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I wish I could give this 4 1/2 stars!
Fault Lines by Emily Itami
213 pages
What’s it about?
Mizuki has chosen to stay at home after she had children. She lives in a beautiful high rise in Tokyo with her well-providing husband and two great children- so why does it all feel so hard?
What did it make me think about?
Is there any life change that is more all encompassing than parenthood? And wow Japanese culture has a lot of expectations. If you thought America struggles with a work-life balance…
Should I read it?
YES, YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK! Why have I never heard about this one? Thank you to Page One books in Evanston for choosing this story for me. I would have missed it otherwise and it is a gem. It must be so hard to write a book that combines humor with insight- Itami manages this with ease. Pick this one up!
Quote-
“I know I am not the best mommy in the world, because other women- and they don’t even have to be mothers- are constantly, wide-eyed at my parenting faux pas. Other mothers don’t, for example, have to bring their baby home from lunch stark naked because they packed only one spare outfit and the baby managed to poo her way through it, or have the entire elevator system of their apartment building shut down so that maintenance men can rescue their child, who has somehow ended up alone in the elevator and managed to jam the system, I don’t understand how why these things don’t happen to other people.”
“But as soon as the children are born it is blindingly obvious- your heart can’t break unless it has something to love.”
I wish I could give this 4 1/2 stars!
Fault Lines by Emily Itami
213 pages
What’s it about?
Mizuki has chosen to stay at home after she had children. She lives in a beautiful high rise in Tokyo with her well-providing husband and two great children- so why does it all feel so hard?
What did it make me think about?
Is there any life change that is more all encompassing than parenthood? And wow Japanese culture has a lot of expectations. If you thought America struggles with a work-life balance…
Should I read it?
YES, YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK! Why have I never heard about this one? Thank you to Page One books in Evanston for choosing this story for me. I would have missed it otherwise and it is a gem. It must be so hard to write a book that combines humor with insight- Itami manages this with ease. Pick this one up!
Quote-
“I know I am not the best mommy in the world, because other women- and they don’t even have to be mothers- are constantly, wide-eyed at my parenting faux pas. Other mothers don’t, for example, have to bring their baby home from lunch stark naked because they packed only one spare outfit and the baby managed to poo her way through it, or have the entire elevator system of their apartment building shut down so that maintenance men can rescue their child, who has somehow ended up alone in the elevator and managed to jam the system, I don’t understand how why these things don’t happen to other people.”
“But as soon as the children are born it is blindingly obvious- your heart can’t break unless it has something to love.”
This is a cute and sensitively amusing short novel with with plenty of laugh-out loud moments. I really enjoyed Emily Itami’s writing style which is fresh, exciting and poetic. The Tokyo setting was very refreshing with plenty of interesting insights into Japanese culture, and how hard it is for foreigners to infiltrate them.
At the heart of this novel is the exploration of the “what if…” moments in a housewife’s day. So many hours are spent going through the motions of being a full-time parent and homemaker, easily losing sight of one’s personal identity and relationship with one’s spouse. Itami portrays this daily battle through her main character, Mizuki, and the struggle she faces in balancing her deep love for her children, her loyalty of her husband and Japanese culture, and the secret desires of her heart.
Fault lines is brilliantly read by Lydia Wilson, although I did feel that her British accent was a little out of place and a Japanese-American one might have been more suited to the plot.
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