Secrets of the Sun: A Memoir (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780814258934)

Mako Yoshikawa's father, Shoichi, was a man of contradictions. He grew up fabulously wealthy in prewar Japan but spent his final years living in squalor; he was a proper Japanese man who craved society's approval yet cross-dressed; he was a brilliant Princeton University physicist and renowned nuclear fusion researcher, yet his career withered as his severe bipolar disorder tightened its grip. And despite his generosity and charisma, he was often violent and cruel toward those closest to him. Yoshikawa adored him, feared him, and eventually cut him out of her life, but after he died, she was driven to try to understand this extraordinarily complex man. In Secrets of the Sun, her search takes her through everything from the Asian American experience of racism to her father's dedication to fusion energy research, from mental illness to the treatment of women in Japan, and more. Yoshikawa gradually discovers a life filled with secrets, searching until someone from her father's past at last provides the missing piece in her knowledge: the story of his childhood. Secrets of the Sun is about a daughter's mission to uncover her father's secrets and to find closure in the shadow of genius, mental illness, and violence.

Author: Mako Yoshikawa
ISBN-10: 081425893X
ISBN-13: 9780814258934
Publisher: Mad Creek Books
Language: English
Published: 02/08/2024
Pages: 168
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.43h x 5.43w x 0.55d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2023
Library Journal 01/01/2024 pg. 73
Booklist 01/01/2024 pg. 19
BookPage 02/01/2024