True Mothers by Mizuki Tsujimura | Book Review

Mizuki Tsujimura's True Mothers isn't your typical motherhood story. This novel grabs the whole idea of what makes a "real mom" and turns it inside out. We follow two women: Satoko, who becomes a mom through adoption after fertility struggles, and Hikari, a scared teenager who gives up her baby. Their parallel stories expose all the unspoken crap society throws at women about parenting. Japan's strict social rules? Check. The judgment single moms face? Double check. But what's really memorable is how Tsujimura makes you question everything, is blood really thicker than water, or does real family come from who's willing to show up when it counts?

(Nggak seperti cerita ibu-ibu biasa, True Mothers oleh Mizuki Tsujimura ini beneran membongkar habis definisi "ibu sejati". Kita mengikuti kisah dua perempuan: Satoko yang jadi ibu lewat adopsi setelah gagal punya anak, dan Hikari, remaja yang rela melepas bayinya. Dua kisah paralel ini menceritakan tekanan sosial yang harus ditanggung perempuan dalam hal menjadi orang tua. Aturan ketat masyarakat Jepang? Ada. Stigma ke ibu single? Banyak banget. Tapi yang bikin memorable banget adalah cara penulis bikin kita mempertanyakan semuanya, emangnya keluarga beneran harus sedarah? Atau justru tentang siapa yang tetap ada di saat-saat paling berat?)

BOOK INFORMATION

Title                     : True Mothers

Japanese Title      : 朝が来る

Author                 : Mizuki Tsujimura

Translator            : Mega Dian P.

Language             : Indonesian

Length                  : 444 pages

Released               : February 2023 

Read                     : July 31 - August 1, 2023

GR Rating            : 3.74

My rating             : 4.50

Where to buy      : Penerbit Haru Official Store 

TL;DR: A raw, emotional rollercoaster about motherhood that’s way more than DNA, think adoption drama, societal pressure, and messy, beautiful love. Made me cry, think, and question everything about family.

⚠️ WARNINGS:

🔺Heavy themes: unplanned pregnancy, adoption trauma, societal shame

🔺Emotional damage™: have tissues ready

🔺Slow burn: not a thriller, but the character depth is chef’s kiss

👍 PERFECT FOR YOU IF YOU:

🔺Love character-driven stories with all the feels

🔺Are into found family vibes

🔺Want to yell at societal double standards

🔺Appreciate books that make you see life in shades of gray

👎 SKIP IF YOU:

🔺Need fast-paced plots (this is a vibes book)

🔺Hate messy, flawed characters

🔺Can’t handle heavy topics without neat solutions

🔺Only read happy stories

BOOK REVIEW

Mizuki Tsujimura's True Mothers throws you right into the messy, beautiful heart of what motherhood really means. Through Satoko who adopts a child after struggling with infertility, and Hikari, a teenager who gives up her baby, this story makes you question everything society says about "real" parents. Turns out, family isn’t just about blood, because it's also about who shows up, loves hard, and stays.

Parenting here is raw, exhausting, and totally transformative. Tsujimura gets it  whether you’re an adoptive mom like Satoko, nervously bonding with a child who isn’t biologically hers, or a birth mom like Hikari, aching from a choice she made too young, that mother-child connection runs deep. Both women screw up, grow up, and discover strengths they never knew they had.

This book doesn’t put filters on Japan’s harsh double standards, either. Hikari gets treated like a scandal for being an unwed teen mom, while Satoko faces whispers for not having kids "the natural way." It’s a lose-lose game, and Tsujimura nails how society polices women’s bodies and choices, demanding perfection whether they’re mothers or not.

But, love wins. Not the sappy kind, but the gritty, determined love that has Satoko fighting for her son or Hikari secretly keeping tabs on the baby she gave up. Tsujimura makes you wonder, what really makes a mom? Is it DNA, or is it the person who stays awake worrying, sacrifices silently, and loves unconditionally?

But what really slaps is how this book shows how much damage silence can do. Satoko and Hikari are both drowning in expectations, but what makes everything worse? Nobody’s talking. Not really. This book screams (without actually screaming) that honest conversations could’ve saved these women so much heartache. This book's like saying to you: if you don’t speak up about your fears, your needs, your mistakes, life gets way messier than it needs to be.

And let’s talk about Hikari’s parents, the ultimate irony. They’re teachers, but when it comes to their own kids? Total communication blackout. Sex? Relationships? Forget about it. No wonder Hikari ends up pregnant at 14, clueless and scared. Meanwhile, her sister Misaki plays the "perfect daughter" but lives a double life, hiding her girlfriend and her true self. Tsujimura doesn’t just judge these parents, instead she shows how their "no-talk" policy backfires spectacularly. One daughter rebels, the other hides, both pay the price.

That’s why you can't only say that Hikari’s story is tragic. You know it’s a flashing neon sign saying, "TEACH KIDS ABOUT SEX, PEOPLE!" If she’d known anything about her body or safe relationships, maybe she wouldn’t have been so vulnerable. This book’s not preachy, though it just lays bare the brutal cost of ignorance. Spoiler: it’s always the kids who suffer.

(True Mothers oleh Mizuki Tsujimura langsung membawa kita ke dalam kompleksitas menjadi ibu yang messy tapi bikin meleleh. Lewat Satoko yang mengadopsi anak setelah gagal punya keturunan, dan Hikari, remaja yang rela berpisah dengan bayinya, cerita ini bakal bikin kita mempertanyakan semua standar "orang tua sesungguhnya" versi masyarakat. Ternyata, keluarga nggak cuma soal darah, tapi soal siapa yang tetap ada, mencintai sepenuh hati, dan nggak kabur.

Menjadi orang tua di sini digambarkan apa adanya: berat, melelahkan, tapi membawa perubahan total. Penulisnya paham banget, baik ibu adopsi kayak Satoko yang canggung mengasuh anak bukan darah dagingnya, atau ibu kandung kayak Hikari yang menyesali pilihan yang dibuatnya saat ia masih terlalu muda. Ikatan ibu-anak tetaplah dalam. Keduanya berbuat salah, tumbuh, dan menemukan kekuatan yang mereka sendiri nggak sangka mereka punya.

Buku ini juga nggak menutupi standar ganda yang jahat banget di Jepang. Hikari dijulidin karena hamil di luar nikah, sementara Satoko digosipin karena punya anak "nggak alami". Gak ada yang bener! Penulis jeli banget nunjukin cara masyarakat dalam mengatur tubuh dan pilihan perempuan, mau jadi ibu atau enggak, tuntutannya tetep aja nggak realistis.

Tapi, cinta yang menang. Bukan yang norak, tapi cinta tipe "gigih sampai rela berkorban" kayak Satoko yang berjuang buat anaknya, atau Hikari yang diam-diam mengikuti kabar bayi yang dia lepaskan. Penulis bakal bikin kita mikir: Ibu yang beneran itu yang gimana sih? Apa karena gen, atau karena orang yang rela begadang khawatir, berkorban diam-diam, dan mencintai tanpa syarat?

Tapi yang bikin gregetan tuh cara buku ini nunjukin betapa bahayanya kebiasaan "diem-diem aja". Satoko dan Hikari sama-sama tenggelam dalam tekanan, tapi tau nggak yang bikin semuanya makin parah? Nggak ada yang beneran ngobrol. Serius. Buku ini kayak bisik-bisik ke kita: "Kalau kamu nggak berani ngomongin ketakutan, kebutuhan, atau kesalahanmy, hidup bakal jauh lebih ribet dari yang seharusnya."

Ngomong-ngomong soal orang tua Hikari, ironis banget! Mereka guru, tapi urusan anak sendiri? Gak ada komunikasi sama sekali. Bahas seks? Hubungan? Jangan harap. Ya udah jelas aja akhirnya Hikari hamil di umur 14 tahun, bingung dan ketakutan. Sementara kakaknya, Misaki, pura-pura jadi "anak baik" tapi menyembunyikan pacar ceweknya dan jati dirinya yang sebenarnya. Penulis nggak cuma menyalahkan si orang tua, tapi dia menunjukkan gimana kebijakan "anti ngobrol" mereka berantakan banget. Satu anak memberontak, satu lagi menyembunyikan diri, dan dua-duanya kena imbasnya.

Makanya cerita Hikari nggak cuma tragis doang. Ini tuh kayak papan reklame ngejreng yang terang-terangan nulis, "AYO AJARIN ANAK TENTANG SEKSUALITAS, PLIS!" Kalau aja dia dikasih tahu tentang tubuhnya atau hubungan yang sehat, mungkin nasibnya bakal berbeda. Tapi buku ini nggak sok menggurui, dia cuma nunjukin harga yang harus dibayar karena ketidaktahuan. Spoiler: yang selalu jadi korban ya anak-anak itu sendiri.)

THINGS I LOVE

■ This book goes beyond motherhood, it’s about love, loss, adoption, and figuring out who you really are. Tsujimura doesn’t sugarcoat the messy, painful parts of being human, and that’s what makes this story so raw and unforgettable.

■ The way the story unfolds is genius. We follow two completely different women, Satoko, an adoptive mom, and Hikari, a young birth mom, and slowly piece together how their lives collide. The mystery around why Hikari gave up her baby had me hooked, flipping pages like crazy to find out the truth.

■ This book doesn’t hide the conversation about heavy topics, either. It throws a spotlight on how Japanese society judges unwed mothers while also pressuring married couples to fit into this perfect-parent mold. It’s like Tsujimura’s asking, "Who actually gets to decide what ‘normal’ family looks like?"

■ One of the coolest things? Getting inside each character’s head. Seeing the world through Satoko’s eyes, then Hikari’s, then others’ made me realize that nothing in life is black and white. People make messy choices for complicated reasons, and this book gets that.

■ Tsujimura’s characters? SO real. I laughed with them, cried with them, and straight-up stressed over their struggles. They felt like people I actually knew, which made their journeys feel so close.

■ And the growth? Chef’s kiss. Satoko and Hikari aren’t the same people by the end because they’ve been through hell, learned hard lessons, and come out changed. That kind of real, gritty character development? That’s what makes a story unforgettable.

(■ Buku ini nggak cuma sekadar cerita tentang jadi ibu, tapi juga tentang cinta, kehilangan, adopsi, dan mencari jati diri. Penulis nggak menutupi sisi berantakan dan sakitnya jadi manusia, dan justru itu yang bikin ceritanya beneran nyata dan susah dilupain.

■ Alur ceritanya jenius banget! Kita mengikuti dua perempuan yang beda banget: Satoko (ibu adopsi) dan Hikari (ibu kandung muda), dan pelan-pelan kita mengaitkan titik-titik kehidupan mereka. Misteri kenapa Hikari rela melepaskan bayinya bikin aku terus-terusan baca buat cari tau jawabannya!

■ Buku ini juga berani banget bahas topik berat. Dia menunjukkan gimana masyarakat Jepang mengejek ibu single, sementara pasangan yang sudah menikah dipaksa buat jadi "orang tua sempurna". Rasanya penulis semacam bertanya, "Siapa sih yang berhak menentukan kayak gimana sih keluarga 'normal' itu?"

■ Yang paling keren? Bisa liat dunia dari sudut pandang tiap karakter. Melihat melalui mata Satoko, terus Hikari, bikin kita sadar kalau hidup nggak ada yang hitam putih. Orang-orang mengambil keputusan berantakan karena alasan yang kompleks, dan buku ini paham banget soal itu.

■ Karakter-karakter buku ini? NYATA BANGET. Kita ketawa, nangis, bahkan ikutan stres mengikuti perjuangan mereka. Rasanya kayak kenal mereka secara personal, jadi perjalanan mereka terasa deket banget.

■ Perkembangan karakternya? Chef's kiss. Satoko dan Hikari di akhir cerita udah beda banget, karena mereka udah melewati segalanya, belajar dari kesalahan, dan berubah. Perkembangan karakter yang realistis dan dalem kayak gini nih yang bikin ceritanya gak gampang dilupakan.)

CONCLUSION

Days after finishing this book, you'll still be thinking about its characters. I think Tsujimura doesn't stop with only an adoption story with social commentary, because it's a raw, beautiful look at how love works when life gets messy. Through all the miscommunications, parenting fails, and societal pressures, what shines through is this simple truth: family isn't about whose DNA you share, but about who stays. Who fights for you. Who loves you unconditionally. This book will break your heart and stitch it back together, leaving you with one powerful takeaway that the families that matter most are the ones we choose, not just the ones we're born into.

(Bahkan berhari-hari setelah baca buku ini, karakternya masih nempel di ingatan. Ini bukan cuma sekadar kisah adopsi dengan bonus kritik sosial, tapi potret cinta yang jujur di tengah hidup yang berantakan. Lewat salah paham, kegagalan parenting, dan tekanan masyarakat, pesan buku ini sederhana: keluarga nggak ditentukan DNA, tapi siapa yang bertahan. Yang berjuang buat kita. Yang mencintai kita apa adanya. Novel ini bakal bikin hati kita hancur berkeping-keping, terus dilem lagi pelan-pelan, dan meninggalkan satu pelajaran: keluarga terkuat itu yang kita pilih sendiri, bukan cuma yang dari lahir udah ditentukan.)