Has anyone read American Fuji?  I finished it this afternoon.  At first I thought it was going to very predictable.  It turned in to a surprising novel with very different characters.  It ends up in unexpected plot twists and turns.  It's touted as romance and mystery, but I'd say it is neither, or maybe only a little of both.  It's more of a moving tale of a woman trying to deal with a terrible illness and a man trying to find answers to why his son died in Japan.  I thought it would be boring and I ended up enjoying it very much.

Melody - I haven't read this book but I checked it out on line and have ordered it from you.  I love books with unexpected twists in it.

Wendy, I got your order.  I thought the author did a wonderful job of making unpredictable.  I hope you enjoy it!

It's been sitting on my shelf for Heaven knows how long--I bought it when Target was clearing out a bunch of books for $0.25 (yes, a quarter, believe it or not!)  Sounded interesting, but my public library TBR is too long to get into it just now.

I think it is well worth reading, not so much for the meadering story, but for the insight into the lives of foreign English teachers in Japan in the early 1990s. I was there when Becker was there (I didn't know her though) and believe me she gets spot on local teachers, other foreign teachers, people in the neighborhood, newby visitors from overseas. Also, it was interesting that the main character had that terrible illness - not often that the writer takes such a chance, testing the prejudices of readers. I'll bet that that affirms people that suffer from it, too.