This is Ms. Itami’s debut novel.

Awww I was excited to be reading a story about Tokyo and the Japanese culture at the same time that I am watching the Summer Olympics!!

Our protagonist Mizuki, is a Japanese housewife and mother. She is devoted to her young children and her workaholic husband but is starting to feel that she wants more for herself. She misses her time in America where she was a student and then a singer.
She meets Kiyoshi a restaurateur. She soon finds herself very much enjoying her time with him.

Mizuki’s dry wit had me laughing out loud.
But. . . . .
I know I am in the minority but I found her unlikeable most of the time. I am not a fan of f-bombs nor reading a story about cheating..
Obvious that I am not the right audience for this story but it found many readers who love it!!

I do want to thank Book Club Girl Early Read, NetGalley, and HarperCollins, for this early eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for the August book club review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 28, 2021

Mizuki has a perfect life in Tokyo. She has a successful husband, two beautiful children,and a lovely apartment ,so why is she so unhappy and depressed? She has spent time, in her youth, in the States. She yearns for the uninhibited societal freedoms the States provide. How did she end up tied to the strict social rules and customs of her home country? This story is about her path to self discovery. It is effectively told in the first person, as Mizuki reveals her thoughts and actions to the reader. I enjoyed this book a lot. The story was relatable to women everywhere. Mizuki wasn’t the perfect wife and mother that a rigid society expects. But that was the point of FAULT LINES.

the story of a mother in Tokyo struggling to reconcile the good life she has - kids, successful husband, nice apartment, with happiness. What will make her happy if everything she has doesn't? And what will she have to give up to pursue this happiness?

Thanks for the ARC NetGalley! A sassy and blunt dive into married life with children. I couldn’t put it down, Mizuki’s internal dialogue was intriguing and read truthfully as she explored the choices that have determined her life's path. Bonus, it takes place in Tokyo where the 2021 Summer Olympics are taking place right now! The author describes different aspects of life, culture and the book includes many details about the city itself. Recommend.

Oh, how I loved this book. Mizuki is a Japanese housewife, who's husband works extremely long hours and who has two children that demand all her attention. Her life is good. But sometimes she thinks her husband doesn't love her anymore. He is always distracted by his phone and his job, and she's not sure what to do about it. Then Mizuki meets Kiyoshi by chance. and that chance meeting turns into something far more in depth and complicated. Mizuki isn't sure what to do about it--and then a freak accident changes the way she sees everything. I loved this book so much. I felt so connected to Mizuki, whether because I am married and a mom or just because I understand as a woman what she was thinking and feeling. I absolutely cannot wait to read Emily Itami's next book!

this novel was well-written but i don't think it was really for me. i would recommend it to someone i think would enjoy it. 3.5/5 stars.

As a mother, I found this book relatable in its description of the struggles with motherhood: the sense of a loss of self, the boredom and frustration. I did find the main character quite selfish and did not like some of the choices she made. I enjoyed the view into Japanese mother culture.

A 21st-century woman struggling to surrender to traditional expectations, Mizuki stands on a precipice. Exploring the unknown world below her hi-rise apartment, romance rekindles her confidence and unwinds her tightly-held heart. Possibilities appear where she saw only hard surfaces. As the ground shifts beneath the city, she understands exactly where she belongs.

Emily Itami's Mizuki is self-deprecating and beautifully observant. Her lyrical descriptions contrast nicely with deft dramatic scenes. I particularly enjoyed the parts of Tokyo a tourist will never see, especially scenes of performative motherhood and society's impossible demand for a perfection. Luckily, Itami writes children with a wry and humorous eye, keeping them adorably flawed and loveable.

A delicious dive into glittering secret Tokyo with its many tense contrasts, Fault Lines is a surprisingly substantial confection. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a sparkling romantic adventure.

Fault Lines is filled with beautiful prose and imagery set in Tokyo told through the perspective of Mizuki, a thirty-something Japanese housewife who begins to resent her domestic life. Mizuki has always been an unconventional Japanese woman and in her youth she spent a year in the U.S. as an exchange student. Mizuki has a workaholic husband who takes her for granted, but he is a good provider for her and their two young children. Even still, she can't help but feel that she is failing miserably at her chosen life. A chance encounter with a successful restauranteur reignites Mizuki's free spirited soul. Together they explore the city they both love and develop a forbidden friendship that turns into a clandestine affair. This is a bittersweet love story as Mizuki must choose between love and happiness. For she cannot have both. A beautiful story about marriage, motherhood, and finding yourself again. I enjoyed reading this immensely and would highly recommend. Emily Itami has a gift for storytelling and I am looking forward to reading more works from this first time author. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for the arc of Fault Lines in exchange for an honest review.

Fault lines by emily itami
⭐⭐⭐/5

"From now on I'm going to be happy , shut up all my demons and make everyone around me smile "

Fault lines is a relatively relatable short read about a Japanese woman who in her own right, feels neglected by her workaholic husband . She feels invisible and unseen by this man she has children with . Despite her daily care for her children. Their home and him ; shes left feeling bored in her mundane existence.
She meets and quickly falls for another man who shows her all the right feelings of being a woman . A man who listens to her . Unlike her husband.
Whats a woman to do . She finds happiness in this man . Now what ?

Find out for yourself ! Pick up a copy when it releases and you wont be disappointed.

Sprinkled with authentic Japanese culture, and funny bits and pieces; this was a great fast weekend read !

Fault Lines is a beautiful insight to the always impressive Japanese culture. The story is told from the perspective of Mizuki, a Japanese housewife and mother, who has become extremely bored with her life. As a teenager she was an exchange student in New York City. Perhaps, living in America depleted her identity as a Japanese woman. She speaks more of her mind and demands a little more than most. Had she never gone to America, maybe she would have continued to be more traditional. Maybe.

When she meets the successful Kyoshi, a restaurateur, they begin a whirlwind of a romance. Not much is told to us about Kyoshi and not much time is spent on the development of their relationship. I agree with another reviewer who said, he really didn’t matter. He could have been anyone. It was the thought, the excitement of all it that Mizuki needed.

There were so many things that I could relate to within these pages. My husband has worked for a Japanese company for almost 30 years and has been to Japan over 36 times. I have met the Japanese when they come to America and I have learned so much about their culture. And I enjoyed reading about it and actually understanding it.

And Mizuki? She was realistically funny. As a mother who gave up her career to stay home and take care of her family, many of her thoughts I have had myself. While I never envied or needed an affair the feelings of losing yourself are very, very real.

I enjoyed this read for numerous reasons. Great debut novel.

A bored and frazzled housewife with a busy and uninterested husband embarks on a doomed relationship with a successful businessman. This novel honestly depicts the daily life and inner thoughts of being a wife, a mother, and a woman.

While the synopsis references Sally Rooney as a comparison, I found this book funnier and more compulsively readable. It’s a witty and incisive look at modern motherhood, and a delightful peek inside Japanese culture for those of us who are less familiar. The narrator, Mizuki was born in rural Japan, but an exchange to the United States in high school and then returning to live in New York for several years trying to become a singer, has perhaps become too American to easily sublimate to the structures of modern Japanese society. Or perhaps she was always that way, and that’s why she ended up in New York? As she realizes that her singing career isn’t progressing (or perhaps she decides not to progress it?) she meets her husband, a Japanese salaryman, and falls into her life as a housewife with two young children.

We meet Mizuki as she hits her breaking point. She’s too American (or too herself) to feel totally comfortable in Japan, and too Japanese to be anywhere else. Her past gives her a connection to another world where she used to live, and as she becomes increasingly frustrated with the mundanity of her life, her husband who works all the time, and being a “bad” Japanese mom, she gets a peek into what her life could be like if she were willing to walk away.

Mizuki is at once a hilarious, frustrating, smart, and deeply sad narrator, as she understandably chafes against her formulaic life. Her romance with cosmopolitan restauranteur Kiyoshi isn’t developed particularly well, in large part, I think, because it doesn’t really matter who he is. It’s the idea of him—of the life he represents, the escape, that really matters. In the end, she is left with the question: can I live this life with a husband I think I love (or loved once) but frustrates me, and children I love but am not sure I am enough for? Can I walk away? Can I have this life and have me too?

I loved the idea of this book. It sounded so good from the synopsis, and I feel it was well written. I just couldn’t connect with the story as much as I’d hoped.

I would try other books by this author, but unfortunately this one didn't work for me.

This was a well written novel and I enjoyed reading it, however I didn't get absorbed into Mizuki's life. While I loved all of the Japanese cultural and language references which I found accurate, the novel was lacking for me in other ways. I never felt much for Mizuki. While some novels draw in the reader and make one feel like a participant (so involved and invested does the reader become); this novel didn't pull me in. I felt like a critical observer and believe it's because there wasn't quite enough development of Mizuki's personality or of her relationships with Kiyoshi and Tatsu for me to feel emotionally connected to the plot.
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Fault Lines is a compelling narrative of both marriage and motherhood, and the expectations people set upon themselves. I appreciated the insight into the Japanese culture that the author gave us, and the beautiful descriptions of the setting. It provided an intriguing escape into the world of the protagonist, Mizuki. While I don't think this novel is necessarily apt for a high school crowd, I'd be more than happy to recommend it to staff.

I loved the idea of this book. It sounded so good from the synopsis, but I couldn't get into it. I ended up putting it down at 30%

I would try other books by this author, but unfortunately this one didn't work for me.

Watashi wa hon ga daisuki desu!

I love Japanese culture so this book was a win from the start. Perfection from the cherry blossoms on the beautiful cover, to the Tokyo setting, and everything in between, I loved it beyond just the plot.

I’ll forgo the summary in lieu of expressing my appreciation for the exceptional tone and prose.

Despite the solemn subjects of adultery and suicide, there was a lightness to the main character’s self critique. Infusing wit into the daily life of a Japanese wife and mother, Mizuki was written with warmth and humor in contrast to the not so nice aspect of her adulterous affair.

It’s an interesting juxtaposition as I felt empathy and even liked her. Did I mention that she was funny? Her character driven unique observations ignited more than a few snort fests in an otherwise somber conundrum.

Descriptions of Tokyo, Mizuki’s fabulous French comrades, and fashion week were additional positives for me and heightened an already wonderful reading experience.

As an aside, I had to smile at the mention of a weight loss diet of natto and grated yam because if anything could dim my appetite, it would be natto. I love Japanese food with this being an exception.

Not a Western staple, it’s a bland looking tan paste of fermented soy beans. The sour taste defies its tame appearance and the slimy raw egg texture isn’t easily endured.

In my one experience, and attempting not to offend my hosts, I forced myself to eat a portion (for breakfast no less) and then hid the remainder under some rice claiming I was full. Friends told me later that it’s an acquired taste and not everyone is a fan.

Back to the review, this is the type of book I always hope to stubble on.

I loved this and Emily Itami is now a ‘must read’ author so I hope for future offerings.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Custom House for my electronic review copy in advance of publication on September 28, 2021.