Review: Fault Lines by Emily Itami

Fault Lines by Emily Itami

Blurb from Goodreads:

Combining the incisive intimacy of Sally Rooney with the sharp wit of Helen Fielding, a compulsively readable and astonishingly relatable debut novel about marriage, motherhood, love, self and the vibrant, surprising city that is modern Tokyo

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.

This was just so refreshing in its intimacy, its honesty and it also felt so unique to me.  It is hard to be so introspective and yet perfectly funny!  I hesitate to call this self-aggrandizing or even self-deprecating but I felt like Mizuki's mind melded with my own and I enjoyed every page.  I cannot recommend this book enough!

Fault Lines comes out next week on September 7, 2020, you can purchase HERE!  This book is SO good!!

Is it normal to fluctuate so quickly between feeling tender toward your husband and fervently wishing him a violent death?