When Sara Backer's novel American Fuji arrived in stores earlier this month, it was déjà vu for Marilyn Lustig. Once again, she began handselling the book to customers at Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley, Mass. "I'm thrilled it has been reissued," said Lustig. "It's like a classic that you want to keep around." 
This time around, Gelbman hopes American Fuji--in a repackaged trade paperback edition--will reach a wider readership. "There is much more interest now in Japan," she said. "It's such a wonderful book. It has everything. It's a father-son story, it's a romance, it's inspirational, and it's a slice of life for the armchair traveler because it really depicts Japan so well."
American Fuji is the tale of two Americans whose lives intersect in Japan. Gaby Stanton, unexpectedly fired from her job teaching English at Shizuyama University, agrees to act as translator and guide for psychologist Alex Thorn, who is seeking answers about the death of his son, an exchange student. As they navigate the intricacies and customs of Japanese society, they encounter a cast of quirky and intriguing characters, among them a fantasy funeral entrepreneur who speaks English only in Beatles lyrics.
"It's fascinating in how it shows the differences between American and Japanese cultures," said Lustig. "Besides enjoying the story, it really got me interested in learning more about Japanese culture. It turned me on to a whole genre of books." Her reading selections have included other novels depicting Americans in Japan, such as Ash by Holly Thompson and Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner.
To promote American Fuji, the publisher is focusing its efforts on online marketing and reaching out to reading groups. A month-long promotion is running on ReadingGroupChoices.com, and copies of the novel were sent to 100 book club leaders. As Backer points out, there are plenty of universal topics to discuss: "It's set in Japan, but it's about alienation and forgiveness, grief, academic politics, chronic illness and health care, feminism, popular culture, mountain climbing, secret fantasies, and the surprises life throws at everyone."
Backer spent three years in the 1990s teaching at Japan's Shizuoka University--the first American and the first woman to serve there as a visiting professor of English. (She currently lives in New Hampshire and teaches at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.) "As a woman, I experienced a different Japan from the one I read about in books. I was often invited inside Japanese houses, and Japanese women spoke to me the way they simply can't speak to men," she said. "The friends I made were not fellow expats, but my Japanese colleagues and students. I recently met a Fulbright scholar who said American Fuji prepared her for Japan better than any other book she'd read."
On her blog, americanfuji.blogspot.com, Backer shares stories and photos of her experiences in Japan, some of which--like climbing Mount Fuji--she used in the novel. "American Fuji is good at defying description," said Backer. "If you think you've read another novel like it, you haven't. That's what makes it stick in your mind--like Beatles' lyrics."--Shannon McKenna Schmidt