07/26/2021
In Itami’s thoughtful debut, an affluent and disaffected Tokyo housewife and mother has an affair and reflects on her life choices. At 16, Mizuki travels from her rural Japanese province to New York City to spend a year in an American high school, where she learns to be assertive and pursues an interest in music. Back in Japan, she struggles in school, raging against her “stupid, archaic system of letters,” and returns to New York, where she spends another three years and sings in a band. She continues her rebellious music career back in Tokyo, until she despairs from a lack of financial security and marries Tatsuya. After a decade of a loving marriage and two children, Tatsuya starts coming home cranky and distracted after long hours at work. He loves their two young children, but doesn’t help with their upbringing; he treats Mizuki with disdain. Mizuki then becomes fast friends with charming restaurateur Teramoto Kiyoshi, with whom she’s able to share her Americanized perspective. She initially resists her attraction to him, but their friendship soon blossoms into a romance. While a somewhat pat ending feels unworthy of the novel’s provocative premise, Itami makes palpable Mizuki’s loneliness and her need to feel seen. Itami’s brave, frank portrayal of Japan’s societal expectations of women is worth a look. Agent: Kirsty McLachlan, Morgan Green Creatives. (Sept.)
"What’s intriguing about Fault Lines is its shrewd commentary on Japan’s societal expectations of women as either sex objects or dutiful mothers. As Mizuki eventually learns, it’s in striking a workable balance between these two dichotomies — her past life versus her present one, titillating desire versus familial obligations, who she wants to be versus who society dictates she should be — that the real work of living begins.” — Washington Post
“A complicated romance with immense empathy for all its characters and their flaws [and] a wonderfully nuanced take on Tokyo life.” — Popsugar
"Sharp and stunning." — New York Post
"This remarkably strong debut has volumes to say about choices, adulthood, tradition and freedom." — Ms. magazine
"Wanderlust warning! Itami's dreamy debut will have you craving a trip to Tokyo." — E! Online
"What is the cost of a mother’s desire?...Emily Itami explores this question with wit and poignancy." — New York Times Book Review
"Sexy, laugh-out-loud funny, and full of prose as sumptuous as the meals described, Fault Lines is a must read for anyone fond of Sally Rooney’s expert characterization and Haruki Murakami’s immersive world-building." — Bon Appétit
"Mizuki is one of the most engaging adulteresses I’ve ever encountered, and a wonderfully witty guide to the morals and mores of contemporary Tokyo. I now know just how to behave while picking up children from school, or meeting strangers. Fault Lines is a moving and suspenseful novel full of the best kinds of incidental wisdom." — Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field
“Fault Lines manages to be clever, wise, and heartbreaking all at once the book is the perfect marriage of Sally Rooney and early Murakami, with a unique insight into marriage, motherhood, and warring cultural expectations that is all Emily Itami's own. Absolutely brilliant." — Kathy Wang, author of Impostor Syndrome
“Fault Lines is full of laugh-out-loud, irreverent humor, as well as heartstoppingly poignant, yet seemingly incidental, wisdom. All of the inner yearnings and tribulations of Mizuki are laid bare, offering one of the fullest, most thorough depictions of a character I have ever read. … Every line here is razor-sharp, chosen with precision, resulting in a deceptively clever, emotionally wise and truly heartbreaking novel.” — Bookreporter.com
"Brilliant." — Booklist
"Funny and tender." — Bustle
“A brilliant modern love story. I found it atmospheric and transporting but also wise, clever, and universal in its exploration of love, family, and identity. I loved it.” — Cathy Rentzenbrink, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Act of Love
“An addictive and beautiful novel with a fantastic voice, full of wry humor and sharp observations. It’s funny and tragic, passionate and bold, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come.” — Kate Murray-Browne, author of The Upstairs Room
"Dazzling." — Popsugar
“This delicate and beautiful love story will fill your heart. … Short, emotional and very funny, Emily Itami’s debut is an unmissable treat for romantics everywhere.” — Stylist (UK)
"Wanderlust warning! Itami's dreamy debut will have you craving a trip to Tokyo."
"Mizuki is one of the most engaging adulteresses I’ve ever encountered, and a wonderfully witty guide to the morals and mores of contemporary Tokyo. I now know just how to behave while picking up children from school, or meeting strangers. Fault Lines is a moving and suspenseful novel full of the best kinds of incidental wisdom."
“Fault Lines is full of laugh-out-loud, irreverent humor, as well as heartstoppingly poignant, yet seemingly incidental, wisdom. All of the inner yearnings and tribulations of Mizuki are laid bare, offering one of the fullest, most thorough depictions of a character I have ever read. … Every line here is razor-sharp, chosen with precision, resulting in a deceptively clever, emotionally wise and truly heartbreaking novel.
Fault Lines manages to be clever, wise, and heartbreaking all at once the book is the perfect marriage of Sally Rooney and early Murakami, with a unique insight into marriage, motherhood, and warring cultural expectations that is all Emily Itami's own. Absolutely brilliant."
A complicated romance with immense empathy for all its characters and their flaws [and] a wonderfully nuanced take on Tokyo life.
"What’s intriguing about Fault Lines is its shrewd commentary on Japan’s societal expectations of women as either sex objects or dutiful mothers. As Mizuki eventually learns, it’s in striking a workable balance between these two dichotomies — her past life versus her present one, titillating desire versus familial obligations, who she wants to be versus who society dictates she should be — that the real work of living begins.
A brilliant modern love story. I found it atmospheric and transporting but also wise, clever, and universal in its exploration of love, family, and identity. I loved it.
An addictive and beautiful novel with a fantastic voice, full of wry humor and sharp observations. It’s funny and tragic, passionate and bold, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come.
"Brilliant."
★ 12/03/2021
DEBUT Mizuki should be happy with her industrious husband, two adorable children, and enviable Tokyo apartment, but in the first pages of this fresh and surprising novel she describes how close she came to flinging herself off their 32nd-floor balcony. Maybe it's because her husband, once good-natured and curious, is now always work-stressed and barely communicative, even stepping over her as if she were a dog while she kneels on the floor doing laundry and pleading for some help. Mizuki has lived and studied in New York and used to be a lounge singer, so she's had some aspirations. But she traded what she saw as a going-nowhere job for marriage and now works as a cultural instructor for expats when she's not striving to be the perfect Japanese mother—a role she keeps muddling even as the author delivers a brilliantly exact description of what it's like to have children. On an outing with friends, Mizuki meets charming restaurateur Kiyoshi, which opens her to a different way of being. VERDICT Introspective Mizuki takes readers on a deep dive into what's really important in life. In a voice that's sometimes thoughtful, sometimes entertainingly sardonic, and always heartfelt, Itami delivers some unexpected conclusions.—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
"What is the cost of a mother’s desire?...Emily Itami explores this question with wit and poignancy."
New York Times Book Review
"Sexy, laugh-out-loud funny, and full of prose as sumptuous as the meals described, Fault Lines is a must read for anyone fond of Sally Rooney’s expert characterization and Haruki Murakami’s immersive world-building."
"This remarkably strong debut has volumes to say about choices, adulthood, tradition and freedom."
"Sharp and stunning."
"What’s intriguing about Fault Lines is its shrewd commentary on Japan’s societal expectations of women as either sex objects or dutiful mothers. As Mizuki eventually learns, it’s in striking a workable balance between these two dichotomies — her past life versus her present one, titillating desire versus familial obligations, who she wants to be versus who society dictates she should be — that the real work of living begins.
"Brilliant."
Narrator Lydia Wilson delivers an intimate, compulsive listening experience in this exploration of marriage, motherhood, and societal pressures. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Mizuki, a Japanese housewife in contemporary Tokyo who is growing increasingly dissatisfied with her daily life. Wilson captures Mizuki’s wit and self-deprecating humor through her deadpan delivery, infusing a lightness in Mizuki’s ponderings of suicide and adultery. While Wilson’s native British accent works for Mizuki’s intermittent use of British slang, both are incongruous choices as Mizuki spent time earlier in the U.S., not the U.K., as a student and aspiring singer. Nevertheless, Wilson’s skillful portrayal of the complexities of Mizuki’s feelings, the rich Tokyo setting, and the distinct writing style is refreshing and engaging. V.T.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Narrator Lydia Wilson delivers an intimate, compulsive listening experience in this exploration of marriage, motherhood, and societal pressures. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Mizuki, a Japanese housewife in contemporary Tokyo who is growing increasingly dissatisfied with her daily life. Wilson captures Mizuki’s wit and self-deprecating humor through her deadpan delivery, infusing a lightness in Mizuki’s ponderings of suicide and adultery. While Wilson’s native British accent works for Mizuki’s intermittent use of British slang, both are incongruous choices as Mizuki spent time earlier in the U.S., not the U.K., as a student and aspiring singer. Nevertheless, Wilson’s skillful portrayal of the complexities of Mizuki’s feelings, the rich Tokyo setting, and the distinct writing style is refreshing and engaging. V.T.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine