The Night Parade

If you are at all familiar with Japanese culture, you may already have an idea of what the theme of this book is. If not, I will be happy to tell you. After all, it is why I am here. The Night Parade is a speculative memoir by Jami Nakamura Lin, an Asian-American neurodivergent author. The memoir centers on her issues with her bipolar disorder, her family, and her father. A large component is Jami coming to terms, if that can truly happen, with the death of her father.

Why the title then? Well, Jami uses yokai, the creatures of Japanese folklore not only to help her format the book-length essay, but to help the reader get an idea of what is to come. Various yokai are used to help her deal with those emotional plot holes that everyone who has ever lived, has ever felt, knows. The first half is full of what she calls the Rage, her name for her manic episodes before she was diagnosed. She is vulnerable, tells of her issue with pills that began as a preteen, her not feeling like herself and as the narrative continues and the yokai shift, we get an understanding of who she is present-day and how her experiences shaped her.

A Bookish Mind is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Stars: 4/5

I love memoirs that are speculative or “blurry” because memory is that way. You can’t always be sure that you are remembering something exactly as it happened. And sometimes your perception, age, thoughts change the meaning of a memory entirely. And let’s not forget trauma. Trauma messes with memory in far too many ways. Nakamura Lin accepts this and we are appreciative of it as the memoir progresses.

I think that the vulnerability is really what made this stand apart from other memoirs for me. It wasn’t overly introspective or analytical, it just was. Another factor that worked really well is the intersectionality aspect of it. The author is a Japanese Taiwanese Okinawan American writer, married to a Jewish man, raising a daughter who is all of these unique identities. She asks the question if it is even possible to honor all of them or would such an effort be futile.

Would I recommend it? Yes. If you like memoir, this is a book that you should read. The actual book is also very beautiful, full of illustrations drawn by the authors own sister.