A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad's an Alcoholic

by Mariko Kikuchi

Overview

A moving autobiographical manga about her father’s alcoholism that inspired a critically acclaimed live-action film.

Mariko Kikuchi tells the painful story of her father’s alcoholism and her own journey through guilt to understanding her father’s illness. She rejects the common belief that family members can and should be forgiven for anything they do, no matter how much harm they cause. This powerful, self-contained autobiographical manga began as a web series that went viral, and inspired a critically acclaimed 2019 film in Japan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781648275968
Publisher:	Seven Seas Entertainment
Publication date:	11/09/2021
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	552,200
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Mariko Kikuchi is a manga artist who grew up with an alcoholic father, a mother who turned to a cult for comfort, and a younger sister. Her mother died by suicide when Kikuchi was in junior high school, and her father died in 2015. Her other works include Cappuchino, Kouan-bu Tokui Jinshu-ka 56, and U12 Kodomo Fellows.

Editorial Reviews

10/25/2021

Kikuchi’s unflinching debut manga memoir details her growing up with an alcoholic father. Through simple but appealing art, Kikuchi relays a childhood full of broken promises and unfulfilled dreams, covering her father’s substance use, her mother’s suicide, abusive relationships, and her and her sister’s struggles to find happiness despite their circumstances. In one scene, she shows herself as a schoolgirl pulling her father from a bathtub before he drowns: “I didn’t want to deal with dad when he was drunk... but if I didn’t, this monster would’ve died.” Her coping mechanism is to repress her feelings, balling them up until she doesn’t know why she’s crying. Despite acquaintances treating her father’s drunkenness as a lighthearted joke, Kikuchi works through layers of denial and confusion, coming to realize she doesn’t need to love or feel grateful to such a toxic parent. Throughout, Kikuchi’s passion for manga and drawing keeps her grounded and keeps the hard-hitting subject matter from dragging on as too unbearably bleak. Her thin, clear lines are minimalist but effective. Ending on a hopeful note, the narrative lands as deeply cathartic. Fans of Nagata Kabi’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and Akiko Higashimura’s Blank Canvas will welcome this heartfelt addition to the essay manga genre. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly