Mika was raised by a Japanese family that reluctantly had to live in America. She was date-raped as a teenager and then decided to keep the baby and put her up for adoption. Her life sputtered around without much progress. She was in contact with her daughter and wanted her to think that she was living a much better life than she was. Her daughter then decided to visit. The adoptive father came as well. (The adoptive mother had died of cancer.) Eventually the lies were discovered and there was a falling out. Things gradually got repaired. At the same time, Mike also starts to repair her relationship with her mother. The daughter is at a Cross Country camp at University of Portland and gets to see Mike more - and enter into a serious relationship. Mika then found herself falling in love with the adoptive father. Her daughter was traumatized when she discovered this and ended up in the hospital for alcohol poisoning. After all this, Mika realizes she had wasted away for the past half of her life and decides to go back and pick up her art that she had left off when she got pregnant. She paints and has an art show where she reconciles with her family and life.
The role of her Japanese ancestry is an important part of this book. However, it is more of a part of a life rather than the dominant role. Mika's story is that of people that have had situations thrust upon them. Even when bad things happen, people still have the ability to decide where to go from there. Sometimes, this leads to long detours in life. However, there is still the chance to come back on track.
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