Sara Backer

Readable, engaging look at Japan, Japanese culture, and the cultural gaps between the East and the West. This novel is a mystery, a romance, and a comedy --in that order. Psychologist Alex Thorn comes to a small city in Japan to uncover information about his son's sudden death there. His path crosses other expats, including Gaby Stanton who sells "fantasy funerals" (as a Gaijin she is considered exotic and well-suited for this purpose) Formerly, she was an English teacher at the local show more university. Both principles harbor secrets and sadness. Most fascinating for this reader was the indepth look at Japanese life and the long shadow of WWII. First time author Backer may have tried to do too much --the love scenes seem hackneyed-- but she deserves points for plotting and pacing and for introducing a profoundly different culture to the average American reader. show less

At first glance, American Fuji seems like a satire. The title of the book is tongue-in-cheek and the company Gaby Stanton works for is ridiculous. Gone with the Wind promises fantasy funeral services; even selling people travel to the moon to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or the obvious "Fly Me to the Moon" for a loved one's remains. A grieving American father came to Shizuoka, Japan, under the guise of promoting a self-help book, but really looking for answers as to why his show more teenage son was shipped home in a casket. Cody Thorn was an exchange student and only twenty years old. Japanese culture stonewalls his father, Alex Thorn, at every turn because he didn't research his options before arriving. All he knew was that Gone With the Wind was responsible for sending his son's body home so logically, he starts there. Interestingly enough, Gaby Stanton had three connections to Alex's deceased son. She had been a professor at the University where Cody had been studying (until she was mystifyingly fired), she now works at the same funeral home that had unceremoniously shipped Cody's body home after a motorcycle accident took his life, and her only Gone With the Wind client is the recipient of Cody's transplanted heart. Here are some other coincidences that startled me. Alex Thorn travels to the university by himself and manages to meet the very professor who took Gaby's job. He also meets Gaby's British friend completely by accident as well.
Together, Gaby and Alex pair up to solve their individually mysteries. Throw in a chronic illness, corruption, the Japanese mafia, and the summer heat and cultural prejudices and there you have American Fuji. Despite being a busy book with too many coincidences, I enjoyed American Fuji. show less

There's a lot going on in this novel: a fantasy funeral business, a mysterious death, a chronic illness, a self-help book on marriage, the Japanese mafia, a corrupt Buddhist priest, skeezy foreigners hitting on young Japanese women, and so much more. It's travel-lit, mystery, drama, and romance all wrapped into one. Does it sound like a first novel from a writer who's attempting too much? Because that's how it feels -- like an overly-complicated, forced effort. It's interesting enough to show more keep me reading, but it all just felt like too much. The mood changes drastically through out the novel -- sometimes quite dark and serious, at other times farcical.

Gaby (which I think is supposed to be pronounced "Gay-bee") has lived in Japan for five years and is fluent in Japanese...fluent enough to participate in some really deep conversations, which for the convenience of the reader are translated into italicized English. She's been mysteriously fired from her job as a college professor and is currently a salesperson for a fantasy funeral company. It's odd, but everything in Japan is a little odd to foreigners, or so we're told and shown repeatedly. (I'm again struck by the similarities between Japan and South Korea in this respect.) My favorite character in the novel is the owner of the funeral company, who only speaks English in the form of Beatles' song lyrics.

Alex, the other main character, has come to the Japan ostensibly to promote his self-help book Why Love Fails, but is really more interested in getting answers regarding the death of his exchange-student son. While I was interested the answers to their questions, I didn't really connect with Alex or Gaby.

Too many of the connections between characters and plot elements were too convenient. Overall, if I had to pick one word to describe this book, it would be "too." I'm hovering between 2 and 3 stars, but I'm being generous because it did keep my interest.

If you're interested in a fictional account of an American ex-pat in Japan, I would recommend
[b:If You Follow Me|6391014|If You Follow Me|Malena Watrous|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347795648s/6391014.jpg|6579433] instead. show less

The Japanese have a saying according to Sara Backer, "expect the unexpected". Her entertaining novel demonstrates this and provides a lesson in the experience of living in Japan through her clearly delineated characters, especially Gaby Stanton and Alex Thorn. Gaby Stanton, a 36-year-old expatriate in her fifth year of teaching English at a small Japanese university, is peremptorily fired. No explanation furnished. No appeal possible. Unexpectedly, then, she lands a job at a company called show more Gone With the Wind, owned and operated by one Mr. Eguchi, cool, shrewd, and, it turns out, yakuza-connected (read: mafia). She's to sell fantasy funerals, suddenly a hot status symbol among affluent Japanese. For a fix on the degree of affluence, Eguchi counsels the ever-reliable toilet test whenever Gaby makes a house call: “Toilets tell truth about people,” he insists. Alex Thorn is a psychologist and author of Why Love Fails, a self-help book that developed out of his own bitter experience. Alex is in Japan to investigate the presumably accidental death of his college-aged son, a death surrounded by mysterious circumstances.
The story is a sort of dual mystery at its core with Alex pursuing details about his son's accidental death and with Gaby trying to find out what she should do with her life since her academic career has been derailed. When their paths cross they slowly begin to share their individual mysteries with consequences that make this book better than the average tale of an American in Japan. The owner, Mr. Eguchi, is just one of several exotic Japanese that Alex encounters during his stay in Japan. Along with Gaby's other American friends, coworkers, a couple of students and encounters with what seems like the Japanese mob the characters provide interest. In spite of being a bit longer than required, there is enough mystery, romance, and humor in this novel to make it a truly unexpected entertainment. show less