Youmight find this cool... but there's a manga (comic book) version of afirst-person book about a woman's life growing up in a Yakuza-dominated family.
CalledYakuza Moon, the true-life account describes Tendo Shoko (family name last)'searly life as a child of a wealthy Japanese crime boss. Though she lives a lifeof luxury, Tendo is bullied by other children and faces discrimination by herschool teachers - as well as from her father in his alcoholic rages.
Asshe gets older, the family's debts begin to grow and her father begins to losehis influence within the Yakuza. To cope, she falls in with a group oftrouble-makers not quite related to the Yakuza.
She'sa gang member at 15. A drug addict at 18. Crappy, violent abusive relationshipsin her 20s.
Theautobiography then looks at how Tendo over comes the death of her parents andher attempted suicide to take control of herself and her life.
Writtenby Tendo Shoko and adapted by Sean Michael Wilson with art by Morikawa Michiru(family name first), it's published by Kodansha Int’l with an ISBN13:978-4-7700-3146-4.
Whilenot available at Amazon, visit your local comic book shop and ask them to orderit for you. Check the price first! Try this website:http://comicshoplocator.com/ in North America orhttp://comicshoplocator.com/default.asp?LocType=g outside of that zone.
By Andrew Joseph
