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Amorous Woman
The day I left Japan, I stared at my reflection in the mirror in the airport ladies' room and made the following I would never tell another lie, especially to myself. I would never let desire overwhelm common sense. I would never sleep with a man who was married to someone else, mime fellatio with a complete stranger on a stage, or take money for sex again. In fact, to cover all bases, I would never have sex again with anyone, man or woman, for the rest of my life.
For a sum much smaller than a plane ticket an American woman can travel to a rustic hot-spring inn where anything goes after midnight, don the gorgeous kimono of a Japanese bride, romp in the dungeon rooms of tacky love hotels, act out an orgy straight from manga porn, and slip inside Kyoto’s most exclusive restaurants for exquisite dinners of seduction. The Amorous Woman experiences almost every flavor of erotic pleasure Japan has to offer—and she’s happy to take you along for the ride. Inspired by Ihara Saikaku’s 17th-century satiric novel of the pleasure quarters, this story of an American woman’s love affair with Japan—and many sexy men and women along the way—gives readers a chance to journey to a Japan few tourists ever see.
For a sum much smaller than a plane ticket an American woman can travel to a rustic hot-spring inn where anything goes after midnight, don the gorgeous kimono of a Japanese bride, romp in the dungeon rooms of tacky love hotels, act out an orgy straight from manga porn, and slip inside Kyoto’s most exclusive restaurants for exquisite dinners of seduction. The Amorous Woman experiences almost every flavor of erotic pleasure Japan has to offer—and she’s happy to take you along for the ride. Inspired by Ihara Saikaku’s 17th-century satiric novel of the pleasure quarters, this story of an American woman’s love affair with Japan—and many sexy men and women along the way—gives readers a chance to journey to a Japan few tourists ever see.
352 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2007
8 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Donna George Storey
67 books47 followersDonna George Storey has taught English in Japan and Japanese at Stanford and U.C. Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Stanford and has published over sixty literary and/or erotic stories and essays in Prairie Schooner, Gettysburg Review, Fourth Genre, Wine Spectator, Best American Erotica, Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica, Ageless Erotica and elsewhere. Her work also received special mention in Pushcart Prize Stories 2004. Her first novel, Amorous Woman (print: Orion, 2007; ebook: Stonebridge Press/Iro Books, 2012) is the story of an American woman’s (very steamy) love affair with Japan inspired by Ihara Saikaku’s classic 17th century novel of the pleasure quarters. She is also the author of Child of Darkness: Yoko and Other Stories by Furui Yoshikichi (Center for Japanese Studies, 1997), a translation from the Japanese with critical commentaries. She also currently writes a monthly column about her favorite topics— delicious sex, well-crafted food, and mind-blowing writing--for the Erotica Readers and Writers Association.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 25, 2008
A few years back I was propelled into an interest in eastern culture by its poetry. First T’ang China (not fine dinnerware for a breakfast drink) then Edo Period Japanese Haiku. As I am not a speaker of any eastern languages, this exploration has been limited to being cast through a lens of translators. I’ve found that this distillation can have profound impact.
Donna George Storey’s Amorous Woman is about American woman who becomes enamored of Japan and begins a quest to immerse herself in it. Parallel to this quest, the main character, Lydia continues a quest to immerse herself in, well, amour. While exotic and highlighting differences in cultures, it is infinitely accessible to western experience. Lydia is a fascinating, complex, earthy and sexy character. I sensed her being exotic in Japan, and felt a part of her battle to become a part of Japanese society, in a sense overcome her American-ness. Storey’s writing is passionate but measured, and evokes the brevity and power of Japanese poetry. The erotic scenes are tactile and arousing. The plot is rich and well developed. The sense of new experiences, erotic and otherwise, is immediate. Sentences convey deeper meanings.
The Japanese characters in Amorous Woman displayed both differences and similarities to their American counterparts, and step beyond the hackneyed stereotypes that some Americans seem so fond of. And yet, these stereotypes are addressed, to an extent, in Lydia’s vast imagination. And the voyages through Lydia’s imagination are wonderful excursions unto themselves!
Master translators like Burton Watson convey the energy and expanse of compact Eastern poetry with an authenticity that can engage a western imagination while keeping true to the original works. Donna George Storey’s Amorous Woman likewise translates the experience of an American woman’s voyage through Japanese society in the same manner.
Donna George Storey’s Amorous Woman is about American woman who becomes enamored of Japan and begins a quest to immerse herself in it. Parallel to this quest, the main character, Lydia continues a quest to immerse herself in, well, amour. While exotic and highlighting differences in cultures, it is infinitely accessible to western experience. Lydia is a fascinating, complex, earthy and sexy character. I sensed her being exotic in Japan, and felt a part of her battle to become a part of Japanese society, in a sense overcome her American-ness. Storey’s writing is passionate but measured, and evokes the brevity and power of Japanese poetry. The erotic scenes are tactile and arousing. The plot is rich and well developed. The sense of new experiences, erotic and otherwise, is immediate. Sentences convey deeper meanings.
The Japanese characters in Amorous Woman displayed both differences and similarities to their American counterparts, and step beyond the hackneyed stereotypes that some Americans seem so fond of. And yet, these stereotypes are addressed, to an extent, in Lydia’s vast imagination. And the voyages through Lydia’s imagination are wonderful excursions unto themselves!
Master translators like Burton Watson convey the energy and expanse of compact Eastern poetry with an authenticity that can engage a western imagination while keeping true to the original works. Donna George Storey’s Amorous Woman likewise translates the experience of an American woman’s voyage through Japanese society in the same manner.
July 27, 2008
The cover of the erotic novel Amorous Woman has a seductive-looking Japanese woman tempting you to come hither and read the story that is clearly for "adults only" (as the cover warns). The prologue has the title character, Lydia, looking at her reflection in an airport mirror and swearing off sex in any form as she departs Japan for the United States, her homeland. Lydia isn't Japanese—she's a blonde American—but the reflection she sees (or imagines she sees) could very well be the Japanese woman from the book's cover. Lydia is in love with Japan, and her move there was an attempt not just to become Japanese, but to become part of Japan itself. Yet she'll always be a gaijin, a foreigner.
Lydia had moved to Japan to teach English, and to immerse herself in the Japanese culture. What follows is her sexual awakening, one that is driven by a fantasy life that barely stays one step ahead of Lydia's sexual reality. In fact, one feeds off the other. And don't forget, this is an erotic novel, and nothing is left to the reader's imagination. Yet, Amorous Woman is so much more than just the sex. Lydia's sexuality awakens, true, but so does her yearnings for romance, her lost father, and for just plain more out of life. This leads to a self-destructive lifestyle, as far as relationships go, that escalates to a point of no return.
The book begins with Lydia back in the States, telling her story to two young men who are her students (now she's teaching Japanese to Americans set to work in Japan). We get to hear the story along with them, and learn what happened to drive her out of the adopted country she loves. And what a story! Author Donna George Storey holds a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Stanford, and like her character Lydia, spent time in Japan teaching English. She knows the territory. Storey's writing is very descriptive, and brings you right into Lydia's fantasy world of Japan. From the traditional marriages, to the fine restaurants (serving exotic, dangerous dishes like fugu), to the "love hotels" where married people go to cheat on their spouses and live out their wildest fetishes, to the hot springs resorts in the mountains north of Tokyo:
The bathhouse was deserted, the water smooth and glassy. Hot spring baths in Japan usually follow a guiding fantasy, transporting the bather to a rocky grotto, a tropical garden or terrace with the perfect view of Mount Fuji, even if the mountain itself is an image set in mosaic tile. This inn was more ambitious than most. The soaring cross-beamed ceiling, glowing pedestal lanterns, and swimming pool-sized cedar tub brought to mind the cathedral of a cult that worshipped both purity and indulgence. I was more than eager to make my own offering on its altar.
Lydia affairs aren't only with the men of Japan, but with Japan itself. And we get to go along for the ride. But what eventually makes the love affair end, what drives her back into the arms of America? What happened in Japan to have her swear off sex forever? The answer to those questions is why this book is a page turner—and not just because of the hot, steamy sex scenes.
But does the Amorous Woman really change her ways when she gets back to the States, and live a chaste life? Or will the old pull of sex draw her back into a self-destructive lifestyle? Will she ever find love again? Will the two young businessmen she is telling the story to revive her amorous ways by the end of the tale?
Maybe this isn't the last we've heard from the Amorous Woman. It's definitely not the last we've heard from Donna George Storey.
Lydia had moved to Japan to teach English, and to immerse herself in the Japanese culture. What follows is her sexual awakening, one that is driven by a fantasy life that barely stays one step ahead of Lydia's sexual reality. In fact, one feeds off the other. And don't forget, this is an erotic novel, and nothing is left to the reader's imagination. Yet, Amorous Woman is so much more than just the sex. Lydia's sexuality awakens, true, but so does her yearnings for romance, her lost father, and for just plain more out of life. This leads to a self-destructive lifestyle, as far as relationships go, that escalates to a point of no return.
The book begins with Lydia back in the States, telling her story to two young men who are her students (now she's teaching Japanese to Americans set to work in Japan). We get to hear the story along with them, and learn what happened to drive her out of the adopted country she loves. And what a story! Author Donna George Storey holds a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Stanford, and like her character Lydia, spent time in Japan teaching English. She knows the territory. Storey's writing is very descriptive, and brings you right into Lydia's fantasy world of Japan. From the traditional marriages, to the fine restaurants (serving exotic, dangerous dishes like fugu), to the "love hotels" where married people go to cheat on their spouses and live out their wildest fetishes, to the hot springs resorts in the mountains north of Tokyo:
The bathhouse was deserted, the water smooth and glassy. Hot spring baths in Japan usually follow a guiding fantasy, transporting the bather to a rocky grotto, a tropical garden or terrace with the perfect view of Mount Fuji, even if the mountain itself is an image set in mosaic tile. This inn was more ambitious than most. The soaring cross-beamed ceiling, glowing pedestal lanterns, and swimming pool-sized cedar tub brought to mind the cathedral of a cult that worshipped both purity and indulgence. I was more than eager to make my own offering on its altar.
Lydia affairs aren't only with the men of Japan, but with Japan itself. And we get to go along for the ride. But what eventually makes the love affair end, what drives her back into the arms of America? What happened in Japan to have her swear off sex forever? The answer to those questions is why this book is a page turner—and not just because of the hot, steamy sex scenes.
But does the Amorous Woman really change her ways when she gets back to the States, and live a chaste life? Or will the old pull of sex draw her back into a self-destructive lifestyle? Will she ever find love again? Will the two young businessmen she is telling the story to revive her amorous ways by the end of the tale?
Maybe this isn't the last we've heard from the Amorous Woman. It's definitely not the last we've heard from Donna George Storey.
February 2, 2008
Donna George Storey's Amorous Woman is extraordinary. I don't know too many other novels that manage to be so thoughtful, exciting, arousing and just plain fun to read all at the same time. The plot is modelled after a 17th century Japanese novel and features a first person narrator called Lydia Yoshikawa, a Caucasian woman who got her last name through marriage to a Japanese man. Lydia is not your typical heroine; she's a complex, finely drawn character who re-fashions herself in the Far East, using her outsider status to explore different personae both in and out of bed. I love Lydia's protean, adventurous nature. I also admire her strength, independence, and determination. What I love best about Lydia, however, is her sense of humor. Lydia's subtle wit and sharp, funny insights make her a fresh, compelling protagonist--I miss her now that the novel's over!
Amorous Woman is structured around a series of stories Lydia tells to two young American men upon her return to the United States. The stories, told in chronological order, depict her erotic relationships with different men in Japan. I don't know anyone who writes about sex better than Storey--she's a master. But there's much more to the novel than this. Through each erotic encounter, we gain fascinating, intimate insights into Lydia's love affair with the country and with Japanese culture. This feels to me what the novel is ultimately about: the fascination, admiration, and ultimately love of a foreigner for a country notoriously hard for outsiders to gain access to. Storey has this access and the novel reflects it. What's more, she includes mesmerizing details about Japanese life, including courtship, marriage, food, and art. By reading Amorous Woman, you're guaranteed not only to enjoy every page, but to come away feeling like you've experienced a little of Japan yourself. I recommend this book not only to fans of erotica (who will certainly love it) but to anyone who loves travel writing or literary fiction or just good, old-fashioned storytelling.
Amorous Woman is structured around a series of stories Lydia tells to two young American men upon her return to the United States. The stories, told in chronological order, depict her erotic relationships with different men in Japan. I don't know anyone who writes about sex better than Storey--she's a master. But there's much more to the novel than this. Through each erotic encounter, we gain fascinating, intimate insights into Lydia's love affair with the country and with Japanese culture. This feels to me what the novel is ultimately about: the fascination, admiration, and ultimately love of a foreigner for a country notoriously hard for outsiders to gain access to. Storey has this access and the novel reflects it. What's more, she includes mesmerizing details about Japanese life, including courtship, marriage, food, and art. By reading Amorous Woman, you're guaranteed not only to enjoy every page, but to come away feeling like you've experienced a little of Japan yourself. I recommend this book not only to fans of erotica (who will certainly love it) but to anyone who loves travel writing or literary fiction or just good, old-fashioned storytelling.
January 11, 2011
The overall magnificence of Amorous Woman is so seamless that it feels almost hard to step back to distinguish and articulate the incredible aspects of it as a creative work. But the simple beauty of the writing, the strikingness of the imagery and opportunity to experience another culture so extraordinarily intimately, and the incredible expression and examination of the characters through their virtually flawless presentation are all abundant characteristics of this novel -- together, they form a work of art truly greater than the sum of its parts. Amorous Woman's erotic emphasis is remarkable in its dual effectiveness of being both erotically scintillating and deeply explorative and illuminative of the story's characters. And these characters are positively entrancing, displayed in a stunningly mesmerizing story with beautiful, exquisite prose. It was a reading experience that left me reeling, and I could not recommend it more highly.
February 14, 2008
I enjoyed this romp through Japan, courtesy of Donna Storey. Storey draws a colorful tale that is rich in detail and makes me yearn to head off to Japan RIGHT NOW. The book is full of adventure, fantasy, sex, and a very engaging narrator who tries to make a home for herself in Japan. Although she masters the language and embraces Japanese history and customs, she is always an outsider, driven first to a rich fantasy life and then to actualizing those dreams. Ultimately, she remains true to her self, though I won't reveal more of the path she takes because I know the narrator would rather tilt her head flirtatiously and smile which, as she says, is the best response, because it suggests everything.
March 25, 2013
Absolutely stunning book. It is seamless and flawless. I would recommend this book.
June 11, 2011
I was musing about erotica recently and realized that all my own novels, as well as most of my favorite work by other authors, could be viewed as stories about journeys. I'm not talking about travel in space. I am referring to an intellectual and emotional exploration, a progression in which characters begin in one psychological place and end up somewhere quite different, changed, more perceptive, perhaps more accepting of themselves, with an improved understanding of their needs and desires. Of course, many mainstream novels can be seen in this light. In erotica, however, the characters' sexual activities and discoveries are the agents of change.
Donna George Storey's wonderful first novel AMOROUS WOMAN is an exceptional example. In the case of Lydia, Ms. Storey's heroine, there is a physical voyage as well, to the fascinating and frustrating culture of contemporary Japan. However, Lydia's real journey is internal, as she strives to balance her sometimes reckless hunger for new sensations with her need for human connection.
Lydia flies to Kyoto eager to taste all the cultural and sensual delicacies that Japan has to offer. Fluent in Japanese, she finds the country more accessible than it would be to most, but in her relationships with its people, and especially its men, she is repeatedly disappointed. She becomes an English teacher bedding college boys, a dutiful wife to a handsome but overworked salaryman, mistress and companion to a powerful tycoon, an exclusive female escort, a sex performer. The delicate perversity of Japanese sexuality continually attracts her. She aches to be included, but no matter how correct her grammar and how outrageous her sexual behavior, ultimately, she remains the gaijin, the stranger.
Ms. Storey takes us back to meet Lydia in her teens, when she first discovers the power of her sexual imagination. From her worldly older cousin she learns the difference between "good" and "bad" girls; it is abundantly clear which category she belongs to. Her imaginary lover encourages her to be audacious:
=====================
"You have become a bad girl since you started listening to your cousin. But of course I'm very glad that you're taking her advice. The world would be a happier place with more women like her."
"I'm not sure I have the nerve to do what she said," I confessed.
"Of course you do. I want you to do it and you don't want to disappoint me. Why don't you pick up that brush and press it against your virgin hole?"
With a quivering hand, I reached for the brush and held the rounded end of the handle against my secret lips.
...
"Very good. I knew you could do it. Now move it in and out slowly. I know you want to open yourself for your lover. And for me."
This is indeed exactly what I wanted to do. Somehow he always knew just what to make me do, as if he could see desires inside me I didn't myself understand.
======================
Lydia brings this openness to experience, this willingness to take risks, with her to Japan, where it carries her into adventures and even dangers. What she really craves, though, is to belong.
======================
"What brings you to Japan, Lydia-san?" Dr. Shinohara asked.
...
The honest answer was that I came because I craved adventure, a life of surprises, a non-stop feast of exotic sensual pleasure, anything but a job in investment banking like most of my college friends. But at this point it was probably better to give the doctor my safe, standard line.
"I came to Kyoto to learn traditional Japanese dance."
"I see. Do you enjoy wearing kimono?"
Should I tell him the truth now -- that it feels unspeakably sexy to wear one and I loved being bound by the column of cloth hobbling my legs and the obi's snug embrace of my breasts? It probably meant I was a sexual masochist, but I didn't really want to admit it. More exciting was the promise of transformation through that bondage, the chance to shed my foreign awkwardness for the Japanese dancer's gliding grace.
"Yes, I do like wearing kimono, but it's a challenge, too. I have to move my body in a different way, so maybe I can understand, just a little, what it's like to be Japanese. I think it is the Japanese way, in dance and in life, to transform ..." I pulled my English-Japanese dictionary from my book bag and quickly leafed through it for the right word.
"Constriction," Dr. Matsumoto read out for me.
"To transform constriction into art."
"Lydia-san understands Japan very well," Dr. Shinohara said to his friend.
...
I bowed my head, my cheeks burning with pleasure. I'd not only been seen, but embraced. How could he have known that was my secret fantasy - the fantasy of all true Kyoto gaijin - that our wandering spirits had reconnected us with us with our lost host?
======================
Lydia's journey takes years. As she delves deeper into Japanese culture as well as her own sexual complexities, she feels more rather than less alien. She begins to take greater risks, flaunting her extravagant sexuality because she can, rather than because she really wants to. Finally, confronted with a man who desires and understands her, whom she probably could love if he weren't married, she has the courage to stop and examine her behavior and desires, and to choose a new path.
I enjoyed AMOROUS WOMAN more than any erotic novel I've read in a long while. Ms. Storey writes with insight and humor. She vividly conveys the sensual experiences of living in a new land.
============================================
Each day of my first year in Kyoto brought some wonderful new discovery - a mysterious fox shrine tucked away in a winding alley, the beguiling sweetness of bean jam wrapped in soft rice pastry, a lovely boy bowing nervously as I ushered him into my apartment. Even in the recollection there is magic. The whole year seems to fold in on itself like a dancer's fan, leaving one perfect day in high summer.
=============================================
As someone who has made her own voyages of discovery into strange cultures, I strongly identified with Lydia and her lust for new experience, as well as her desire to be a part of the wonders around her.
However, Ms. Storey understands more than just foreign cultures. She is an expert at expressing the complexities of sexual relationships. AMOROUS WOMAN includes both real encounters and some deliciously extreme fantasies that Lydia entertains. I found the real-world scenarios more exciting. Ms. Storey manages to show us Lydia's doubts, fears and confusion while still keeping the sexual temperature turned up to the maximum.
AMOROUS WOMAN is definitely arousing but it is much more than a light-hearted bedroom romp through Japan. It is a believable and moving tale of one woman's journey of sexual self-discovery. If you don't mind some serious content mixed with your sex, I recommend it highly.
Donna George Storey's wonderful first novel AMOROUS WOMAN is an exceptional example. In the case of Lydia, Ms. Storey's heroine, there is a physical voyage as well, to the fascinating and frustrating culture of contemporary Japan. However, Lydia's real journey is internal, as she strives to balance her sometimes reckless hunger for new sensations with her need for human connection.
Lydia flies to Kyoto eager to taste all the cultural and sensual delicacies that Japan has to offer. Fluent in Japanese, she finds the country more accessible than it would be to most, but in her relationships with its people, and especially its men, she is repeatedly disappointed. She becomes an English teacher bedding college boys, a dutiful wife to a handsome but overworked salaryman, mistress and companion to a powerful tycoon, an exclusive female escort, a sex performer. The delicate perversity of Japanese sexuality continually attracts her. She aches to be included, but no matter how correct her grammar and how outrageous her sexual behavior, ultimately, she remains the gaijin, the stranger.
Ms. Storey takes us back to meet Lydia in her teens, when she first discovers the power of her sexual imagination. From her worldly older cousin she learns the difference between "good" and "bad" girls; it is abundantly clear which category she belongs to. Her imaginary lover encourages her to be audacious:
=====================
"You have become a bad girl since you started listening to your cousin. But of course I'm very glad that you're taking her advice. The world would be a happier place with more women like her."
"I'm not sure I have the nerve to do what she said," I confessed.
"Of course you do. I want you to do it and you don't want to disappoint me. Why don't you pick up that brush and press it against your virgin hole?"
With a quivering hand, I reached for the brush and held the rounded end of the handle against my secret lips.
...
"Very good. I knew you could do it. Now move it in and out slowly. I know you want to open yourself for your lover. And for me."
This is indeed exactly what I wanted to do. Somehow he always knew just what to make me do, as if he could see desires inside me I didn't myself understand.
======================
Lydia brings this openness to experience, this willingness to take risks, with her to Japan, where it carries her into adventures and even dangers. What she really craves, though, is to belong.
======================
"What brings you to Japan, Lydia-san?" Dr. Shinohara asked.
...
The honest answer was that I came because I craved adventure, a life of surprises, a non-stop feast of exotic sensual pleasure, anything but a job in investment banking like most of my college friends. But at this point it was probably better to give the doctor my safe, standard line.
"I came to Kyoto to learn traditional Japanese dance."
"I see. Do you enjoy wearing kimono?"
Should I tell him the truth now -- that it feels unspeakably sexy to wear one and I loved being bound by the column of cloth hobbling my legs and the obi's snug embrace of my breasts? It probably meant I was a sexual masochist, but I didn't really want to admit it. More exciting was the promise of transformation through that bondage, the chance to shed my foreign awkwardness for the Japanese dancer's gliding grace.
"Yes, I do like wearing kimono, but it's a challenge, too. I have to move my body in a different way, so maybe I can understand, just a little, what it's like to be Japanese. I think it is the Japanese way, in dance and in life, to transform ..." I pulled my English-Japanese dictionary from my book bag and quickly leafed through it for the right word.
"Constriction," Dr. Matsumoto read out for me.
"To transform constriction into art."
"Lydia-san understands Japan very well," Dr. Shinohara said to his friend.
...
I bowed my head, my cheeks burning with pleasure. I'd not only been seen, but embraced. How could he have known that was my secret fantasy - the fantasy of all true Kyoto gaijin - that our wandering spirits had reconnected us with us with our lost host?
======================
Lydia's journey takes years. As she delves deeper into Japanese culture as well as her own sexual complexities, she feels more rather than less alien. She begins to take greater risks, flaunting her extravagant sexuality because she can, rather than because she really wants to. Finally, confronted with a man who desires and understands her, whom she probably could love if he weren't married, she has the courage to stop and examine her behavior and desires, and to choose a new path.
I enjoyed AMOROUS WOMAN more than any erotic novel I've read in a long while. Ms. Storey writes with insight and humor. She vividly conveys the sensual experiences of living in a new land.
============================================
Each day of my first year in Kyoto brought some wonderful new discovery - a mysterious fox shrine tucked away in a winding alley, the beguiling sweetness of bean jam wrapped in soft rice pastry, a lovely boy bowing nervously as I ushered him into my apartment. Even in the recollection there is magic. The whole year seems to fold in on itself like a dancer's fan, leaving one perfect day in high summer.
=============================================
As someone who has made her own voyages of discovery into strange cultures, I strongly identified with Lydia and her lust for new experience, as well as her desire to be a part of the wonders around her.
However, Ms. Storey understands more than just foreign cultures. She is an expert at expressing the complexities of sexual relationships. AMOROUS WOMAN includes both real encounters and some deliciously extreme fantasies that Lydia entertains. I found the real-world scenarios more exciting. Ms. Storey manages to show us Lydia's doubts, fears and confusion while still keeping the sexual temperature turned up to the maximum.
AMOROUS WOMAN is definitely arousing but it is much more than a light-hearted bedroom romp through Japan. It is a believable and moving tale of one woman's journey of sexual self-discovery. If you don't mind some serious content mixed with your sex, I recommend it highly.
March 24, 2013
Amorous Woman is the story of a young American immersing herself into the culture and society of Japan. She is fascinated by all things Japanese and wants to experience all that she can in the time that is allowed to her. She is drawn to the sexual secrets that lie below the surface in Japanese society. She seems to become fascinated with the Japanese slow but deliberate courtship rules and the keeping of secret lovers.
Her acceptance into Japanese life seems complete when she marries a Japanese businessman and settles in to the life of a Japanese wife. But the drive for success and trying to get ahead by the males of Japan leaves her alone at home too many evenings and weekends for her to remain happy. Her search for physical satisfaction leads her to search out others that might be able to meet her needs. Will she ever truly find what she is searching to find? She returns to America, I believe content, with herself and the time spent in Japan.
The look at Japanese culture through this young ladies eyes is very interesting. She gives us a peek at parts of the Japanese society that we do not normally see or read about. The story has its lighter moments and the love the heroine has for Japan comes through her telling of her story. A very good read.
Her acceptance into Japanese life seems complete when she marries a Japanese businessman and settles in to the life of a Japanese wife. But the drive for success and trying to get ahead by the males of Japan leaves her alone at home too many evenings and weekends for her to remain happy. Her search for physical satisfaction leads her to search out others that might be able to meet her needs. Will she ever truly find what she is searching to find? She returns to America, I believe content, with herself and the time spent in Japan.
The look at Japanese culture through this young ladies eyes is very interesting. She gives us a peek at parts of the Japanese society that we do not normally see or read about. The story has its lighter moments and the love the heroine has for Japan comes through her telling of her story. A very good read.
June 17, 2013
The day I left Japan, I stared at my reflection in the mirror in the airport ladies' room and made the following vows: I would never tell another lie, especially to myself. I would never let desire overwhelm common sense. I would never sleep with a man who was married to someone else, mime fellatio with a complete stranger on a stage, or take money for sex again. In fact, to cover all bases, I would never have sex again with anyone, man or woman, for the rest of my life.
Received as part of Feb 2012's LTER batch as ebook.
Lydia, a blond, blue eyed American is in Japan looking to seek out the exotic whilst feeling disconnected from her family. She enjoys sex, has her own little fantasies, but as she gets older and more dissatisfied at how her marriage and her life are going, she finds herself searching out more and more satisfaction in sex (but rarely finding it).
The story is good, with Japan being a "different" enough setting to keep the reader entertained and not skipping ahead. The erotica scenes are......not for the faint hearted or the prudish, but are more on the "safe" side of things.
Received as part of Feb 2012's LTER batch as ebook.
Lydia, a blond, blue eyed American is in Japan looking to seek out the exotic whilst feeling disconnected from her family. She enjoys sex, has her own little fantasies, but as she gets older and more dissatisfied at how her marriage and her life are going, she finds herself searching out more and more satisfaction in sex (but rarely finding it).
The story is good, with Japan being a "different" enough setting to keep the reader entertained and not skipping ahead. The erotica scenes are......not for the faint hearted or the prudish, but are more on the "safe" side of things.
June 14, 2013
Lydia is a woman instructing students in Japanese and Japanese culture when the story begins. She goes on to tell her students and us what her life was like while she lived her life in overseas in Japan. When I started to read this book I thought, oh here we go another Fifty Shades of Grey novel, but it was nothing of the sort... I loved that the story and our narrator took you straight to Japan as if you were there with her, watching from the corner of the room. It was captivating. While it was quite erotica that is not what really kept you reading. Its hard to put my finger on what was. I think it was a combination of the exquisite writing, the plot and the desire to know what was going to happen next to our young narrator. I would most definitely read another book by this author and would only hope it had the Japanese connection to it as it was fascinating and educational to read all the background that went with the story.
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April 23, 2009Amorous Woman is a smart erotica book, which makes it a rare thing. Lydia is an American woman, back in the US after a complex experience in Japan. She goes through her sexual adventures, her emotional needs, her new understanding of love and her self-destructive behavior. There's a smooth dialogue and interesting narration, and there is also a sly humor in and in between the lines. Naturally, it’s sexy, (and Donna is good at sex writing) even in the parts that deal more with sentiments. Highly enjoyable.
September 23, 2010
The cover of AMOUROUS WOMAN promises a sexy read. The book is that, and so much more. Donna George Storey is a gifted storyteller. Her voice is both lyrical and immediate. When I met the protagonist, Lydia, and her affair with all things Japanese began, I knew I wasn't going to be able to put this book down. I never had a clue where she was taking me next but I was right there with her, every step of the way. Rich with sensual detail, humour, and emotional complexity, AMOUROUS WOMAN is both a sensual and cultural journey. Highly recommended.
December 20, 2007
I admit I approached Donna Storey's Amorous Woman with trepidation. For one, there's a woman in her underwear on the cover. And then the back cover describes the book as "the erotic secrets of one woman's sexual awakening and her subsequent passions in Japan". Um. Not one to read on the commute then (luckily I work at home).
The book begins with
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The book begins with
For the rest of the review, visit
http://www.trashionista.com/2007/12/b...
August 24, 2008
A remarkable erotic novel about the adventures and misadventures of an American woman living in Japan in the 1980s and early 1990s. George captures cultural disjunction and mystique as well as she does sex, blending the two in a lovely and hot portrait of one woman's expatriot experience. I was intrigued by the characters as well. Highly recommended for anyone who like their erotica and their story beautifully tied together.
January 5, 2014
DNF
I realize this book is an erotic novel but i found it more like a made for tv porn than I did erotic. There was very little character building and a lot of extremely explicit sexual encounters. By page 12 the sexual content had already begun and was rather heavy. I did not finish this book (dnf) because I found it rather gross and I felt like it was something to be hidden, like I was doing something bad by reading it and I am in no way shy.
I realize this book is an erotic novel but i found it more like a made for tv porn than I did erotic. There was very little character building and a lot of extremely explicit sexual encounters. By page 12 the sexual content had already begun and was rather heavy. I did not finish this book (dnf) because I found it rather gross and I felt like it was something to be hidden, like I was doing something bad by reading it and I am in no way shy.
March 17, 2013
This author has a talent for words. Her description of everything from cherry blossoms to a decadent meal to her lover's hands are very vivid. I also enjoyed following Lydia along on her journey and all of the ups and downs that go along with trying to fit into a completely alien culture.Very well written, sexy and smart.
July 19, 2010
This book is very hot! More than just sexy, though, it also brings you into another world, another culture. You care about the lead character, there is depth to the writing--and did I mention it's hot?
May 25, 2009
Read my review online at Black Heart Magazine: http://blackheartmagazine.com/2009/05...
March 24, 2020
Donna George Storey's writing is sensually vivid and intricately beautiful with rich details. Amorous Woman is an erotic story of a young woman's sexual experiences while living in Japan. There are moments where Lydia seems to be spiraling out of control, and other times where she is very deliberate in her little quests. She can be manipulative in getting what she wants. It is interesting how she maneuvers in such a subtle culture.
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