Genre Fiction
![Emily Itami - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_emily_itami.jpg)
Fault Lines: A Novel
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
"What is the cost of a mother's desire?...Emily Itami explores this question with wit and poignancy." -- New York Times Book Review
"The perfect marriage of Sally Rooney and early Murakami." -- Kathy Wang, author of Impostor Syndrome
Mizuki is a Japanese housewife. She has a hardworking husband, two adorable children, and a beautiful Tokyo apartment. It's 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, we can choose only one.
Funny, provocative, and startlingly honest, Fault Lines is for anyone who has ever looked in the mirror and asked, who am I and how did I get here? A bittersweet love story and a piercing portrait of female identity, it introduces Emily Itami as a debut novelist with astounding resonance and wit.
"What is the cost of a mother's desire?...Emily Itami explores this question with wit and poignancy." -- New York Times Book Review
"The perfect marriage of Sally Rooney and early Murakami." -- Kathy Wang, author of Impostor Syndrome
Mizuki is a Japanese housewife. She has a hardworking husband, two adorable children, and a beautiful Tokyo apartment. It's 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, we can choose only one.
Funny, provocative, and startlingly honest, Fault Lines is for anyone who has ever looked in the mirror and asked, who am I and how did I get here? A bittersweet love story and a piercing portrait of female identity, it introduces Emily Itami as a debut novelist with astounding resonance and wit.
Editorial Reviews
"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...
"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...
Readers Top Reviews
HeatherK. Symond
The pacing, prose, story … all of it is exactly what I’d been looking for in a book and didn’t realize. Would buy her next book in a heartbeat. Bravo debut.
Michelle HeatherK
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.
Rebecca MunroMich
It was a quick but good read. Mizuki is a housewife in Tokyo, Japan. She has a loving husband, two cute children and in a short a beautiful life. She is not happy and wants more out of life. She meets Kiyoshi, who owns restaurants and sees another side of life. With Kiyoshi her life is filled with fun and excitement. She gets to the point where she is leading a double life and must, of course select one. The book points out the pros and cons of each. Emily Itami skillfully navigates this so you feel like you are in Mizuki's mind.
Lucy weldonHiggin
A lovely visit to a different and slightly strange culture. Still marriage and children are much the same. A magical story.
