New Travel Book: ‘Bar Flower’
Travel Blog • Frank Bures • 05.21.08 | 1:40 PM ET
Full title: “Bar Flower: My Decadently Destructive Days and Nights as a Tokyo Nightclub Hostess”
Author: Lea Jacobson
Released: April 15, 2008
Travel genre: Expats behaving badly
Territory covered: Japan
Promo copy: “Though fascinated by Japanese language and culture, American Lea Jacobson had some difficulty conforming to Japan’s rigidly structured society. After she was fired from her job as an English teacher, Lea found work as a nightclub hostess on Tokyo’s Ginza strip and transformed herself into a doll-like confection whose job it was to flatter, flirt, and engage in mock relationships with her middle-aged clients. Working as a hostess—the occupation a direct descendant of the geisha tradition—quickly became lucrative ... and addictive.”
Critical verdict: “What saves this youthful memoir from being a dreary litany of boozy nights spent entertaining drunken big-spenders at Tokyo clubs is American translator Jacobson’s knowledge of Japanese culture and language.” (Publishers Weekly) “Self-absorbed even by the standards of this genre, her debut memoir intrigues because it opens a window into a little-seen portion of Japanese culture: ‘the floating world’ of transience and personal gratification, in notable contrast to the salaryman’s unchanging world of duty and service. Colorful portraits of her adopted culture and the men she dated eventually bring Jacobson’s tell-all to life.” (Kirkus)
Find it: Amazon, Chapters, Powells
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susie gardner 05.23.08 | 9:39 PM ET
i really wonder about whether japan’s “floating world” culture can really be described these days as “little-seen.” frankly, this aspect of japan has gotten more coverage and press in fiction and film than any other i can think of in recent years. i don’t know a whole lot about japanese culture, for instance, but i don’t need “floating world” defined for me, and that seems telling.
Flirt SMS 10.09.08 | 11:24 AM ET
I enjoyed the mini-lessons about Japanese language and culture, however, I found this book to be written simplistically and with a lot of excessive detail that was unrelated to the storyline itself. I felt like there were a lot of unnecessary “fluffy anecdotes” that left me wondering about their significance, instead of relevant details.
Additionally, the beginning of the book was lacking in character development. As I read the good and bad things that happened to Lea, I was not invested enough in her character to really care. I felt no emotion throughout the entire book, but I finished it anyway because it was a fast read.