Fault lines : a novel / Emily Itami.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

In Itami's thoughtful debut, an affluent and disaffected Tokyo housewife and mother has an affair and reflects on her life choices. At 16, Mizuki travels from her rural Japanese province to New York City to spend a year in an American high school, where she learns to be assertive and pursues an interest in music. Back in Japan, she struggles in school, raging against her "stupid, archaic system of letters," and returns to New York, where she spends another three years and sings in a band. She continues her rebellious music career back in Tokyo, until she despairs from a lack of financial security and marries Tatsuya. After a decade of a loving marriage and two children, Tatsuya starts coming home cranky and distracted after long hours at work. He loves their two young children, but doesn't help with their upbringing; he treats Mizuki with disdain. Mizuki then becomes fast friends with charming restaurateur Teramoto Kiyoshi, with whom she's able to share her Americanized perspective. She initially resists her attraction to him, but their friendship soon blossoms into a romance. While a somewhat pat ending feels unworthy of the novel's provocative premise, Itami makes palpable Mizuki's loneliness and her need to feel seen. Itami's brave, frank portrayal of Japan's societal expectations of women is worth a look. Agent: Kirsty McLachlan, Morgan Green Creatives. (Sept.)

Booklist Review

Mizuki is the quintessential Japanese housewife with the ideal life. Her husband receives regular promotions, they have two beautiful children, and they live in a comfortable high-rise apartment in the city. Though outwardly she meets the cultural standard for motherhood, inside she struggles with the desire for freedom. Her brief time in New York as a single woman, first as a student and then as a singer, was her only experience away from her cultural expectations. When she meets Kiyoshi during a night out with her friends, he gives her the ticket to autonomy. As their relationship grows, Mizuki takes part in the vibrant city life and feels more like an individual rather than an invisible housewife. Soon, she begins to lead two starkly different lifestyles, and when her adulterous affair begins to clash with her sense of duty, she is forced to reassess her marriage and make a critical decision. Through clever narration and humorously witty prose, Itami explores the struggle between duty and desire, and Western and Eastern cultures, in her brilliant debut.