sketches.

Her conversations with her mom were painful to read, as designed. I know some people like her mom and it hits uncomfortably close.
( )

Family and relationships during the teenage years are never an easy time, so it’s no wonder that there are so many books out there which explore the intricacies of these pivotal years. Starfish may be just one more novel in this never-ending oeuvre of distraught emotions, personal growth, and self-reflection, but author Akemi Dawn Bowman’s characterization and prose are so enthralling that it doesn’t really matter if all of these themes have been covered before. Following high school senior Kiko Himura we explore her life engaged with art, and the chaos that ensues when she doesn’t get into Prism art school in New York. This conflict may be the overlying catalyst for the story, but what makes us keep turning the pages are Kiko’s conflict with her narcissistic mother (a relationship that most of us would find absolutely infuriating and absolutely alien) and her struggle to find independence and make her own choices. Underlying everything is Kiko’s strange relationship with her heritage (her father is Japanese) and a debilitating self-hatred that Kiko must ultimately overcome if she is going to be her truest self as an artist and as a person. Ultimately a heart wrenching story, yet one that is filled with an artistic beauty that comes from Kiko’s (and the author’s) soul. Protip: this would make an *excellent* illustrated novel! ( )

Half-Japanese (father) and half-Caucasian (mother) Kiko Himura is a loner. Her parents are divorced, and her mother is completely self-centered, and Kiko does not really relate to either brother. She has one close girlfriend, but has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. Kiko is an artist, and all her hopes are pinned on acceptance to her dream art school, Prism. She does not get admitted, but her childhood friend Jamie returns to their small town in Nebraska for a visit, and Kiko goes back to California with Jamie, ostensibly to look at other art schools. She meets a Japanese artist at an exhibit, and he agrees to allow her to use his studio to paint, giving her much needed encouragement. Family secrets also are revealed, including why Jamie and his family suddenly moved away. A sweet book about a teenager not fitting in and not choosing a gun to resolve matters. ( )

teen fiction (socially anxious, shy teen with toxic mother and a traumatic past with sexually abusive uncle, growing up Hapa in predominantly white Nebraska; dad is now remarried and rarely seen and brother is dealing with mental health issues thanks to mom). ( )