Fault Lines Summary
Itami, Emily

Fault Lines Overview

In Emily Itami's novel Fault Lines, first person narrator Mizuki recounts her love affair with Kiyoshi in an attempt to understand what love is, and how to be happy. As a housewife and mother of two young children living in Tokyo, Japan, Mizuki often feels trapped by her circumstances. When she meets Kiyoshi, she sees him as an escape from her stifling domestic reality. Over the course of the novel, she must decide which version of herself is the truest, and which versions of love and happiness are most sustainable. The novel explores themes including, entrapment, happiness, and fate.