What do you think?
Rate this book
Lost Girls and Love Hotels : A Novel
Now a feature film starring Alexandra Daddario An achingly honest debut novel of memory, self-destruction, and relationships set in contemporary Tokyo Sometimes, when I’m staring down a room of Japanese stewardesses-in-training, looking across a sea of shiny black coifs, a chorus line of stockinged legs, knees together, toes to the side, when I’m chanting, “Sir, you are endangering yourself and other passengers!” I think I should have let my brother stab me . . . Margaret is doing everything in her power to forget home. And Tokyo’s red light district—teeming with intoxicants, pornography, and seedy love hotels—is almost enough to keep at bay memories of her brother Frank’s descent into schizophrenia. But sobriety brings the past flooding back, along with a pervasive fear that she, too, is destined to battle mental illness. Working as an English specialist at a training academy for Japanese stewardesses by day, and losing herself at night in drugs, alcohol, and S&M fueled sex in the arms of anonymous men, Margaret numbs her loneliness with self destruction, wondering when she’ll take things too far. And when she falls for a married man who is part of Tokyo’s illicit underworld, their relationship might finally force her hand. . . .
208 pages, Hardcover
First published July 3, 2006
54 people are currently reading
3699 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
June 15, 2021
The elevator pitch for this book was definitely "trauma, but make it sexy!" Basically if you watched Lost in Translation and thought this is good and everything, but I wish every single white person was 500% more repulsive, then this is the novel for you.
Our heroine is Margaret, who fled to Tokyo in order to escape her traumatic home life back in the United States. By day, she works as an instructor at a school that trains Japanese flight attendants; by night, she does her best to lose herself in drugs, alcohol, and one-night-stands with strangers (oh and also Margaret likes it when guys tie her up during sex, and it's heavily implied that this interest in kink is a byproduct of her mental illness - love it! Definitely not a dangerous myth to perpetuate! No notes!) She's aided in these trysts by Tokyo's "love hotels", which can be found all over Tokyo and offer rooms that can be rented for short periods of time.
The biggest disappointment of the book is Hanrahan's inability to handle her subjects of generational trauma and mental illness with anything even vaguely resembling tact and understanding - Margaret's brother suffered from schizophrenia, and her life is spent constantly numbing herself against the fear that she will end up "crazy" like him.
And I could have almost gotten over that, if Hanrahan had been willing to commit herself fully to the balls-out hedonism and substance abuse practiced by the heroine and her fellow dirtbag expats. It would have almost been worth it if Lost Girls and Love Hotels was a Bret Easton Ellis-esque drug-fueled fever dream of a novel, where Maraget drifts from one hookup to another and loses herself in Tokyo's underbelly. But unfortunately, that's not the book we get.
I'll be perfectly clear: for a book that full of drugs, booze, and kinky anonymous sex, Lost Girls and Love Hotels is pretty fucking tame. Often, it reads like the work of a sheltered high schooler doing her best to imagine what a wild twenty-something alone in Tokyo would do, and all of Margaret's destructive actions feel very performative and not genuine. I mean, for god's sake, she has an affair with a Yakuza gangster and somehow Hanrahan manages to make it boring!
The only reason I picked this up at all was because I stumbled across the trailer for the movie adaptation, which I then proceeded to hear nothing about for an entire year. So either the movie suffered because it was released in the middle of the pandemic, or because it failed to improve on the original material. My money is on the latter.
Our heroine is Margaret, who fled to Tokyo in order to escape her traumatic home life back in the United States. By day, she works as an instructor at a school that trains Japanese flight attendants; by night, she does her best to lose herself in drugs, alcohol, and one-night-stands with strangers (oh and also Margaret likes it when guys tie her up during sex, and it's heavily implied that this interest in kink is a byproduct of her mental illness - love it! Definitely not a dangerous myth to perpetuate! No notes!) She's aided in these trysts by Tokyo's "love hotels", which can be found all over Tokyo and offer rooms that can be rented for short periods of time.
The biggest disappointment of the book is Hanrahan's inability to handle her subjects of generational trauma and mental illness with anything even vaguely resembling tact and understanding - Margaret's brother suffered from schizophrenia, and her life is spent constantly numbing herself against the fear that she will end up "crazy" like him.
And I could have almost gotten over that, if Hanrahan had been willing to commit herself fully to the balls-out hedonism and substance abuse practiced by the heroine and her fellow dirtbag expats. It would have almost been worth it if Lost Girls and Love Hotels was a Bret Easton Ellis-esque drug-fueled fever dream of a novel, where Maraget drifts from one hookup to another and loses herself in Tokyo's underbelly. But unfortunately, that's not the book we get.
I'll be perfectly clear: for a book that full of drugs, booze, and kinky anonymous sex, Lost Girls and Love Hotels is pretty fucking tame. Often, it reads like the work of a sheltered high schooler doing her best to imagine what a wild twenty-something alone in Tokyo would do, and all of Margaret's destructive actions feel very performative and not genuine. I mean, for god's sake, she has an affair with a Yakuza gangster and somehow Hanrahan manages to make it boring!
The only reason I picked this up at all was because I stumbled across the trailer for the movie adaptation, which I then proceeded to hear nothing about for an entire year. So either the movie suffered because it was released in the middle of the pandemic, or because it failed to improve on the original material. My money is on the latter.
November 14, 2007
this book is TERRIBLE from a writerly standpoint and yet i LOVE it.
biggest flaws: the characters are barely sketched out & not developed at ALL, and the big dark background thing that is supposed to be the protagonist's psychological motivation for acting the way she does is totally lame & not fleshed out. actually, beyond not being fleshed out, it's barely even mentioned. so we're basically asked to go with the idea that this thing that only gets a few lines in the book (okay that's an exaggeration, but it's so sketchy that it FEELS like it's only a few lines) is the crux of the character's personality. and the cover art is terrible.
why i love this book: really good, descriptive, vivid, and unique details. the author describes things in a way that's just a little different from how i feel like most people would describe them, and in a way that was just somehow super engaging. in particular i love this one little detail where the main character's co-worker at the japanese airline stewardess school, while i think comforting the main character (i think - it's been awhile) holds her elbow with her fingertips "like a doorknob."
basically i just really like tales of crazy girls spiraling out of control. for whatever reason, alcoholism and drug use and general self-destruction = instant lovability, in my book. (hmm now i'm trying to remember what rating i gave to elizabeth wurtzel.)
overall i would say the author is good at *writing* but not *crafting.* that is, good at describing and good at details and being plain old interesting to read, but not good at the big picture stuff like plot and storyline and motivation.
biggest flaws: the characters are barely sketched out & not developed at ALL, and the big dark background thing that is supposed to be the protagonist's psychological motivation for acting the way she does is totally lame & not fleshed out. actually, beyond not being fleshed out, it's barely even mentioned. so we're basically asked to go with the idea that this thing that only gets a few lines in the book (okay that's an exaggeration, but it's so sketchy that it FEELS like it's only a few lines) is the crux of the character's personality. and the cover art is terrible.
why i love this book: really good, descriptive, vivid, and unique details. the author describes things in a way that's just a little different from how i feel like most people would describe them, and in a way that was just somehow super engaging. in particular i love this one little detail where the main character's co-worker at the japanese airline stewardess school, while i think comforting the main character (i think - it's been awhile) holds her elbow with her fingertips "like a doorknob."
basically i just really like tales of crazy girls spiraling out of control. for whatever reason, alcoholism and drug use and general self-destruction = instant lovability, in my book. (hmm now i'm trying to remember what rating i gave to elizabeth wurtzel.)
overall i would say the author is good at *writing* but not *crafting.* that is, good at describing and good at details and being plain old interesting to read, but not good at the big picture stuff like plot and storyline and motivation.
February 5, 2009
“I sell my time and kill my body…”
Margaret is a woman who lives for the downward spiral. Fleeing from Canada to escape her past, Margaret settles in Tokyo to work for Air-Pro Stewardess Training Institute. There, she immerses herself in drugs and sex to forget her family and repress memories of her brother Frank: The brother who tried to kill her.
Sharing an apartment with her friend Ines, another fellow Canadian, Margaret ingests illegal substances, drinks herself into stupors and tries to ignore her past and where she came from. Drugs and booze will only blind for a moment; sex gives her another outlet, another way to forget, while hands are caressing her body.
Margaret? Margaret I need you to call me. There’s been an accident-
Margaret trains doll-like Japanese women to be stewardesses, to fly high in the skies. “Air Pro: Putting young women in the air. Where they belong.” But her past still gnaws at her, still tries to push forth into her consciousness. More drugs and booze don’t help; the cocaine and beer concoction no longer purify her thoughts, no longer help her to forget. She is no longer able to stay lost. That all changes when Margaret meets Kazu.
Kazu is a mysterious gangster; tattoos mark his muscled body and his eyes are dark and full of shadows. They engage in sex, in lust. Kazu takes Margaret to a Love Hotel. There are hundreds of Love Hotels in Tokyo, lurid places with themed rooms and no human attendants. You choose a room from a lit up display and have a rest (three hours) or a stay (all night). Which room will you choose?
Immortality is not an option
Margaret becomes obsessed with the pictures, the face, of a girl reported to be dead. Abducted and killed, if rumor is to be believed. But Margaret sees her face everywhere: in alleyways, on posters, in the subway. Margaret begins to search for the lost girl, realizing that she is one herself.
Despite her best intentions, Margaret finds herself falling for the tattooed Kazu, but their love comes with complications. Margaret can no longer pretend she does not love Kazu, but he has not been honest with her. He is married, and in Tokyo, it is best not to battle with the wife. Mistresses have been known to perish at the hands of knife handling wives.
Don’t fight a Japanese wife…so sharp, you don’t even feel it…
Kazu tells Margaret to leave, to go back to Canada. But how can Margaret leave the man she loves? She continues to pine for Kazu, who tries to keep his distance. She sees the missing girl everywhere now. She fills Margaret’s dreams, her waking hours.
Before her stay in Tokyo is over, Margaret must confront her past if she is to survive. She also must confront herself, to free herself before the downward spiral claims her, or be lost forever.
“Lost Girls and Love Hotels” is Christine Hanrahan’s first novel and that’s a crying shame. After I had finished the book, I scoured the Internet to find out if she had written anything else I could get my hands on, to no avail. As soon as I finished reading “Lost Girls and Love Hotels”, I started reading it again. I’m now reading it for a third time. The book is just that good. It’s the best book I’ve read in years.
From the first page, the story is just so consuming, so engrossing, that you can do nothing but turn the pages and continue on it’s wild, lustful ride. She uses writing devices (like flash backs and talking in third person whenever Margaret is on a drug binge) like a pro. Hanrahan is a natural at creating mood, using words to her advantage and letting us see inside her protagonist’s head. “Lost Girls and Love Hotels” is proof of her skill and it’s one damn great book.
What makes the novel so interesting is that it doesn’t hold back any secrets. We know everything (or almost everything) from the beginning; Hanrahan has set up a line of dominoes, long and curvy, and is about to flick the first one. All we have to do is watch the rest of the line fall; and be amazed.
All I can say is: Read this book. It’s amazing, the ending is a shocker and it will be the best book you have read in years. I, for one, can’t wait for Hanrahans next offering.
Margaret is a woman who lives for the downward spiral. Fleeing from Canada to escape her past, Margaret settles in Tokyo to work for Air-Pro Stewardess Training Institute. There, she immerses herself in drugs and sex to forget her family and repress memories of her brother Frank: The brother who tried to kill her.
Sharing an apartment with her friend Ines, another fellow Canadian, Margaret ingests illegal substances, drinks herself into stupors and tries to ignore her past and where she came from. Drugs and booze will only blind for a moment; sex gives her another outlet, another way to forget, while hands are caressing her body.
Margaret? Margaret I need you to call me. There’s been an accident-
Margaret trains doll-like Japanese women to be stewardesses, to fly high in the skies. “Air Pro: Putting young women in the air. Where they belong.” But her past still gnaws at her, still tries to push forth into her consciousness. More drugs and booze don’t help; the cocaine and beer concoction no longer purify her thoughts, no longer help her to forget. She is no longer able to stay lost. That all changes when Margaret meets Kazu.
Kazu is a mysterious gangster; tattoos mark his muscled body and his eyes are dark and full of shadows. They engage in sex, in lust. Kazu takes Margaret to a Love Hotel. There are hundreds of Love Hotels in Tokyo, lurid places with themed rooms and no human attendants. You choose a room from a lit up display and have a rest (three hours) or a stay (all night). Which room will you choose?
Immortality is not an option
Margaret becomes obsessed with the pictures, the face, of a girl reported to be dead. Abducted and killed, if rumor is to be believed. But Margaret sees her face everywhere: in alleyways, on posters, in the subway. Margaret begins to search for the lost girl, realizing that she is one herself.
Despite her best intentions, Margaret finds herself falling for the tattooed Kazu, but their love comes with complications. Margaret can no longer pretend she does not love Kazu, but he has not been honest with her. He is married, and in Tokyo, it is best not to battle with the wife. Mistresses have been known to perish at the hands of knife handling wives.
Don’t fight a Japanese wife…so sharp, you don’t even feel it…
Kazu tells Margaret to leave, to go back to Canada. But how can Margaret leave the man she loves? She continues to pine for Kazu, who tries to keep his distance. She sees the missing girl everywhere now. She fills Margaret’s dreams, her waking hours.
Before her stay in Tokyo is over, Margaret must confront her past if she is to survive. She also must confront herself, to free herself before the downward spiral claims her, or be lost forever.
“Lost Girls and Love Hotels” is Christine Hanrahan’s first novel and that’s a crying shame. After I had finished the book, I scoured the Internet to find out if she had written anything else I could get my hands on, to no avail. As soon as I finished reading “Lost Girls and Love Hotels”, I started reading it again. I’m now reading it for a third time. The book is just that good. It’s the best book I’ve read in years.
From the first page, the story is just so consuming, so engrossing, that you can do nothing but turn the pages and continue on it’s wild, lustful ride. She uses writing devices (like flash backs and talking in third person whenever Margaret is on a drug binge) like a pro. Hanrahan is a natural at creating mood, using words to her advantage and letting us see inside her protagonist’s head. “Lost Girls and Love Hotels” is proof of her skill and it’s one damn great book.
What makes the novel so interesting is that it doesn’t hold back any secrets. We know everything (or almost everything) from the beginning; Hanrahan has set up a line of dominoes, long and curvy, and is about to flick the first one. All we have to do is watch the rest of the line fall; and be amazed.
All I can say is: Read this book. It’s amazing, the ending is a shocker and it will be the best book you have read in years. I, for one, can’t wait for Hanrahans next offering.
May 6, 2015
I don't like to be negative about books by Goodreads' authors, but I really can't find anything good to say about this book at all other than the cover is really attractive. Ploughing through stories written in dialogue that people would never speak is depressing and pointless. The characters seem uncaring, apathetic, nihilistic as a way of appearing cool but actually just read as dreary. Filed on 'given-up' shelf.
August 10, 2007
Catherine Hanrahan's debut novel Lost Girls and Love Hotels is the story of a stranger in a strange land. The stranger is Margaret, a young woman who teaches English (or English pronounciation) in a stewardess school and the strange land is Japan.
On surface this could be the story of any 20-something searching for identity, salving old wounds with sex and drugs. Dig a little deeper, however, and you see that there is much more than meets the eye. Like most young women who have absent fathers, distracted mothers, and emotionally disturbed siblings, Margaret thinks she is running away, but what she really is doing is finding a way to save herself, looking for love (albeit in all the wrong places), and soothing herself with drugs and sex. She is, after all, still trapped in childhood; an adult who still sucks her thumb in order to fall asleep.
When Margaret's lover, Kazu, asks her why she came to Japan, Margaret responds, "To be alone." Of course, he finds this response odd, and so she follows up with, "It's an easy place to be alone."
Is this book specifically about life in Japan? Could it not have been set anywhere? I would argue the latter, as it seems to me the message is universal. Anyone who has ever felt as though she were running away, will see herself in this book. Anyone who has lived on an edge waiting for death, will also. And those who have been lost and found--those who have lived despite all of the odds against them (instead of being the unfortunates whose remains are later found), will find the ending triumphant.
In a way, life in Japan destroys Margaret (and almost kills her) and as such, it allows her to be reborn: "I stand like a planet, the constellation of seeds radiating from me, spilling from my pockets. I see, as if for the first time, the quality of the air. Bluish light filtered through it. The sun, like a yolk hanging languorously behind the trees. The air with its giddy bite of anticipation. I breathe it in like anesthesia, but it doesn't put me to sleep. It wakes me up."
On surface this could be the story of any 20-something searching for identity, salving old wounds with sex and drugs. Dig a little deeper, however, and you see that there is much more than meets the eye. Like most young women who have absent fathers, distracted mothers, and emotionally disturbed siblings, Margaret thinks she is running away, but what she really is doing is finding a way to save herself, looking for love (albeit in all the wrong places), and soothing herself with drugs and sex. She is, after all, still trapped in childhood; an adult who still sucks her thumb in order to fall asleep.
When Margaret's lover, Kazu, asks her why she came to Japan, Margaret responds, "To be alone." Of course, he finds this response odd, and so she follows up with, "It's an easy place to be alone."
Is this book specifically about life in Japan? Could it not have been set anywhere? I would argue the latter, as it seems to me the message is universal. Anyone who has ever felt as though she were running away, will see herself in this book. Anyone who has lived on an edge waiting for death, will also. And those who have been lost and found--those who have lived despite all of the odds against them (instead of being the unfortunates whose remains are later found), will find the ending triumphant.
In a way, life in Japan destroys Margaret (and almost kills her) and as such, it allows her to be reborn: "I stand like a planet, the constellation of seeds radiating from me, spilling from my pockets. I see, as if for the first time, the quality of the air. Bluish light filtered through it. The sun, like a yolk hanging languorously behind the trees. The air with its giddy bite of anticipation. I breathe it in like anesthesia, but it doesn't put me to sleep. It wakes me up."
January 17, 2010
Lost Girls and Love Hotels is about a young woman who flees to Tokyo to escape a troubled childhood in Canada. Soon enough, the young woman, Margaret, becomes riveted by and immersed in the nightlife of Tokyo, which leads to her getting involved with a dangerous gangster.
Lost Girls and Love Hotels is an enthralling novel. It had such a gritty, authentic vibe to it that I wonder how much of the story came from the author’s personal experience on one level or another. I’m impressed that Lost Girls and Love Hotels was a first novel for the author because the writing had a simplicity and flow to it that I found very enjoyable to read. I sincerely felt for the protagonist in this novel because she seemed so lonely, confused, and isolated. She truly seemed like her own worst enemy at times.
I highly recommend this novel for anyone who is interested in the nightlife in Japan, specifically Tokyo, or anyone who enjoys a well written story about inner struggle and loneliness.
Lost Girls and Love Hotels is an enthralling novel. It had such a gritty, authentic vibe to it that I wonder how much of the story came from the author’s personal experience on one level or another. I’m impressed that Lost Girls and Love Hotels was a first novel for the author because the writing had a simplicity and flow to it that I found very enjoyable to read. I sincerely felt for the protagonist in this novel because she seemed so lonely, confused, and isolated. She truly seemed like her own worst enemy at times.
I highly recommend this novel for anyone who is interested in the nightlife in Japan, specifically Tokyo, or anyone who enjoys a well written story about inner struggle and loneliness.
May 25, 2011
Pace way too slow, occasionally uses second person (for no clear reason) and hackneyed expressions ("eyes like pissholes in the snow" etc). But... This would have made a great short story, or a great opening to a novel that went somewhere. The missing girl, the Yakuza boyfriend, felt like a story waiting to happen.
March 19, 2007
good for people who liked Lost In Translation....you feel like you know exactly how confused the narrator is in Japan. very cool.
May 12, 2024
3 stars ⭐️
Well... where do I even begin? Reading this book stirred up so many mixed feelings … ‘Lost Girls and Love Hotels’ may not be everyone's cup of sake, that’s for sure.
First off, let's talk about the plot. It's like the author just dove into writing without a clear roadmap, which don’t necessary is a bad thing, but in this case; it didn’t worked. Yep, this was a bit of a mess. Don't get me wrong, though; the atmosphere it conjured at the beginning was captivating. Picture this: a solitary young woman navigating the neon-lit streets of Tokyo, fleeing from a shadowy past.
There were some beautifully written passages that truly transported me to Tokyo, but they were few and far between. It almost felt like the author suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, this story is set in Japan," and tossed in some descriptions here and there. Too often, I found myself wondering if the story could've unfolded anywhere else.
Margaret, our enigmatic protagonist lost in the labyrinthine streets of Tokyo. She's haunted by her past, seeking solace in fleeting connections and the underground world of love hotels. By day, she's a flight attendant; by night, she's diving headfirst into the complexities of desire and intimacy, grappling with both liberation and longing. And the kicker? The mystery behind why Margaret is in Tokyo made me want to read more.
Margaret's a tough nut to crack emotionally. It's like she's built up walls to protect herself from further hurt. This emotional reserve seeps into her interactions, especially in her intimate relationships, where she struggles to let her guard down. But despite her guarded exterior, Margaret's drawn to experiences that offer a thrill, even if they're a tad reckless. It's as if she's itching to break free from societal norms and expectations. Her encounters in love hotels are like a game of Russian roulette with her life, each encounter a spin of the chamber, never knowing if she'll find love, lust, or simply encounter the risk of being choked to death by some random guy—it's thrilling, it's terrifying, and it's ridiculous.
However, it's clear that Margaret's past traumas cast a long shadow over her present. Her tendency to seek solace in fleeting encounters and temporary distractions hints at deeper wounds left unresolved. It's frustrating that we never fully uncover what demons she's battling; the lack of closure is a real downer.
Now, let's talk about the plot—or lack thereof. We're served up a mishmash of affairs, jealousies, and bizarre encounters, with little to tie it all together. There's a yakuza man, a jealous lover, a cunning wife, random guts at love hotels, and even a spectral appearance thrown into the mix. Oh, and don't forget Margaret's brother, absent father, and mother. It's a tangled web that's tough to unravel.
Unfortunately, delving into Margaret's self-destructive mindset becomes utterly draining as she repeatedly positions herself as a sacrificial lamb. As a reader, it becomes increasingly challenging to root for her when she exhibits no inclination towards initiating change; the crux of the issue lies in her stagnant character development. Throughout the narrative, little unfolds beyond her encounters with various men, leaving her character devoid of meaningful growth or transformation. The fleeting glimpses of change we do witness in her relation with Kazu are fleeting at best.
Despite its flaws, I trudged through the book, drawn in by its melancholic aura. But ‘Lost Girls and Love Hotels’ feels like it was rushed to publication without proper fine-tuning. It's a shame because buried beneath the chaos, there's a kernel of a good idea. With some heavy rewriting, maybe it could've shone. But as it stands, it feels like a work in progress rather than a finished product.
This book is a mishmash of selfdestructive melodrama that left me scratching my head and wondering if I accidentally picked up the wrong book.
Well... where do I even begin? Reading this book stirred up so many mixed feelings … ‘Lost Girls and Love Hotels’ may not be everyone's cup of sake, that’s for sure.
First off, let's talk about the plot. It's like the author just dove into writing without a clear roadmap, which don’t necessary is a bad thing, but in this case; it didn’t worked. Yep, this was a bit of a mess. Don't get me wrong, though; the atmosphere it conjured at the beginning was captivating. Picture this: a solitary young woman navigating the neon-lit streets of Tokyo, fleeing from a shadowy past.
There were some beautifully written passages that truly transported me to Tokyo, but they were few and far between. It almost felt like the author suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, this story is set in Japan," and tossed in some descriptions here and there. Too often, I found myself wondering if the story could've unfolded anywhere else.
Margaret, our enigmatic protagonist lost in the labyrinthine streets of Tokyo. She's haunted by her past, seeking solace in fleeting connections and the underground world of love hotels. By day, she's a flight attendant; by night, she's diving headfirst into the complexities of desire and intimacy, grappling with both liberation and longing. And the kicker? The mystery behind why Margaret is in Tokyo made me want to read more.
Margaret's a tough nut to crack emotionally. It's like she's built up walls to protect herself from further hurt. This emotional reserve seeps into her interactions, especially in her intimate relationships, where she struggles to let her guard down. But despite her guarded exterior, Margaret's drawn to experiences that offer a thrill, even if they're a tad reckless. It's as if she's itching to break free from societal norms and expectations. Her encounters in love hotels are like a game of Russian roulette with her life, each encounter a spin of the chamber, never knowing if she'll find love, lust, or simply encounter the risk of being choked to death by some random guy—it's thrilling, it's terrifying, and it's ridiculous.
However, it's clear that Margaret's past traumas cast a long shadow over her present. Her tendency to seek solace in fleeting encounters and temporary distractions hints at deeper wounds left unresolved. It's frustrating that we never fully uncover what demons she's battling; the lack of closure is a real downer.
«Intimacy is a word with eight letters. A word with a sly hiss to it. But then it begins, like love affairs do, with a chance meeting, and then a raw empty something needing to be sated, something you didn‘t notice before…but suddenly it squawks like a hungry bird, day and night, refusing to be ignored. You love and revile it, this sore shrieking something. Or is it nothing? Or everything? It doesn‘t matter. It‘s yours. It‘s you.»
Now, let's talk about the plot—or lack thereof. We're served up a mishmash of affairs, jealousies, and bizarre encounters, with little to tie it all together. There's a yakuza man, a jealous lover, a cunning wife, random guts at love hotels, and even a spectral appearance thrown into the mix. Oh, and don't forget Margaret's brother, absent father, and mother. It's a tangled web that's tough to unravel.
Unfortunately, delving into Margaret's self-destructive mindset becomes utterly draining as she repeatedly positions herself as a sacrificial lamb. As a reader, it becomes increasingly challenging to root for her when she exhibits no inclination towards initiating change; the crux of the issue lies in her stagnant character development. Throughout the narrative, little unfolds beyond her encounters with various men, leaving her character devoid of meaningful growth or transformation. The fleeting glimpses of change we do witness in her relation with Kazu are fleeting at best.
Despite its flaws, I trudged through the book, drawn in by its melancholic aura. But ‘Lost Girls and Love Hotels’ feels like it was rushed to publication without proper fine-tuning. It's a shame because buried beneath the chaos, there's a kernel of a good idea. With some heavy rewriting, maybe it could've shone. But as it stands, it feels like a work in progress rather than a finished product.
This book is a mishmash of selfdestructive melodrama that left me scratching my head and wondering if I accidentally picked up the wrong book.
February 12, 2022
KÄR i den här boken. Må så vara att vissa detaljer inte har åldrats särskilt väl, not gonna lie, men den är briljant i allt sitt mörker ändå.
September 27, 2020
It's not terribly well written, but it's engaging with characters that resonate. A smarter, sexier, darker 50 Shades in that it may entice people to dabble in non vanilla sex; it doesn't completely eschew the consequences of not knowing your partners very well.
The film is going to make this very popular. Great to see the writer doing the screenplay.
The film is going to make this very popular. Great to see the writer doing the screenplay.
February 8, 2024
Loved it. Definitely not a light-hearted read but I couldn’t put this one down. Margaret was such a tortured soul I wanted to jump through the pages and hug her at times. She was so haunted by her past that it broke my heart. Definitely a reminder that not all stories have a happy ending unfortunately.
January 27, 2014
This could have been so good. The blurb on the cover promised the story of a missing girl setting off a chain of events. But she's barely mentioned twice in the book.
The plot is minimal and it doesn't flow. Sorry, great idea, great promise but sadly doesn't deliver.
The plot is minimal and it doesn't flow. Sorry, great idea, great promise but sadly doesn't deliver.
December 15, 2021
I thouroughly enjoyed this book. It was weird, but in a good way, and I felt like I was walking the same downward spiral as Margaret, our protagonist.
I really wanted to get to know the Japan depicted in this book, but I believe it does not exist anymore.
I really wanted to get to know the Japan depicted in this book, but I believe it does not exist anymore.
December 20, 2008
I just loved this book! Catherine was a co-worker of mine and we mostly talked about books and how much we hated where we worked;) Isn't that normal though?
June 15, 2024
Wish 0 was an option
January 28, 2018
Totally forgot (until now) that I read this book in high school. Maybe it would've been better to not remember it at all.
September 1, 2023
Okay. Gotta admit. I didn't think I'd actually run into a novel like this in a million years but... Ooh boy.
(Now a feature film starring Alexandra Daddario An achingly honest debut novel of memory, self-destruction, and relationships set in contemporary Tokyo Sometimes, when I’m staring down a room of Japanese stewardesses-in-training, looking across a sea of shiny black coifs, a chorus line of stockinged legs, knees together, toes to the side, when I’m chanting, “Sir, you are endangering yourself and other passengers!” I think I should have let my brother stab me . . . Margaret is doing everything in her power to forget home. And Tokyo’s red light district—teeming with intoxicants, pornography, and seedy love hotels—is almost enough to keep at bay memories of her brother Frank’s descent into schizophrenia. But sobriety brings the past flooding back, along with a pervasive fear that she, too, is destined to battle mental illness. Working as an English specialist at a training academy for Japanese stewardesses by day, and losing herself at night in drugs, alcohol, and S&M fueled sex in the arms of anonymous men, Margaret numbs her loneliness with self destruction, wondering when she’ll take things too far. And when she falls for a married man who is part of Tokyo’s illicit underworld, their relationship might finally force her hand. . . .) ~ Blurb from Goodreads
Warning: I will not be bothering with spoiler tags or anything this time because, trust me, you need to read this unfiltered.
Margaret as a character makes no sense. So Margaret is a twenty something woman from Canada living in the 2000's, yet she uses the word "queer" to describe something odd or strange. There is no explanation for why she does this. Like, absolutely none whatsoever. Not even something along the lines of, "I find the word "queer" hurtful. But if I say it as much as possible, maybe it'll lose its bite for me." As for her character arc, her main flaw is that she runs from her problems, both literally (such as her fleeing to Japan) and metaphorically (like using drugs, alcohol, and sex to temporarily escape from reality). But, rather than showing her gradually change into someone who doesn't run from her problems, the novel just slaps the reader with the change when the story is practically over. In other words, her arc has a beginning and an ending, but no middle. A thing I like to call "The Bread Sandwich Problem". Also, in part two, page ninety-five, Kazu asks her why she came to Japan and she responds, "To be alone." Yet, throughout the novel, she is constantly shown hanging out with other people, whether that be her friends Ines and Adam, her love interest Kazu, barkeep Jiro, or some other person. Like, given what the reader knows about her, wouldn't it make more sense for her to say something like, "To escape" or "To have a fresh start" or something? I mean, she doesn't have any particular reason to lie to Kazu, so why fudge her motivation?
Speaking of Margaret and Kazu, The romance between them is so... ugh. It's the same problem I had with the romance between Akio and Izumi in Tokyo Ever After in the sense that it's rushed as heck and it's not given the time to properly build and simmer. But here, it's actually worse. They have a couple little outings, they have sex once, and they eventually break up. That's it. That is the entirety of their relationship I kid you not. Now if the novel really took advantage of these moments and allowed the characters to take their time to get to know one another, I think it would actually be fine. Good, even.
Despite Margaret's older brother Frank practically being a major character, he is shockingly underdeveloped. All the reader gets to know about him is he's a schizophrenic nerd who was abused by his dad and tried to kill Margaret with a knife and feels remorseful about it I guess. Now to be fair, throughout the flashbacks featuring him and Margaret, he does go through a character arc where he loses his personality to the schizophrenia. But it doesn't hit as hard as it should because the "before" personality really isn't all that well defined. Now I don't need to know everything about the guy, but maybe fleshing him out a little more, such as answering questions like, "What does he want to be when he grows up?", "What are his favorite foods?", "Is he a big eater or small eater?", and/or "What famous figures does he look up to and why?" would've really helped.
At points (like in part one, page twenty-four), it'll randomly switch to second person present tense for long stretches at a time for absolutely no reason. While Margaret does speak directly to the reader, it happens so quick and so infrequently, that it's a "blink and you'll miss it" sort of thing. I tried my hardest to figure out what the point of these moments was supposed to be, but all I could get out of them was that there was no point. They could've been written in first person present tense like the rest of the novel and absolutely nothing would be lost.
The missing girl subplot was just so disappointing. So throughout the novel, there's a missing girl that's frequently (and I do mean, frequently) brought up. From the extensive media coverage she gets and whatnot, she's someone whom Margaret cannot escape from. I thought that this missing girl might make Margaret want to play amateur detective and try and solve the case in the hopes of reclaiming the childhood she lost living in a dysfunctional family and allowing her to heal from the trauma of that and her schizophrenic brother trying to kill her. I thought that it might lead to Margaret finding out that Kazu either killed the girl or assisted in killing her. Nope. The reader gets nothing. They lose. In fact, beyond the fact that she's a white foreigner who got dismembered, the reader gets no insight into who the missing girl actually is and why she ended up getting dismembered. Yes, there is a character named Lily who is white like the missing girl and Margaret finds out about Lily through a guy named Used who has a history with her, but there's one major thing that takes Lily out of the running. See, the last time Lily and Used met up was at her apartment, where Lily lived with her dad. Lily said that her dad would be home in an hour. Used left Lily tied up in her bedroom at her apartment as part of some sort of sex thing, meaning that her father would've most likely found her and thus, not declare her missing. Honestly, this subplot feels rather incomplete and just raises more questions than answers. I feel like this subplot should've been cut altogether or there should've been more hints about the fate and identity of the missing girl sprinkled throughout the novel. Like, maybe there's a high ranking government official who is looking for his daughter and the description happens to be similar to the missing girl or maybe there's CCTV footage of the missing girl leaving a clothing store with a girl who looks to be around her age and it's the last known sighting of her.
The depiction of Japan in this novel is absolute fucking garbage. How so? Well...
One: Nearly every single stereotype of Japan is in this novel. Every Japanese character aside from Used having shitty English skills (including the love interest Kazu despite the fact that he supposedly speaks English well according to Margaret), manga containing tentacle porn. Hell, in part one, page thirty-eight, there's a part where Margaret is talking about how a character named The-Guy-Whose-Name-Nobody-Knows frequently "shuttles" Japanese girls out of his room and a little later on, one of them is described as having, I kid you not, "...buck-teeth that distort her otherwise doll-like face..." I... I don't think any further comment is needed.
Two: So in part two, page one hundred and twenty five, Margaret's boss at the flight attendant school where Margaret teaches at angrily fires Margaret on the spot because Madoka talked about how her and Margaret went dancing the night prior with the other students without so much as an investigation or an attempt to get any evidence beyond Madoka's word. There is so much wrong with this, it's not even funny. To make a very long story short, based on what I was able to find, this scene actively ignores the fact that Japan is a country in which it is notoriously difficult to get fired for several reasons and actively ignores how Japanese law works in this regard. Basically, Japanese employers won't just fire someone if the cannot prove without a doubt that they would legally be in the right for terminating an employee. If this scenario were to happen in real life, Margaret would have a solid wrongful termination case and, if she wanted to, she could sue her employer and actually win. For those who are wondering, yes. Japanese law protects foreign workers and non-foreign workers. Now, is it possible that if a Japanese employer really wanted to get rid of an employee for whatever reason, but didn't have a legally solid case, they could actually attempt to do so? Absolutely! But if they were to do it, they're way more likely to use more subtle, sneaky ways of doing it.
Three: The novel can't even get basic Japanese folklore right! Don't believe me? Just get a load of this part from part two, page one hundred and eighteen: "Ines, who inexplicably knows every Japanese legend, informed you that the mythical figure of Tengu has special powers fueled by the water that resides in a bowl at the top of his head. Always wreaking havoc, Tengu could only be defeated if an opponent tricked him into bowing and spilling the water." So in short, Ines is blatantly describing a kappa, which is completely different from a tengu (yes, tengus are a species, not a single individual). Two things make this moment even stupider. One, Ines is supposed to be an expert on Japanese folklore, so how could she have made such a blunder then? Some might argue that she was under the influence of drugs and stuff and thus her ability to recall information correctly was impaired, but at the beginning of part two, Ines was under the influence of alcohol and she had no trouble accurately recounting the tale of Urashima Tarō, so, again, what gives? Oh and two, there's a Japanese character named Madoka who's with Margaret and Ines, who might possibly know a thing or two about this sort of thing given how the Kappa is, according to nippon.com, "...among Japan’s most famous yōkai..." and the Tengu in Japanese folklore is, according to Yamato Magazine, "...one of the most well-known beings...", yet she doesn't bother to correct Ines.
Because the setting is so stereotypical and unrealistic, it just distracts from the very serious story of a woman who's so broken by her trauma, that she feels her only option is running from it in every possible way and makes it needlessly hard to get invested in it. Now at first I thought this was a blatant case of the author not doing her research. But in the "P.S. Insights, Interviews, & More" section of the novel, the author talks about how she lived in Japan for five years and how quite a bit of the novel (such as the main character's occupation) was based on her actual experiences and how she did her research with the help of her on and off Japanese boyfriend Hiroshi. But, if that's the case, why was it written in a way that's virtually indistinguishable from fanfiction written by a teenager whose only experience with Japanese culture is a handful of anime, those "Ain't Japan Weird?" kind of articles, and maybe one or two of those Tokio Kid posters from World War II? Seriously, how is this supposed to benefit the story or the author?
Overall, Lost Girls & Love Hotels is a novel in which nothing works, nothing makes sense, and nothing is sufficiently developed. Now I've read some stinkers. But at least those stinkers had one redeeming quality, one thing I actually liked.
If you honestly want a story about a Canadian going to Japan to get a fresh start, please check out Chase of The Rising Sun. I know it's not perfect. I know it has its flaws. But trust me, you will have a much better time.
Overall Grade: F-
(Now a feature film starring Alexandra Daddario An achingly honest debut novel of memory, self-destruction, and relationships set in contemporary Tokyo Sometimes, when I’m staring down a room of Japanese stewardesses-in-training, looking across a sea of shiny black coifs, a chorus line of stockinged legs, knees together, toes to the side, when I’m chanting, “Sir, you are endangering yourself and other passengers!” I think I should have let my brother stab me . . . Margaret is doing everything in her power to forget home. And Tokyo’s red light district—teeming with intoxicants, pornography, and seedy love hotels—is almost enough to keep at bay memories of her brother Frank’s descent into schizophrenia. But sobriety brings the past flooding back, along with a pervasive fear that she, too, is destined to battle mental illness. Working as an English specialist at a training academy for Japanese stewardesses by day, and losing herself at night in drugs, alcohol, and S&M fueled sex in the arms of anonymous men, Margaret numbs her loneliness with self destruction, wondering when she’ll take things too far. And when she falls for a married man who is part of Tokyo’s illicit underworld, their relationship might finally force her hand. . . .) ~ Blurb from Goodreads
Warning: I will not be bothering with spoiler tags or anything this time because, trust me, you need to read this unfiltered.
Margaret as a character makes no sense. So Margaret is a twenty something woman from Canada living in the 2000's, yet she uses the word "queer" to describe something odd or strange. There is no explanation for why she does this. Like, absolutely none whatsoever. Not even something along the lines of, "I find the word "queer" hurtful. But if I say it as much as possible, maybe it'll lose its bite for me." As for her character arc, her main flaw is that she runs from her problems, both literally (such as her fleeing to Japan) and metaphorically (like using drugs, alcohol, and sex to temporarily escape from reality). But, rather than showing her gradually change into someone who doesn't run from her problems, the novel just slaps the reader with the change when the story is practically over. In other words, her arc has a beginning and an ending, but no middle. A thing I like to call "The Bread Sandwich Problem". Also, in part two, page ninety-five, Kazu asks her why she came to Japan and she responds, "To be alone." Yet, throughout the novel, she is constantly shown hanging out with other people, whether that be her friends Ines and Adam, her love interest Kazu, barkeep Jiro, or some other person. Like, given what the reader knows about her, wouldn't it make more sense for her to say something like, "To escape" or "To have a fresh start" or something? I mean, she doesn't have any particular reason to lie to Kazu, so why fudge her motivation?
Speaking of Margaret and Kazu, The romance between them is so... ugh. It's the same problem I had with the romance between Akio and Izumi in Tokyo Ever After in the sense that it's rushed as heck and it's not given the time to properly build and simmer. But here, it's actually worse. They have a couple little outings, they have sex once, and they eventually break up. That's it. That is the entirety of their relationship I kid you not. Now if the novel really took advantage of these moments and allowed the characters to take their time to get to know one another, I think it would actually be fine. Good, even.
Despite Margaret's older brother Frank practically being a major character, he is shockingly underdeveloped. All the reader gets to know about him is he's a schizophrenic nerd who was abused by his dad and tried to kill Margaret with a knife and feels remorseful about it I guess. Now to be fair, throughout the flashbacks featuring him and Margaret, he does go through a character arc where he loses his personality to the schizophrenia. But it doesn't hit as hard as it should because the "before" personality really isn't all that well defined. Now I don't need to know everything about the guy, but maybe fleshing him out a little more, such as answering questions like, "What does he want to be when he grows up?", "What are his favorite foods?", "Is he a big eater or small eater?", and/or "What famous figures does he look up to and why?" would've really helped.
At points (like in part one, page twenty-four), it'll randomly switch to second person present tense for long stretches at a time for absolutely no reason. While Margaret does speak directly to the reader, it happens so quick and so infrequently, that it's a "blink and you'll miss it" sort of thing. I tried my hardest to figure out what the point of these moments was supposed to be, but all I could get out of them was that there was no point. They could've been written in first person present tense like the rest of the novel and absolutely nothing would be lost.
The missing girl subplot was just so disappointing. So throughout the novel, there's a missing girl that's frequently (and I do mean, frequently) brought up. From the extensive media coverage she gets and whatnot, she's someone whom Margaret cannot escape from. I thought that this missing girl might make Margaret want to play amateur detective and try and solve the case in the hopes of reclaiming the childhood she lost living in a dysfunctional family and allowing her to heal from the trauma of that and her schizophrenic brother trying to kill her. I thought that it might lead to Margaret finding out that Kazu either killed the girl or assisted in killing her. Nope. The reader gets nothing. They lose. In fact, beyond the fact that she's a white foreigner who got dismembered, the reader gets no insight into who the missing girl actually is and why she ended up getting dismembered. Yes, there is a character named Lily who is white like the missing girl and Margaret finds out about Lily through a guy named Used who has a history with her, but there's one major thing that takes Lily out of the running. See, the last time Lily and Used met up was at her apartment, where Lily lived with her dad. Lily said that her dad would be home in an hour. Used left Lily tied up in her bedroom at her apartment as part of some sort of sex thing, meaning that her father would've most likely found her and thus, not declare her missing. Honestly, this subplot feels rather incomplete and just raises more questions than answers. I feel like this subplot should've been cut altogether or there should've been more hints about the fate and identity of the missing girl sprinkled throughout the novel. Like, maybe there's a high ranking government official who is looking for his daughter and the description happens to be similar to the missing girl or maybe there's CCTV footage of the missing girl leaving a clothing store with a girl who looks to be around her age and it's the last known sighting of her.
The depiction of Japan in this novel is absolute fucking garbage. How so? Well...
One: Nearly every single stereotype of Japan is in this novel. Every Japanese character aside from Used having shitty English skills (including the love interest Kazu despite the fact that he supposedly speaks English well according to Margaret), manga containing tentacle porn. Hell, in part one, page thirty-eight, there's a part where Margaret is talking about how a character named The-Guy-Whose-Name-Nobody-Knows frequently "shuttles" Japanese girls out of his room and a little later on, one of them is described as having, I kid you not, "...buck-teeth that distort her otherwise doll-like face..." I... I don't think any further comment is needed.
Two: So in part two, page one hundred and twenty five, Margaret's boss at the flight attendant school where Margaret teaches at angrily fires Margaret on the spot because Madoka talked about how her and Margaret went dancing the night prior with the other students without so much as an investigation or an attempt to get any evidence beyond Madoka's word. There is so much wrong with this, it's not even funny. To make a very long story short, based on what I was able to find, this scene actively ignores the fact that Japan is a country in which it is notoriously difficult to get fired for several reasons and actively ignores how Japanese law works in this regard. Basically, Japanese employers won't just fire someone if the cannot prove without a doubt that they would legally be in the right for terminating an employee. If this scenario were to happen in real life, Margaret would have a solid wrongful termination case and, if she wanted to, she could sue her employer and actually win. For those who are wondering, yes. Japanese law protects foreign workers and non-foreign workers. Now, is it possible that if a Japanese employer really wanted to get rid of an employee for whatever reason, but didn't have a legally solid case, they could actually attempt to do so? Absolutely! But if they were to do it, they're way more likely to use more subtle, sneaky ways of doing it.
Three: The novel can't even get basic Japanese folklore right! Don't believe me? Just get a load of this part from part two, page one hundred and eighteen: "Ines, who inexplicably knows every Japanese legend, informed you that the mythical figure of Tengu has special powers fueled by the water that resides in a bowl at the top of his head. Always wreaking havoc, Tengu could only be defeated if an opponent tricked him into bowing and spilling the water." So in short, Ines is blatantly describing a kappa, which is completely different from a tengu (yes, tengus are a species, not a single individual). Two things make this moment even stupider. One, Ines is supposed to be an expert on Japanese folklore, so how could she have made such a blunder then? Some might argue that she was under the influence of drugs and stuff and thus her ability to recall information correctly was impaired, but at the beginning of part two, Ines was under the influence of alcohol and she had no trouble accurately recounting the tale of Urashima Tarō, so, again, what gives? Oh and two, there's a Japanese character named Madoka who's with Margaret and Ines, who might possibly know a thing or two about this sort of thing given how the Kappa is, according to nippon.com, "...among Japan’s most famous yōkai..." and the Tengu in Japanese folklore is, according to Yamato Magazine, "...one of the most well-known beings...", yet she doesn't bother to correct Ines.
Because the setting is so stereotypical and unrealistic, it just distracts from the very serious story of a woman who's so broken by her trauma, that she feels her only option is running from it in every possible way and makes it needlessly hard to get invested in it. Now at first I thought this was a blatant case of the author not doing her research. But in the "P.S. Insights, Interviews, & More" section of the novel, the author talks about how she lived in Japan for five years and how quite a bit of the novel (such as the main character's occupation) was based on her actual experiences and how she did her research with the help of her on and off Japanese boyfriend Hiroshi. But, if that's the case, why was it written in a way that's virtually indistinguishable from fanfiction written by a teenager whose only experience with Japanese culture is a handful of anime, those "Ain't Japan Weird?" kind of articles, and maybe one or two of those Tokio Kid posters from World War II? Seriously, how is this supposed to benefit the story or the author?
Overall, Lost Girls & Love Hotels is a novel in which nothing works, nothing makes sense, and nothing is sufficiently developed. Now I've read some stinkers. But at least those stinkers had one redeeming quality, one thing I actually liked.
If you honestly want a story about a Canadian going to Japan to get a fresh start, please check out Chase of The Rising Sun. I know it's not perfect. I know it has its flaws. But trust me, you will have a much better time.
Overall Grade: F-
May 9, 2008
When I met Catherine Hanrahan at a book signing, I asked her if her book was Chick Lit. The cover of the book is screaming pink with an anima style drawing of a woman wrapped in sheets, gazing at me with paint-on-velvet eyes. Upon hearing this question, Hanrahan’s eyes registered hurt with a sliver of anger, then turned to defense. I think her companion actually gasped. No, she said. Her book was anything but Chick Lit. She didn’t see why I would have thought such a thing.
Well, she was right. Lost Girls and Love Hotels is not Chick Lit. Lost Girls is about a Canadian girl who went to Japan for some privacy. Anyone who has ever used a crowd as a blanket will understand that. The backdrop of Tokyo makes this a fun read for western women. The cultural disparity between east and west makes for an atmosphere akin to Hello Kitty in a porn flick.
The story is solid, has depth and deserves attention. However, this debut novel is just that. I expect to see some good things from Hanrahan in the future. Lost Girls combines the banality of youth, the disorientation of living in a foreign country, and the angst of an adolescence not left behind. But, stylistically, it is distracting. The book jerked me from one perspective to another, going from a barrage of sentence fragments to run-ons. The story shifted from first to second person and then back again. I’m sure that these shifts were an intentional move on behalf of literary license, but I just found myself wanting to reach for a red pen.
Well, she was right. Lost Girls and Love Hotels is not Chick Lit. Lost Girls is about a Canadian girl who went to Japan for some privacy. Anyone who has ever used a crowd as a blanket will understand that. The backdrop of Tokyo makes this a fun read for western women. The cultural disparity between east and west makes for an atmosphere akin to Hello Kitty in a porn flick.
The story is solid, has depth and deserves attention. However, this debut novel is just that. I expect to see some good things from Hanrahan in the future. Lost Girls combines the banality of youth, the disorientation of living in a foreign country, and the angst of an adolescence not left behind. But, stylistically, it is distracting. The book jerked me from one perspective to another, going from a barrage of sentence fragments to run-ons. The story shifted from first to second person and then back again. I’m sure that these shifts were an intentional move on behalf of literary license, but I just found myself wanting to reach for a red pen.
August 2, 2021
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
This is a very quick read that has a bit of a Japanese light novel feel with a literary classic feel to the writing.
Margaret's past and her relationship with her family is explored throughout the novel as she finds herself in Japan teaching English to flight stewardesses.
She finds the life of sleeping around to be a thrill, never quite calling anyone her boyfriend. When Kazu enters her world, she isn't sure if he's a bad man, or if he might be the one she may stick with, or something else entirely.
I really enjoyed how quick this novel was. The chapters are short and make the pacing jump from page to page, similar to Margaret's jump from bed to bed, guy to guy.
I do recommend this for an older reader, and I love the literary feel to the quickness of this novel.
This is a very quick read that has a bit of a Japanese light novel feel with a literary classic feel to the writing.
Margaret's past and her relationship with her family is explored throughout the novel as she finds herself in Japan teaching English to flight stewardesses.
She finds the life of sleeping around to be a thrill, never quite calling anyone her boyfriend. When Kazu enters her world, she isn't sure if he's a bad man, or if he might be the one she may stick with, or something else entirely.
I really enjoyed how quick this novel was. The chapters are short and make the pacing jump from page to page, similar to Margaret's jump from bed to bed, guy to guy.
I do recommend this for an older reader, and I love the literary feel to the quickness of this novel.
February 9, 2008
I was a sucker for "Lost in Tokyo" stories long before Sofia C. & Bill Murray got "Lost in Translation"; and a "Lost in Tokyo" story is exactly what this book is. This book, however, adds a layer of suspense and paranoia by tossing a serial killer tale into the mix of the usual frothy Sex, Neon and Booze soaked ambience that tends to pervade any "Gaijin in the Capital City" story. Perfect reading for the bus or a lazy afternoon involving cake. Or Sour Patch Kids. Anyway, you get the point: A guilty pleasure but one with some guts. Literally.
June 22, 2021
There is only one disappointing thing about this book… It’s the only one she’s written! I mean! 😮 I was left hungry for more from her. How can you tease us with all that talent and leave us hanging for more? 😕
Truly loved it. Miles better than the movie btw. The movie was quite good but the book 👌🏼 Yeahp 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Truly loved it. Miles better than the movie btw. The movie was quite good but the book 👌🏼 Yeahp 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
December 23, 2021
This book is kind of terrible. But not unenjoyable. I still enjoyed it a little?
But also… WTF is this book?
I can never work out whether the number of stars should be for how good the book is, or how much I enjoyed it…
But also… WTF is this book?
I can never work out whether the number of stars should be for how good the book is, or how much I enjoyed it…
March 1, 2021
I really enjoyed this book, but I wish it had been researched / edited better! Considering the author apparently lived in Japan for 5 years, I was a little confused by some of the mistakes in the text - she uses the word "renkan" instead of "genkan", "omotosando" instead of "omotesando", and in one part mixes up two different yokai; tengu and kappa. Ines scolds Adam for not knowing how to order a drink in Japanese immediately after ordering a "jinu toniku" - the correct japanese would actually be "jin tonikku". I guess some of the smaller language mistakes could be shrugged off as the characters themselves not speaking the language, but in the context of the story that didn't really seem to be the case.
I also found the ending a little unrealistic considering that the ahem ... action ... Kazu takes is really only limited to apologies between yakuza members. But hey, it sure was poetic~
I wish it had been a little longer so that we could get to know Margaret a bit better and have more of a build-up in the relationship between her and Kazu (it kind of felt like she fell in love with him after two dates? and there was no explanation as to why her relationship with him lacked the bdsm vibes that she was demanding from everyone else? on that note why does Margaret use the word "passive" instead of "submissive"?)
buuuut despite all the nitpicking, I really enjoyed this and thought the writing was beautiful. It painted a really true-to-life image of Tokyo, very cold and harsh yet dreamy and endless.
I also found the ending a little unrealistic considering that the ahem ... action ... Kazu takes is really only limited to apologies between yakuza members. But hey, it sure was poetic~
I wish it had been a little longer so that we could get to know Margaret a bit better and have more of a build-up in the relationship between her and Kazu (it kind of felt like she fell in love with him after two dates? and there was no explanation as to why her relationship with him lacked the bdsm vibes that she was demanding from everyone else? on that note why does Margaret use the word "passive" instead of "submissive"?)
buuuut despite all the nitpicking, I really enjoyed this and thought the writing was beautiful. It painted a really true-to-life image of Tokyo, very cold and harsh yet dreamy and endless.
January 3, 2024
I love books that take place in Japan. In Lost Girls and Love Hotels, Tokyo is essentially a character of its own. Margaret, the main character is lost. She is aimless, without purpose, searching for ways to lose herself in the city. The story flashes back every few chapters to her childhood, and her brother’s growing schizophrenia. I really appreciated the vibes of this book: purposefully listless.
August 26, 2024
i see parts of myself in margaret, not sure if that is good or bad, but i did need the reminder that things are constantly changing, and that it’s not always a bad thing. also i hope ines and adam were living it up in bali.
November 3, 2020
3.5
Bisschen seltsam aber trotzdem fesselnd.
Bisschen seltsam aber trotzdem fesselnd.
Read
February 5, 2022ich bin verwirrt.
September 3, 2020
The making a movie out of this book, hope that will be better. If you're looking for a book about a depressed western girl looking for love in exotic Japan - it's NOT it! The book description promised something, dark, sexy, unusual, blended with cultural references. It reads fast, but for me, there wasn't enough love or Japan. It's not deep in life and emotions of a family with a mentally unhealthy child, nor good with descriptions of the main characters love life, to the brink where at the end chapter of the book, the writer had to put love confession into the protagonist's mouth because it wasn't obvious to the reader. I was hoping for more, maybe the movie will be better.
September 18, 2020
At a glance, the synopsis for Catherine Hanrahan's LOST GIRLS AND LOVE HOTELS (and the trailer for the film adaptation starring Alexandra Daddario) gives the impression of "50 SHADES OF GRAY, but in Japan." I can't speak for the film, which I plan to watch this weekend, but the book is not that. Not in the slightest.
LOST GIRLS follows Margaret, a young woman who teaches English to stewardesses-in-training in Tokyo. At night, she gets drunk, high, or both, and seeks attention from men in love hotels, a fixture in Japan that resemble regular hotels but with themed rooms such as a merry-go-round room with a bed that, yes, functions like a merry-go-round.
Margaret lives this destructive lifestyle not because she's in desperate need of a good time, but because she is a lost girl. Hanrahan's prose jumps in fits and starts. It's not merely a case of an excellent author who knows not to show every physical movement a character makes. You get the impression that Margaret is losing time: a few seconds here, a few minutes or hours there. Even the book's paragraph structure--and I'm a big fan of this technique in my writing--consists of one simple sentence with a noun-verb usage, then subsequent sentences with just verbs. It reads a bit jerkily, which is the point.
The book's tone is masterfully done, flowing between Margaret's trials with cynicism mixed in for both humor and to show how apathetic she's become, to scenes that gave me chills from the dread, existential or physical or both, they instilled.
LOVE GIRLS may seem too threadbare for some. I've seen reviews that complained about a lack of character development, but that's not true despite the book's lightweight page count. Margaret is a lost girl searching for human connections. Every step she takes brings her farther from or closer to them, and I rooted for her the whole time.
LOST GIRLS follows Margaret, a young woman who teaches English to stewardesses-in-training in Tokyo. At night, she gets drunk, high, or both, and seeks attention from men in love hotels, a fixture in Japan that resemble regular hotels but with themed rooms such as a merry-go-round room with a bed that, yes, functions like a merry-go-round.
Margaret lives this destructive lifestyle not because she's in desperate need of a good time, but because she is a lost girl. Hanrahan's prose jumps in fits and starts. It's not merely a case of an excellent author who knows not to show every physical movement a character makes. You get the impression that Margaret is losing time: a few seconds here, a few minutes or hours there. Even the book's paragraph structure--and I'm a big fan of this technique in my writing--consists of one simple sentence with a noun-verb usage, then subsequent sentences with just verbs. It reads a bit jerkily, which is the point.
The book's tone is masterfully done, flowing between Margaret's trials with cynicism mixed in for both humor and to show how apathetic she's become, to scenes that gave me chills from the dread, existential or physical or both, they instilled.
LOVE GIRLS may seem too threadbare for some. I've seen reviews that complained about a lack of character development, but that's not true despite the book's lightweight page count. Margaret is a lost girl searching for human connections. Every step she takes brings her farther from or closer to them, and I rooted for her the whole time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews