Fault Lines: Shortlisted for the 2021 Costa First Novel Award

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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. If you’re interested in mothers’ perspectives, Japanese culture, or just discovering a new literary talent, it’s well worth the short time investment to read this story. I don’t think this is going to be for everyone, particularly not those who need something to *happen* in a story, nor for those who will feel frustrated at first-world problems and an upper middle class housewife’s ennui. She has a beautiful home and family that most people dream of, and her husband, while distant, is a good man. As a new mom and wife, it was easy to connect with the pangs of longing Mizuki felt throughout the novel as she contemplated all she had but all she'd had to give up to get there.

The truth about my platonic Tokyo expeditions with Kiyoshi, obviously, is that I was out of my depth, and I knew it at the time, even though I refused to admit it to myself. 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? Fault Lines is full of laugh-out-loud, irreverent humor, as well as heartstoppingly poignant, yet seemingly incidental, wisdom. Her husband abides by the cultural expectations, working hard every day and barely seeing their two children, Aki and Eri. Every line here is razor-sharp, chosen with precision, resulting in a deceptively clever, emotionally wise and truly heartbreaking novel.

I think it is obvious: much depends on who taught Emily Itami to speak English in the first place: one of her British parents? By warning, well before the crisis, that financial innovation was making the world riskier, Rajan had already proved he was no cheerleader for “markets know best”. Ultimately, Mitzuki realises that she will have to make some incredibly difficult choices and sacrifices, and which ever ones she makes, it means that she has to compromise again for the sake of her family. When Merritt's daughter flees to California, on the heels of a family rupture, Merritt finds herself a fish out of water on the west coast and begins to like the possibilities of a life away from the unworkable sameness of Atlanta.

In him, she rediscovers freedom, friendship, a voice, and the neon, electric pulse of the city she has always loved. If you’ve ever wondered how exactly you ended up where you did in life, or realized your teenage self would never have imagined this for you, I think this book will really hit home. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. 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. What follows is a narrative that shifts between a hedonistic affair that plays out among the backdrop of Tokyo’s most alluring and evocative corners, and the familiarity of a life that offers safety, comfort and dissatisfaction.While that may sound like a depressing premise, I assure you that this is not some emotionally overwrought melodrama - far from it.

With Fault Lines, Karl Pillemer courageously rappels into the deep social crevice created by these devastating rifts. Chronic, seemingly intractable estrangement blights many families in our stressed and fragmented culture. She and her husband Tatsu seem to have hit a communicative brick wall, both exhausted and lacking enjoyment in their lives. It’s really hard to tell you all how much I loved Fault Lines, because I want you to read it to see for yourselves. Then things begin to happen in California and Merritt meets and is attracted to the caretaker at a mountain place.

Life takes her by surprise however, when it thrusts the enigmatic and kind Kiyoshi in her path, an entrepreneurial restaurateur who REALLY sees her, exactly for the whole person she is.