Fog Island Mountains

A Novel

By: Michelle Bailat-Jones

Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda

Huddled beneath the volcanoes of the Kirishima mountain range in southern Japan - also called the Fog Island Mountains - the inhabitants of small town Komachi are waiting for the biggest of the summer’s typhoons. South African expatriate Alec Chester has lived in Komachi for nearly 40 years. Alec considers himself an ordinary man, with common troubles and mundane achievements - until his doctor gives him a terminal cancer diagnosis and his wife, Kanae, disappears into the gathering storm. Kanae flees from the terrifying reality of Alec’s diagnosis, even going so far as to tell a childhood friend that she is already a widow. Her willful avoidance of the truth leads her to commit a grave infidelity, and only when Alec is suspected of checking himself out of the hospital to commit a quiet suicide, does Kanae come home to face what it will mean to lose her husband.

Narrated by one of the town's oldest and most peculiar inhabitants, this haunting and beautiful audio reinterpretation of the Japanese kitsune folktale tradition (also available in print, eBook, and unabridged audio CD) is about the dangers of actions taken in grief, and an exploration of storytelling as a form of healing.

©2014 Michelle Jones Bailat (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"Jennifer Ikeda's quiet, nearly hushed tones add weight to this intimate telling, set in a small Japanese town as a summer typhoon bears down on it. With the cadence of a storyteller or a poet, Ikeda relates the drama of Alec, who's just been given a terminal cancer diagnosis. As Alec, his wife Kanae, their family, and the townspeople, their lives all interconnected, react, the storm rages. Ikeda shifts beautifully between Alec's South African-accented English and other characters' Japanese or Japanese-accented English. As events reach a crescendo, Ikeda's narration reflects the growing urgency. The emotional story, with hints of magic and folklore, will give listeners much to ponder." (AudioFile)

"With a voice as gentle and beguiling as a whisper, actress Jennifer Ikeda unspools the story of Kanae and Alec Chester as a typhoon bears down on their town of Komachi, Japan…It's difficult to imagine a voice better suited to this debut novel by Michelle Bailat-Jones than Ikeda's." (Chicago Tribune)

The novel, which won the 2013 Christopher Doheny Award from the Center for Fiction, is self-contained and energetic, as whimsical as it is sad, as playful as it is serious…Bailat-Jones maintains the present indicative tense throughout the novel, an impressive achievement on its own, which also serves to strengthen the reader’s sense of Azami as the omnipotent storyteller…Fog Island Mountains’ thesis is a brave one: vows, once spoken, can transcend the need for speech. But their power is dreadful—they compel us to return and return again to the sites of our deepest weakness. (Pank)

Confusing as an audio book

Beautifully narrated but too hard to follow as an audio book. Switches between lots of characters with no warning

Nothing to grab onto

I can't understand what the author thought would grab my attention and hold it. Everything in the story is "pending." Yes, I understand the symbolism of the gathering storm, but this one is gathering at a somnolent pace. I don't have the patience for it. I am only about 2 hours in (although that is about 1/3 of the way through) and I am annoyed with every character and baffled by anyone's motives.

This is compounded by the breathless monotone that is the narration (although I'll give her full marks for her accents.)

Unfortunately, Kanae's behavior is simply inexplicable (why is she behaving like that?) and so predictable (she is going to cheat on her dying husband, isn't she?) that I can't stand to listen to the absolutely endless buildup to whatever critical denouement is heading our way.

I'm stopping this one and giving the book back to Audible.

Disappointing.

Pretentious. Tried to be profound, even mythic, but ended up only being excruciatingly sentimental. Had hoped for so much more from the fox storyline. The narrator was infuriating: she spoke every sentence with a sort of "sad face, deeply sensitive" voice, as if every phrase had to be tragic or aesthetically moving. Enough is enough already.

Disappointing.

This was a good story. A lot of detail, but lacked well thought out characters. I found myself wondering why the author spent time mentioning characters that were then never fleshed out.

A Personal Pick

Chris Doheny – one of my closest friends and favorite colleagues – passed away in 2013 due to complications from cystic fibrosis. We spent a lot of our time together talking about books, so I was honored to be a judge – along with Audible’s publisher and the authors Ann Hood and Dani Shapiro – for the first literary prize awarded in his name. With its atmospheric storytelling and haunting look at the realities (and different reactions) a terminal illness brings, Fog Island Mountains was our unanimous choice for the prize. I have no doubt that Chris – who counted Haruki Murakami, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Mitchell among his favorite authors – would be proud of this selection.

Not a traditional plot.

The culture was richly described. The plot failed to capture me. The story had no resolution.

Stunning, unique, masterful

I listened to it three times in two days. Wonderfully creative, culturally insightful, beautifully written, and superbly narrated. well worth it.

Nonsense

What disappointed you about Fog Island Mountains?

The book started slow an slowed down from there. Bailed out after two hours.

What could Michelle Bailat-Jones have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Connected something in the first two hours.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jennifer Ikeda?

Chewy could do it.

Any additional comments?

The book did not have a hook you could grab on to. It was so boring, my mind drifted. I should return this.... I wonder if I can...

Boring

This was a boring story. I kept waiting for a plot and some connection to the characters, it was a waste of my time.

could not get thru first chapter.

could not get thru chapter one. boring maybe it gets better later but how could you wast that much of your time.