Shortcomings

<spoiler></spoiler>'You know whats pathetic Ben? Trying to hold onto something just because you're pathologically afraid of change.' - Miko Hayashi. This small, but impactful moment of the main character's girlfirend, Miko breaking up with him is the complete summery of Ben's character and the story itself. He's someone who's stuck in place in his life and doesn't want anything to really change, almost used to it. This part of his journey is shown is small ways, mainly through his friendship with Alice Kim. There were times when I didn't like his character, and in fact hated him, but Ben's not evil, he's just abit of an asshole. The way he contradicting his actions and his thoughts annoyed me. I was surpised by the actions and arguments that the characters would have and I liked how real it felt. It was different than how I would dicuss or think about things. This theme of Ben fighting change is shown through the two women who he liked when Miko left for internship, two women whom are younger than him and white, the opposite of Miko. I didn't hate the characters but they were hard to understand at times. Ben and Miko whom were in their thirties, are two people who seem to have care for each other somewhat but are just stuck together becuase they've been together for a long time. There were many times that they were fighting and I was trying to see both sides of their points. I love the art style of the book. It's simple, but effective in the story it's trying to tell. The moment of the breakup of Ben and MIko was understandable, from Miko's pov, and loved how it wad protrayed. It was simple, quiet, and then done. Over. It was nice and felt real. Ben's pleading, and Miko's queitness. The relationship between race, attraction and fetishization was a common theme throughout the story. What makes someone attractive? Their character, or their race? Does race matter when you date someone or contribute to your attraction to them? This is seen from the first disagreement of the couple surrounding the movie they watched to the last one they both have as Ben discovers Miko's new relationship. The irony of a mixed race 'white' man trying to fight Ben (an asian) guy in front of Miko was pretty funny but a small bit of commentary of it's own. This is seen throughout his relationship with Autmun and Sasha. His relationship with Sasha almost mirrors the pornos he was watching before Miko left as it was temporary or mainly driven through sexual desire. The main worry that Miko had at the beginning of the story.