Fake ID
Mariko Tamaki
REVIEWED BY JD
“you are who you are, and you aren’t who you aren’t,
as much from the outside in as from the inside out”.
Tamaki’s characters appeared at the perfect time in my
life, as I ride the mid twenties “who am I” waves, I
was glad to share my boat with the lifesaver
swallowing youngster, a goth girl, Archamedus the
wizard and many other of Mariko’s friends. Within
this collection of short stories I was introduced to a
diverse cast of characters, who all had something to
tell me about figuring out who you are, what you are
doing, and why.
These stories explore the many parts of our
identities, and how those identities come to be. The
young girl in “That Will Cost You” learns that one is
supposed to play to win, or not bother playing at all.
An early lesson on surviving in the competitive world
of capitalism that this character doesn’t quite buy.
This first encounter of ‘how you should be’, is met
with a rebellious spirit that continues to find itself
within the characters and stories that follow.
In “Swallow” the narrator wonders if her childhood
‘game’ had anything to do with her current interest in
S/M. In “Identified” the factor in the identity
question is not the body, but one’s name. Other
stories relate identity to one’s location, who are you
when you are in Kansas celebrating Independence Day?,
or when you live in Montreal? or Toronto?
The most interesting story in this book was “The Tea
Party Chronicles”. From the perspective of a young
goth girl, this story explores the connections between
identity and fantasy. In the imaginary world she
creates in role playing games everyone takes on new
identities. These lives as wizards and elves are, to
the people playing, real. How much of identity is
about believing ourselves and convincing everyone
else?
Tamaki's sense of humour makes the sometimes serious
questions around indentity more digestible. The
characters found here are charming and very real. It
is the realness of these people and situations that
makes this book a delight to read, and allows us to
see the lighter side of our own situations.
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