MEMOIR

Secrets of the Sun: A Memoir

by Mako Yoshikawa
Mad Creek. Feb. 2024. 168p. ISBN 9780814258934. pap. $19.95. ;. MEMOIR
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It started just hours before their rehearsal dinner. Novelist Yoshikawa (Once Removed) was finally about to tie the knot. She hated and feared her father, Shoichi, so she didn’t invite him. Then the call came that he’d died. Shoichi had been a wealthy, world-class physicist, working at Princeton on fusion energy. In his thirties, he began to suffer delusional attacks. Yoshikawa says he beat her mother and her and was paranoid. She says, in his worst moments, he thought he was Christ reborn. Her family endured it for seven years, then moved out. Her mother divorced him and remarried. Meanwhile, her father continued alone, alternating periods of lucidity with stays in facilities to treat his severe bipolar disorder. Even dead, questions about his love for her haunted her.
VERDICT Moving and beautifully written. This poignant memoir is about a daughter’s hunt for answers and understanding about her father, his battles, and the complexities of their relationship.
Reviewed by David Keymer , Jan 01, 2024
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