American Fuji

A Worth While Read

This book is wonderful, provided you can ignore the corny romance that stands alone as the plague of the story. There is great description and detail, however, that give one a peek into Japanese culture. Overall, it IS worth while.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Nice Suprise

I began reading this book last night. Before I knew it 60 pages were read! This book is delightful and well written. An easy engrossing read with great character development. I can't wait to continue reading this book tonight.

Loved it -- couldn't stop reading!

American Fuji is funny, touching, charming and thought-provoking. It gives a quirky, entertaining (and at times hilarious!) picture of the American expatriate experience in Japan, but it also captures that peculiar struggle of modern times, where the things we care deeply about are not so much threatened by a grand and glorious evil, but chipped away by the petty, the absurd, and the banal. Loved the characters -- I stayed up too late reading because I couldn't stop until I'd found out how it ended for them. A great read!

An Engaging Story with Fascinating Insights into Japanese Culture through American Eyes

I was not sure I really wanted to read this, but bought it, thinking it would be something different. And it was. The characters are engaging, and the story was a nice change from more usual formulaic novels. The reader also learns a great deal about the nuances of Japanese culture and why Americans have trouble understanding it. But it never feels like an intentional cultural lesson. The culture is part of the fabric of the plot and characters. The book is both funny and poigant. The frequency of information about the main character's illness was sometimes annoying and seemed to be aimed at making readers aware of it. But overall, I found this to be an enlightening, fun read.

A Must Read

Definitely a must read for any "gaijin" who has ever lived in Japan as well as a fine book in its own right for everyone else-beautifully written. Having spent several years in Japan myself under similar circumstances, the quirky characters rang so true for me I'd swear we must have known the same people. I couldn't put it down.

American Fuji

light and silly...probably won't read any more of this authors books

Nice characters and cultural references blended in a fresh way. Plot borders between foreshadowing and being predictable.

The flavor of this book is a little similar to the movie "Lost in Translation," in that Americans happen to meet in Japan and discover some things about their own lives and the culture in which they meet. I enjoyed the book as it was an easy read and held my interest throughout the book by keeping a steady pace. While not entirely predictable, the story was so steady that nothing seemed highly surprising. The author bio probably indicates that she has blended much of her autobiography into the fictional framework of this story.

Excellent book--you will be pleasantly surprised, and hooked

This book will hook you on page one. An unusual heroine, a funny plot, a strange situation, a tense mystery....what's not to love? In fact, I have not picked up a piece of mainstream fiction I've enjoyed this much since CHOCOLAT and WATER FOR ELEPHANTS.

In Japan, the role of the gaigin is a catch-all, doing the jobs no one else wishes to fill ("dishonorable" positions). However, I was really flabbergasted by the treatment they receive, which in America would assuredly be labeled as the worst racist behavior (pointing them out, yelling "foreigner!" foreigner!", being rude to them, purposely confusing them, treating them as second-class citizens).

"Expecting the unexpected" forms the theme of AF. I think this is how life is in Japan for foreigners only--Gaby makes it clear that after about 3 years, one learns to read through the silences and fill in the gaps. A stranger will find much that is "unexpected" when they don't understand the subtle nuances of Japanese communications.

I loved the "romance," if you want to call it that, in this story because it was such an unusual one. Let's face it: how many times will you EVER read of a romance in which a man falls for a woman who is terribly ill? This made the love even more touching and realistic to me. Gaby and Alex are both outsiders. Gaby at first feels like she doesn't want to "play the obligation game" for someone who doesn't even realize he's in it. She feels a bit like an "insider" looking at the foolish "outsider," but slowly they are united through their outsider feelings. His loss of his son, I think, affects her. She understands mourning, in a way. And his need of her is likewise affecting.

I was a bit surprised that the "conspiracy" wasn't really a conspiracy, but I loved the ending, with the long, slow climb up Mount Fuji. It was really deeply visual, and I felt his conclusions changing as he rose.

Sara Backer is, clearly, a masterful writer. I trust her vision, her craft, and her voice, and as a reader I trust her to lead me somewhere magnificent.

Brilliant novel on the difference of cultures and characters

I 'm Japanese living in the wonderful USA and I truly enjoyed this book. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. American Fuji is honest, skillfully written, funny, and brilliant! Sara wrote so vividly that I could picture the scenes and I felt like I was there. She captured the differences in cultures and characters. I liked how the connections among characters are revealed gradually. There are many interesting characters: Alex(American man whose son, Cody, died in Japan), Gaby(former college professor, currently working for funeral company in Japan), Aoshima (the first customer that purchased a funeral package from Gaby), Eguchi (Gaby's boss who is Yakuza), and Marubatsu (professor of Cody's college), Lester (Gaby's british friend), and Rie (Japanese girl who works for the funeral company). The characters are so interesting and well-developed that I felt like they really existed.

I hope you'll enjoy this book!

Japan 101

I just finished American Fuji and must tell you it was the most interesting book I've read in awhile. I began encountering/working with/competing with the Japanese since the '70's and I'm still trying to figure them out. This book was a fine study guide for me in many ways, teaching me more about the Japanese culture than all the "business culture" books and articles I've read over the years. I have a nephew and a niece both teaching English in Japan today. My niece, interestingly, did not have her contract renewed [no reason given] but she just landed a new teaching job in Osaka. Just maybe, her old school in a very rural area recognized her feeling of isolation and made it possible [necessary] for her to find a teaching job in a more palatable area. Or maybe she was railroaded, the same as Gaby. Such is Japan.
It may sound like I'm reviewing a textbook so let me stress that this is a GREAT story. The characters all seemed very real, and I think the "over the top" posturing by some of the characters was an effective contrast to the Japanese "read between the lines" subtleties. The author resisted the temptation to give us a neat Hollywood ending with all the t's crossed and i's dotted so we all get to write our own last chapters. I look forward to her next effort.

The Heart of the Matter

There are, without a doubt, many differences between European-American culture and Japanese culture. In American Fuji, Sara Backer explores the comic dissonances and poignant situations that Gaby Stanton, American expatriate, and Alex Thorn, a tourist who has become her responsibility, encounter in Japan.

When Thorn, a divorced psychotherapist and author of Why Love Fails, accepts an invitation to promote his book in Japan, his real purpose is to investigate the death of his 20-year-old son a year earlier. What happened to Cody Thorn is the mystery at the core of the novel. Apparently, after Cody died in a motorcycle accident, his body was shippede home to Seattle along with a bill from Gone With The Wind Funeral Services. Alex, the grieving father, was disturbed by the condition of the body: Cody's heart was missing; it has been removed "as if for transplant", yet Cody, who had embraced Buddhism, had noted an unwillingness to participate in organ transfers on his driver's license. Moreover, Alex is unable to obtain any genuine information about Cody's death, and his suspicions are further aroused because he never receives any medical bills. So, once in Japan, he pursues his only lead: Gone With The Wind (pronounced "cone whizzer window").
This link leads him to Gaby, a recently hired employee of GWTW, which offers theme-park styled funerals for Japanese looking for nontraditional launches into the afterlife. Gaby's employment is a matter of survival. Dismissed from her position as an English teacher at Shizuyama University, based on unsubstantiated rumors of impropriety, Gaby is hired to encourage wealthy Japanese to buy into the modern way of dying and departure. The owner of GWTW feels she is an asset because she speaks Japanese and, as an American, has no qualms about selling non-traditional funeral services.

Gaby's fellow Westerner, Lester Hollingsworth, finds Gaby's situation degrading, and urges her to return to America and feminism. Still, his concerns are not disingenuous. Women in academia will recognize him immediately. Indebted to Gaby for her help upon his arrival in Japan, he plays at being the solicitous charmer, yet his insidious interference undermines Gaby's career even as it fails to advance his own. Consequently, he attempts to flirt with Gaby in case he should require her professional expertise in the future. His need for control, combined with his sense of masculine superiority, prompts him to take care of Gaby's "burden," Alex Thorn, when Professor Marubatsu, Cody's college advisor, ignores Thorn in order to deceive him.

Marubatsu, a Buddhist priest and a ranking member of the English Department, has no use for Thorn or Gaby or any American for that matter. Unlike Lester's sexism, his misogyny is open and accepted. He is selfish, ethnocentric, rude. He cavalierly replaces Gaby with a less competent, young Australian man whose self-effacing honesty about his limitations is refreshing and demonstrates that Lester's machinations were for naught.

Because of her knowledge of Japanese culture, Gaby warns Alex his search may be futile and dangerous. He has no connections in a "strategic game, based on invisible obligation ledgers, all interactions conducted in code and swathed in ambiguity."
The novel offers comedy, mystery, and justice, but at its center, it shows the resilience of sensitive adults who grasp the healing power of forgiveness. --J.S. Judge

Very enjoyable read.

I enjoyed this book while I was reading it, and weeks later, I have continued to think about some of the issues it raises. Although I found myself engrossed in the story, the fascinating and (apparently) realistic depiction of Japanese culture alone makes this book well worth reading. Backer describes some very interesting situations from multiple points of view and provides detail about the characters' motivations. Actions and situations that initially seem incomprehensible gradually become clear. She touches on diverse issues--from organ transplants to audience ettiquette--highlighting the differences between Japanese and American culture. I particularly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Japan.

Enjoyable literary trip to Japan

I truly enjoyed this novel. I agree with PW and Kirkus reviews, above, and stronly disagree with the Libary Journal's negative review. First of all, this is not a 'romance.' It is a story of two expats, one longterm resident and one new arrival, who search for answers to how and why the son of the visiting character died and had his heart removed for transplant. Along the way they have to deal with Japanese culture, mores, and values that are sometimes strikingly different from their own. I don't think this novel portrays ALL Japanese as rude and insensitive; many characters are, but often the Gaigins' perceptions of these people change as they get to know them better. Any traveler to a strange country can relate to that. One aspect of the book I found especially appealing was that the main characters are not presented as beautiful and charasmatic but rather are ordinary people who grow on you. The book could have ended about 40 pages before it did, but that is a minor gripe.

An outstanding insight into life in Japan

Having lived in Japan and experienced much of what Ms Backer presents in this novel I have to say it is spot on. This book has an intriguing story to tell. If you've ever lived in Japan or plan to visit read this book.

Backer On Mt. Fuji

Sara Backer's American Fuji is a book that you will not be able to put down from the first word to the last word. The adventures of Gaby and Alex are not only absorbing and exotic, they are a unique glimpse into the Japan that IS Japan. Having lived in Japan for eight years, I am pleased to say that Backer's ability not only to choose the right detail but to choose the most interesting, astonishing, revealing, and accurate detail is unparalleled. From Gaby's unusual occupation to the odd tension of dining in a foreign country as everyone watches your every move, every scene presents the atmosphere of Japan as I remember it, but whether you've been to Japan or not, you will have been there once you read this book. The story is compelling, the characters are fascinating, and the imagination that produced this work is engaging, remarkable, and wild--in the finest sense of the word. After a debut like this, I will buy every book Backer ever publishes. Buy it for yourself and for your friend who teaches English in Japan.

Unusual and poignant drama

American therapist Alex Thorn on tour in Japan is allegedly promoting his book Why Love Fails. However, Alex has a deeper reason for his trip here. He needs to learn what happened to his son who died while a student in Japan. Alex's son was a practicing Buddhist and thus did not believe in organ donation. When his son died, his body lacked a heart, apparently harvested for transport use.

The only clue Alex possesses is the cancelled check he made out to 'Gone with the Wind', a Disney-like funeral service. Alex meets expatriate American Gaby Stanton, who informs him her company, has no record of his son and the bill is a clever forgery. Together they look for answers and Alex's grief lessens as he comes to care for his companion. She, in turn, learns that she wants to remain in Japan for more than just the medical coverage that helps pay for her health condition.

Sara Barker has written a mainstream drama that is unusual and poignant. The audience gains a unique glimpse into Japanese culture while realizing that when East meets West, anything can happen. AMERICAN FUJI has cross-genre appeal to a wide range of readers who loyally will look for more novels by Ms. Barker.

Harriet Klausner

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No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.