What makes My Name is Delicious a magical realism novel? Magic realism began as a literary genre in the early twentieth century. It is magical or supernatural phenomena presented in an otherwise real world setting.
My Name is Delicious also has elements of surrealism’s psychological reality, and that can be seen with Ronnie Tamura’s tendency to disassociate. Her psychologist, Dr. Shon Daniel, explains to Ronnie that disassociating was her coping mechanism from childhood emotional abuse. This ties into her relationship with her childhood imaginary playmate, who Ronnie describes as her twin sister, Veronica.
The reader is drawn into Ronnie’s conflictual relationship with her twin, Veronica, and given clues that no one has actually seen this twin, or even knows about her except for Ronnie’s parents and Dr. Shon Daniel.
Furthermore, there are hints that there are magical elements between Ronnie and Shon. He starts out as her psychologist when Ronnie is a teenager. However, Shon clearly feels drawn towards her and this is made evident when he keeps showing up in Ronnie’s life as she journeys into adulthood. Ronnie, also, cannot deny that there is a magical connection between them.
At the end of the book, the author, Jan Yoshida, indicates that Ronnie and Shon are twin souls. This is a new concept in relationships, and one that is not easily understood. Ms.Yoshida admits that My Name is Delicious is not meant for everybody to understand. The only ones to understand the twin soul phenomena are only those who have experienced this type of relationship.
It is magical, and hence, the reason for the book to be classified as magical realism. Twin souls have a mission to aid the world into transitioning into the new Age of Aquarius. The previous Age of Pisces can be described as more magical than the new age, since it is founded on elements of denial and fantasy. And yet, it is said that the earth is transitioning from three dimensional, which is more concrete, to fourth and fifth dimensional which takes on a more fantastical reality.
It is controversial as to how rapid this transition is going to take place. Some say that the transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius could take as much as one hundred fifty years. Others contend that a cataclysm will occur and the transition will be sudden and dramatic.
Perhaps this helps to explain the dichotomy of magical and realism. Who can say what is real and what is fantasy? These definitions are going to differ from one individual to another.
The magical relationships of twin souls may appear delusional to the many who don’t understand them, because they have no experience with them. But who knows? Maybe in a hundred years or so, they will be such a commonplace phenomenon that they will have turned into reality.
The author happens to think that My Name is Delicious is simply ahead of it’s time. Like a fine wine, it will be more appreciated with the process of aging.
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