Fault Lines: Shortlisted for the 2021 Costa First Novel Award

Product Information

I carried this with me when we went to Seattle but was unable to read much at all as I was too worried and distracted. Her relationship with Kiyoshi deepens, and as their relationship wanders into different territory, Mizuki begins to question everything she thought always kept her grounded and the choices that have left her in this predicament.

This is among my favorite of her books so far- in part because it explores the idea of who we are when we are not in our regular context. True, Itami captures the magic of Tokyo and makes it part of the couple’s relationship, complete with cherry blossoms, tiny bars and excellent food. A brilliant novel about the frustrations of motherhood and marriage, made all the more interesting for being set in Japan.I thought this was a really interesting discussion about family, expectations and motherhood – especially the ending chosen by Itami. Merrick slowly realizes that she needs to start taking care of herself too, but it is a long, wild, journey. Narrated by Mizuki, a lounge singer turned housewife, the novel instantly immerses the reader in the frustration and disappointment of its protagonist. Regular afternoon rendezvous with Kiyoshi shake her free from a stilted existence, and it quickly becomes clear she is in deep ( "[T]he smell of his skin, the feel of his hair under my fingers and I don't care about anything else on earth.

Mizuki is resentful and justifies her affair with the intoxicating Kiyoshi as revenge for her husband's own extra-marital affairs, disdain and neglect. 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.I think I’m not into the entire concept of romance and cheating, which is why I wasn’t catching on to this book as much as I wanted to. Itami’s narrator tells us late in the book about a revelatory year spent perfecting her English in America. At the age of thirty she married Heyward Siddons, and she and her husband lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and spent summers in Maine. I would recommend to some who likes a better class of chic-lit with a half-decent language style and more concerned about feelings than fashion. When she catches the interest of a handsome restaurateur, she is unable to resist the advances of a man who actually "thought about the answers to the questions I asked him and looked right at me when he replied.