Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Marie Mutsuki Mockett was born in Carmel, California to a Japanese mother and an American father. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in East Asian Studies. Picking Bones from Ash, published by Graywolf, is her first novel.
Updated February 2010
Stories from This Author
Compartment Comportment - Part 3
Feb. 21, 2010 • Marie Mutsuki Mockett
>> Part 2It was not for lifestyle reasons that we weren’t married. Even today, I’m unsure as to what the holdup really was all about, though I know it has something to do with the nemesis of all modern and sophisticated women who outwardly abhor Kate Hudson’s latest bridal film while hoping to cement a relationship as “committed.” Why did I never issue an ultimatum? He was beautiful, smart and kind and I loved him and he gave me plenty …
Compartment Comportment - Part 2
Feb. 14, 2010 • Marie Mutsuki Mockett
>> Part 1Mark Twain once said: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” But the question of what you do and don’t reveal in public is very much at the heart of what it means to be in Japan, where social rules are shared and where you can anticipate most people’s responses. It is not illegal in Japan, for example, for a landlord to evict a tenant for homosexuality alone. Nor would such an act surprise …
Compartment Comportment - Part 1
Feb. 7, 2010 • Marie Mutsuki Mockett
It was the summer of 2004 that my friend Hiro taught me how much fun it can be to lead a double life. We were hiding out in the lobby of a classy New York hotel on 57th Street. Outside, humidity squeezed through Manhattan’s canyon and up against the hotel’s glass doorway, like some invisible, fat monster in a horror movie. But inside, quiet industrial air conditioning kept us safe. Hiro had an idea for a game. We approached the …
