Fake ID

by Mariko Tamaki

Fake ID is a collection of short essays in urban settings. Stuck in coffee shops, bad jobs, SUVs, and the United States of America, Tamaki's characters explore and resist social constructions while seeking sanity and some form of definition.In the tradition of her earlier work, Tamaki mixes social commentary with dry wit, poking fun not simply at racial, cultural, and sexual prejudice, but also at the ridiculous way these stereotypes play out in everyday life.

In Fake ID identity is not a welcome social construct, but an ugly sweater society gives you for your birthday that doesn't fit and clashes with everything you own.

Genres: Short Stories, Canada, Queer, Fiction, Essays, Novels, Graphic Novels

121 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Mariko Tamaki is a Toronto writer, playwright, activist and performer. She works and performs with fat activists Pretty Porky and Pissed Off and the theatre troupe TOA, whose recent play, A vs. B, was staged at the 2004 Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Her well-received novel, Cover Me (McGilligan Books) was followed by a short fiction collection, True Lies: The Book of Bad Advice (Women's Press). Mariko's third book, FAKE ID, is due out in spring 2005.

Mariko Tamaki has performed her work across Canada and through the States, recently appearing at the Calgary Folkfest 2004, Vancouver Writer's Festival 2003, Spatial III, and the Perpetual Motion/Girls Bite Back Tour, which circled though Ottawa, Montreal, Brooklyn and Chicago. She has appeared widely on radio and television including First Person Singular on CBC radio and Imprint on TVO. Mariko Tamaki is currently attending York University working a master's degree in women's studies.

[MacMIllan Books]

Reviews

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh what a weird little treat to get this slice of the life of 2005 mariko tamaki, with all her young queer toronto sensibilities.

i put this essay collection on my tbr ten years ago, and i probably would have enjoyed it a lot more back then. tamaki was in her 20s when she wrote this, and she spells things out in a rather juvenile way - often overreaching, but also endearing.

some of the insights here are profound, but some maybe felt more profound from where she was standing when she wrote them. very cool to look back and see how much she's grown.

favorites:

IDENTIFIED is about names, ethnic identities and personal identities, and the assumptions people make.

GOD BLESS AMERICA made me cringe here in 2026, but it's fascinating. tamaki and her partner spend a fourth of july in a kansas town, which is an alien experience for a couple of queer canadians. eerie.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? - a meditation on identity, race, and perspective.

THE FOREST FOR THE TREES is a fun lil piece about a group of theatre kids attempting to procure some "sad" trees for a show. very funny and charming.

FOUR RUN DOWN A HILL is about shenanigans in tamaki's queer friend group. she wrote this when she was still in that era, yet the piece manages to evoke nostalgia.

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. This is a nice little collection of small memoirs, a great coffee shop book to read casually while sipping amid a pleasant, low thrum. Tamaki is at her best when locating emotional complexity within everyday actions; some of the attempts at humor / irony here are overdone and leave something to be desired. Ultimately, if you need a quiet, decidedly queer book to sit with, or just a bit of a palate cleanser, check this one out.

[Sarah Thornton]

In these times, reading is almost as good as travel.

[AlyssumAcantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like MUNA's music, you'll probably like this book. That's the best way I can think of describing it.

Reading this feels like watching a VCR tape, viewing the grainy recollections of someone's life in the nineties through their own eyes. There were a lot of wry little moments that made me smile and laugh. An interesting, eclectic collection. I've read some of her later work (especially her runs at Marvel Comics), and it's fascinating to see how she has grown from this point.

[Three O'Clock Press]

Fake ID is a collection of short essays in urban settings. Stuck in coffee shops, bad jobs, SUVs, and the United States of America, Tamaki's characters explore and resist social constructions while seeking sanity and some form of definition. In the tradition of her earlier work, Tamaki mixes social commentary with dry wit, poking fun not simply at racial, cultural, and sexual prejudice, but also at the ridiculous way these stereotypes play out in everyday life. In Fake ID identity is not a welcome social construct, but an ugly sweater society gives you for your birthday that doesn't fit and clashes with everything you own.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read but a highly enjoyable look through the life of Mariko Tamaki, a person I don't know, haven't met (actually have friends in common I just realized) but would love to read more from.

But even if I literally did not know the same people as her, it feels like I would anyway. The stories seem to primarily focus upon times of change in a life. Times when you realized you are older/wiser or fucked up and need to move on and up.

Times I really remember too.

[Mirrordance · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cosa dire di questo piccolo libretto di cui sono riuscita a leggere circa un terzo? Piccoli paragrafetti con flash di vita, non diverso da altri ma, non prende. Le (dis)avventure di una ragazza figlia di un giapponese e di una americana (o canadese) in un mondo poco aperto alla diversità.

Non particolarmente divertente.