Fault Lines
I can’t believe this is a debut novel. Well done, Emily Itami! There are authors whose vivid prose paints the setting and characters so beautifully that you’re immediately immersed in the story, taken away to another place, and this was one of those books for me. I have to confess though - it was actually the cover that first got me. How gorgeous is that? Luckily the inside was just as wonderful.
Told from her POV, Mizuki has been married to salaryman, Tatsuya, for sixteen years and they and their two children, 10-year-old daughter Eri, and 4-year-old son Aki live in a very nice Tokyo apartment. As happens in marriage sometimes, and exacerbated by Tatsuya’s high stress, time intensive position and her frustrations as a wife and mother, they’ve grown more and more distant. When she encounters handsome stranger Kiyoshi one day … life gets a little more complicated.
At its core, this is a story of a woman struggling as a wife and mother and trying to find comfort and emotional connection, or even just remember who she was in her pre-marriage life. For some it may seem that Mizuki’s behavior is somehow being justified or romanticized, but I really appreciated that her portrayal and that of her marriage, felt honest. She wasn’t always written in the most flattering light, but I always felt like she was “real”. You could understand her motivations whether you agreed with how she pursued them or not.
Borrowing the title’s imagery - the story beautifully illustrates the fault lines that are hidden under the surface of any relationship - the things that can shake us and break us if we’re not prepared. While that may sound like a depressing premise, I assure you that this is not some emotionally overwrought melodrama - far from it. Mizuki is sarcastic and blunt. There’s so much humor and warmth in this story, and I appreciated that the slow-build relationship between her and Kiyoshi focused far more on their friendship than the expected stuff.
It’s a wonderful story - start to finish. This will be in my 2021 favorites, and I’ll definitely be watching for anything Itami writes in the future. I can find no fault here!
★★★★★ ❤️
Told from her POV, Mizuki has been married to salaryman, Tatsuya, for sixteen years and they and their two children, 10-year-old daughter Eri, and 4-year-old son Aki live in a very nice Tokyo apartment. As happens in marriage sometimes, and exacerbated by Tatsuya’s high stress, time intensive position and her frustrations as a wife and mother, they’ve grown more and more distant. When she encounters handsome stranger Kiyoshi one day … life gets a little more complicated.
At its core, this is a story of a woman struggling as a wife and mother and trying to find comfort and emotional connection, or even just remember who she was in her pre-marriage life. For some it may seem that Mizuki’s behavior is somehow being justified or romanticized, but I really appreciated that her portrayal and that of her marriage, felt honest. She wasn’t always written in the most flattering light, but I always felt like she was “real”. You could understand her motivations whether you agreed with how she pursued them or not.
Borrowing the title’s imagery - the story beautifully illustrates the fault lines that are hidden under the surface of any relationship - the things that can shake us and break us if we’re not prepared. While that may sound like a depressing premise, I assure you that this is not some emotionally overwrought melodrama - far from it. Mizuki is sarcastic and blunt. There’s so much humor and warmth in this story, and I appreciated that the slow-build relationship between her and Kiyoshi focused far more on their friendship than the expected stuff.
It’s a wonderful story - start to finish. This will be in my 2021 favorites, and I’ll definitely be watching for anything Itami writes in the future. I can find no fault here!
★★★★★ ❤️
Many thanks to William Morrow and Custom House Publishing, Netgalley and author Emily Itami for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. It’s due for publication September 7, 2021.
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