Wow, as I sit and read this as a pregnant woman, I was so intrigued with the two different realities in which she lived. I thought it was funny, insightful, and overall thought provoking.

Fault Lines by Emily Itami is a wonderful story - start to finish. A well-written story with an intriguing list of characters.

Mizuki is a Japanese housewife who is becoming increasingly irritated with the monotony of her daily life. Her husband works too much and never pays her any attention. One night when out with friends, she meets Kiyoshi, who finally makes her feel alive.

I liked the main character a lot, and related to many of her parenting thoughts. Some of the things she said had me laughing because it was just so true. I enjoyed the authors sense of humor. This story is well written, but not nearly as fast paced as I like. Some of the chapters were really long with little to no dialogue and I felt my mind wandering. Overall, this is a very impressive debut novel.

"With all the options I had, I chose him, chose him for life, for living, and he’s frozen me out into an existence that isn’t living at all. I’m in a cage without bars and I’m screaming but nobody can hear. I’m not even middle-aged yet and he’s faded me into the background."

Thank you William Morrow, Custom House Publishing and Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 fantastic debut novel stars

I loved this one, set primarily in Japan. I don’t often read books with Japanese characters, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It is well written, and the author has created a relatable flawed character that I enjoyed getting to know. Reading about all the food made me crave Japanese food and the different parts of Tokyo came alive in this book.

We meet Mizuki and learn about her life as a mother and wife, and I especially enjoyed reading about her time spent in the U.S. and how that affected her. It really felt like we got an insider’s view into the Japanese psyche. They have some cultural differences compared to the US but many similarities too. Women around the world wonder if they are enough for their husbands and children. Wonder why their husbands stop seeing them.

I also found it fascinating that Mizuki had a job helping Westerners understand Japanese culture – for example, why when you get on an elevator you shouldn’t go to the far back – and what Japanese really mean when they say things. I think if I had to spend time in that country, I would need someone like this helping me!

I was pondering this title and to me it feels like it represents the fault lines in our life and how things can change along those points. For this character, it was her time in the US and then deciding to return to Japan, thinking about a new relationship, her singing career, all of those things can change the course of her life. It also can reference fault lines in one relationship, like the one with her husband.

This was an amazing debut and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

"For a long time, the beautiful Tokyo sunset set me on a downward spiral, everything about it promising excitement, and intimacy and life, but not for me. I preferred to be firmly indoors while the sun worked its magic across the sky, cooking, bathing the children, so night could fall without me noticing and the evenings of cleaning up by myself were just an extension of my days. Now, though, something's changed and the promise the sunset suggest doesn't seem to exclude me. The sun starts to set and the air is electric with possibility, and now I can feel it too."

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for a copy of this book. Fault Lines was moving and beautiful, and I found myself stopping to read and reread passages for the beautiful prose. This novel is ostensibly about a housewife in Tokyo having an affair, and like any character forward novel, it's hard to identify a lot of specific plot developments, so some might say that "nothing happens" in this book.

But this book made me feel and reflect. It's a book about choices and how life moves forward with the choices we make, no matter how much we might think about different ones. Mizuki feels trapped, ignored by her husband and constantly needed by her children. Though she loves them dearly, she wonders if she's simply made up a persona of who she is. So she goes looking for herself again.

I was also reminded of how refreshing it can be to read outside simply a dominantly Western writing tradition. So much of Western fiction writing operates on the show don't tell rule, and sometimes, as a result, literary fiction feels like a series of actions and tiny details that I'm supposed to put together into a symbolic whole. Fault Lines is very much a "telling" novel, but not in an overdone way. We know how Mizuki feels, but we also feel the city responding to her. We also see her children responding to her. Something about the novel just doesn't feel so caged in by certain literary fiction expectations.

Mizuki is a traditional Japanese housewife. She lives a comfortable life in Tokyo with her husband and their two young children. Her life is centered around serving the needs of her family. The older she gets, the further away she is from her once free-spirited and rebellious life. Before getting married, she lived in New York City and became a singer in local clubs. Once she realized her singing career had no great future, she married Tatsuya. After a good start in their marriage, Tatsuya is now consumed with his job and has little time for Mizuki. A chance encounter with Kiyoshi, a successful restauranteur who she develops a friendship with, brings back her lost exuberance towards life. Kiyoshi is romantically interested in Mizuki and she cannot deny her excitement each time she sees him. It’s a real dilemma that most Japanese housewives would never contemplate.

Fault Lines is primarily a stream of consciousness from Mizuki as she tries to cope with her life, which is not giving her the satisfaction she craves. The reader can feel her struggles. It is an interesting look into the Japanese culture and what society expects of its women. The writing is lovely and author Emily Itami often brings a sense of humor to Mizuki’s day-to-day, tiresome existence. It will surprise readers that this is the author’s debut.

While the culture may be different, the feelings of questioning the life you chose is universal.

Fault Lines tells the story of Mitzuki, a Japanese housewife and mother. Mitzuki loves her husband and children but begins to question her life. Is this all there is? Is she missing out? Then she meets someone and that leads to her questioning her life even more. What I liked about this book was the glimpse into the culture and lives of people in Tokyo. Thanks to Netgalley for my arc.

A beautiful look at life, love,arrangement and motherhood on modern Tokhp. I loved all of the cultural descriptions as the main character struggles with her choices as a wife and mother. Wonderful.

This was just so refreshing in its intimacy, its honesty and it also felt so unique to me. It is hard to be so introspective and yet perfectly funny! I hesitate to call this self-aggrandizing or even self-deprecating but I felt like Mizuki's mind melded with my own and I enjoyed every page. I cannot recommend this book enough!

Fault Lines comes out next week on September 7, 2020, you can purchase HERE! This book is SO good!!

Is it normal to fluctuate so quickly between feeling tender toward your husband and fervently wishing him a violent death?

Wow, what a great debut by Emily Itami!

Fault Lines is told through the eyes of Mitzuki, a Japanese housewife who has everything she could want in life but still finds herself unhappy. Her husband, Tatsuya, has been distant due to the pressures and demands of his career which leaves Mtzuki to pick up the slack with the household chores and their children. One night Mitzuki has a chance encounter with a dashing man which makes her feel alive and seen for the first time in a long time.

This book was equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. The themes of motherhood, marriage and mourning your past self are something that I think a lot of readers will relate to. Each chapter felt so honest that it almost felt like listening to a friend confiding in you. I also liked how real all of the characters felt. There were no bad people in this story, just flawed people trying their best while also making some poor decisions. While there are plenty of moments filled with melancholy there are also moments of lightheartedness that left me chuckling. Also, the way Emily described Tokyo made me want to immediately pack my bags and head there. This is a story that is absolutely worth checking out!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, William Morrow and Custom House Publishing, and Emily Itami for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. Fault Lines by Emily Itami is available on September 7!

Domestic tranquility. How do you achieve that?
In Fault Lines Mizuki, a Japanese housewife, ponders the state of her marriage and her domestic decisions. She is not a happy woman.
She describes Japanese culture and the stresses her husband endures. She is lonely and has a chance meeting with the exciting Kiyoshi. In her inner dialogue (there's a lot of inner dialogue!) we see her struggle. Will she stay with her husband or take a chance on Kiyoshi?
I enjoyed this peak into Tokyo, its customs and food. The title Fault Lines is a multi-layered hint as to everyone’s breaking point or staying point.
Thank you #netgalley and #bookclubgirl for an advanced copy of #faultlines.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Mizuki is one of the most relatable women I’ve ever read. As someone who has spent the better part of a decade as a stay at home mom and wife to a husband who works too many hours, nothing rang more true than the deep, earth shattering feelings, dreams, and fears felt by Mizuki.

•The person you once couldn’t get enough of, who knew you best, is suddenly a stranger that you can’t stand in your bed.
•Your children have syphoned every ounce of the zeal you once had for life out of you while completely eclipsing your identity: that unique person you were before these people became all your days consisted of.
•And as much as you love them all, the pull of the “what if” and the longing to rediscover yourself can be stronger.

Mizuki is discovering that there are pivotal decisions made which reverberate throughout our lives, exposing our fault lines, and threatening to devastate everything in their path.

I have more sections highlighted from this book than any other I’ve read this month. Beautiful gems of wisdom, thoughts/fears eloquently composed in a way that resonates with all aching hearts, and epiphanies I didn’t realize I needed.

The writing is superb; Itami takes you into the streets of Tokyo, the sounds, smells, sites, and exhilaration of the city enveloping you. The characters are complex and so wonderfully developed that Mizuki felt like an old friend I’ve known forever by the time I reached the back cover. I genuinely laughed and cried and enjoyed every moment of this book. I picked it up to read late this morning and I was finished well before bed.

You’ll have plenty to ponder about life, and love, and the impalpable definition of happiness.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did not love this book. I thought I would, and I wanted to, based on the plot; a woman, married with kids, wondering how she got there and what she was missing. But the writing was hard for me - it felt like there were pages and pages of nothing, then a little drama, then more pages of nothing happening. The writing was meandering, and chapters ended abruptly and then moved into a completely different chapter, The main character, Mizuki, experienced some growth, but that whole situation could have been fleshed out better.

It was a quick read, though, and I really enjoyed all of the references to Japanese culture and Tokyo.

Mizuki is the narrator and, through her, we learn all about her present day life as a SAHM of two young children and wife of a Japanese salaryman. She and her husband have been together for a long time and he seems to really be more focused on his work life. The book also explores Mizuki’s childhood and pre-married life when she lived in the US for a time, and then worked as a professional singer upon her return to Japan.
While her kids are in school, Mizuki has a part time job as a consultant for non-Japanese business people to help them understand and acclimate to life in Japan. Through this work, we learn about the many (very many) “rules” of life in Japan that are observed/not understood by the average American visitor.
The essence of the book is about a woman struggling with her roles as a wife and mother, and her attempt to determine if she can have more in her life. Motherhood and infidelity are common story lines, but Fault Lines brings a unique element (at least for the non-Japanese reader) with its overlay of Japanese culture and life.
Fault Lines has an interesting story and characters and is beautifully written. I was intrigued by the insider view of life in Japan and, Tokyo in particular. Overall, a very strong debut novel and I look forward to see what Ms. Itami publishes in the future.
Thanks to the Book Club Girl Early Read Program, HarpersCollins Publishers, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Fault Lines in exchange for an honest review.

Some books grab you in the first sentence or paragraph and some take their time to get you immersed into the story. This book is not one that grabs at you but instead it slowly and gently tugs at you until you need to keep reading to find out where and how this story will end. You already have decided it will not end well but you won’t be prepared for the actual ending or will you?

I kept thinking back to to poet Carl Sandberg’s The Fog.

“The fog comes
on little cat’s feet.

It sits looking
over on harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.”

I think it was because this story just very quietly crept up on me and I just waited for the train wreck that, well, Mizuki seemed to headed toward. She is a wife and a mother who doesn’t feel successful as either. Her husband works hard, maybe too hard, and is rarely present and when he is he is still distant. She questions whether she is a good mother to her two children who are 10 and 4. Maybe she shouldn’t have married. Maybe she should have gone back to New York and kept her barely there singing career alive. Maybe, maybe….

Such a wonderfully portrayed picture of a life. Nicely written and truly enjoyed.

Thank you to The #Book Club Girls, #NetGalley, Custom House,# HarperCollins Publishers and the author Emily Itami.

This was such a unique book. I feel like I got a brief glimpse into Mizuki's life. But it's such an honor to see into that life.

Perhaps I feel that I can relate to Mizuki being that I'm also a "stay at home" parent. It's a on-going inner battle within yourself. Some days I feel exhausted. Just the unbelievable feeling that I'm doing the same things again and again. I pick up the same toys multiple times a day. I do the dishes and the laundry and keep the house running - trying to keep things tidy more for my own sense of inner order than anything else. And it's just so mundane sometimes. Throw in a pandemic and you really start to pull your hair out. I'm trying to teach my 4.5 year old how to write and basic math and I feel fully ill-equipped to become a preschool teacher to my own children.

I digress. So, Mizuki and her struggle over her purpose? I'm there, I feel her. I felt seen. The tug-of-war between wanting to be the perfect mother and not wanting to do it all is always present. Some days it's harder than others. Add to that a marriage marred by disinterest and work addiction and you've got yourself quite the situation.

I can't express how much I loved the ending to this novel. I don't know it felt like such a sweet honor to glimpse into this time in her life. A time when she was remembering herself and her interests. A time when she allowed herself to have fun again; to care for her children but also grant herself permission to be Mizuki. It's a story about her finding herself again. And I'm here for it.

This is an elegant debut novel that asks the question - when does an affair begin? Mizuki has a salaryman husband, two kids, a lovely apartment and a vague sense of dissatisfaction that she struggles to ignore. When she meets a man who encourages her curious spirit, she finds herself walking a tightrope between duty and yearning. Her journey is complicated - there are no good people or bad people, just real people making real decisions for better or for worse. An honest story.

First of all, thank you to The Book Club Girls and Harper Collins for the arc of this book.

The story follows Mizuki, a Japanese housewife to a hardworking husband and mother to two adorable children. She has everything a woman could want, yet sometimes she wonders whether she would rather throw herself off the high-rise balcony than spend another evening not talking to her husband and hanging up laundry.

Then, one rainy night, she meets Kiyoshi, a successful restaurateur. In him, she rediscovers freedom, friendship, and the neon, electric pulse of the city she has always loved. But the further she falls into their relationship, the clearer it becomes that she is living two lives—and in the end, she can only chose one.

I struggled with reading this book for a couple of different reasons. One, I fluctuated between being bored because nothing really happened--it was not until chapter 9 or so that she met Kiyoshi and then it was just for brief encounters in the book and back to the main character complaining about her life and she was a failure--and times when I could relate to what she was feeling--in a marriage with a spouse who does not see or hear you, wondering what would have happened if I had made different choices as a young adult. Second, I felt lost in Japanese culture. This I will attribute to my own ignorance. I did pick on some references due to reading other books but others left me lost in the translation. Third, I just felt like the book never really resolved anything nor did I feel like she grew in any way.

Fun and short, this book focuses on Mizuki, a Japanese housewife of two children. She lives a pretty comfortable life, although her hardworking husband is often absent. And she gets a little bored. This book deals with relationships, adultery, and how marriages sometimes grow a bit stale.

I can't remember the last time I highlighted so many passages in a novel. Emily Itami has a very bright future ahead of her.

Mizuki is a Japanese housewife and mother of two children. Her husband is a hardworking man that works long hours but he's a good husband and father. She has everything she could ever ask for so why is she so unhappy?

"Is it normal to fluctuate so quickly between feeling tender toward your husband and fervently wishing him a violent death?"

After a decade of marriage she feels invisible. Her husband rarely looks at her anymore and their sex life is non-existent. She never imagined getting married and having children would be so lonely. She feels as if she gave up all her hopes and dreams to play a doting housewife and that is the last thing she ever wanted to become.

"Some days I can't quite work out how I got here; I opted for the guy, I opted for the kids, I just didn't realize that meant waving goodbye to everything else."

So when she has a random encounter with an attractive man she is instantly captivated by the attention he showers her. He really listens to her, they banter and laugh easily with one another and she finds that she is not only sexually attracted to this man but she has also become emotionally attached to him which makes her feelings even more complicated. Deep down she knows what she is doing is wrong but she is too weak to fight it.

"I love being able to tell him exactly what I'm thinking. Not having to put it through the good-parenting filter I use for my children, or the perpetual war communication calculations I do with Tatsu, or the edited, rose-tinted truth I feed my mother."

I have a feeling many women are going to be able to relate to Mizuki as I know I certainly did. There have been days that I resent my husband, that my kid drives me out of my mind, and it takes every bit of my patience just to hold it together and not scream at the top of my lungs. If you've ever had days like that then this is one to pick up. Mizuki is also incredibly witty and funny which helps alleviate any sense of gloom a book about infidelity could inevitably have. I found the ending fitting and satisfying. All in all this is a wonderful debut that shouldn't be missed. 4.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for my copy.