JULY 2021 - AudioFile
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
Publishers Weekly
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.)
From the Publisher
"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)
Margot Livesey
"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."
New York Times Book Review
"What is the cost of a mother’s desire?...Emily Itami explores this question with wit and poignancy."
Bookreporter.com
“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.
Bon Appétit
"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."
E! Online
"Wanderlust warning! Itami's dreamy debut will have you craving a trip to Tokyo."
Ms. magazine
"This remarkably strong debut has volumes to say about choices, adulthood, tradition and freedom."
New York Post
"Sharp and stunning."
Kathy Wang
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."
Popsugar
A complicated romance with immense empathy for all its characters and their flaws [and] a wonderfully nuanced take on Tokyo life.
Washington Post
"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
"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.
Kate Murray-Browne
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.
Cathy Rentzenbrink
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.
Booklist
"Brilliant."
Booklist
"Brilliant."
JULY 2021 - AudioFile
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
