90-Day Geisha: My Time as a Tokyo Hostess

Even before I started reading 90-Day Geisha, I obviously knew that I wasn't about to read a "fine" classic. That's fine with me - not every book has to be written "for the rest of time". As a matter of fact, I love reading a book about someone else's experiences - especially if these are experiences that I will never, ever live myself. This book qualifies. I had heard many weird things about Tokyo over the years - how basically they live quite differently than we do and, in the process, look at things in a very different view. I suppose this is why I was not remotrely shocked or surprised by this storyline. So, the author wanted to try an experiment? okay, it is a little out there for most of us, but to each their own and I am happy that she wrote a book about it. Certainly, it takes some kind of courage to do what this author did - I can't imagine how she could have truly survived it, but I think that she does a great job of telling us how it felt and what she experienced through it all. I knew that things are different in Tokyo - but wow! some of the people she meets are truly weird and/or scary. I suppose it would be somewhat predictable that she would fall into the "millieu" she spent so much time in - and the part of the book that felt the most real to me is the part where she talks about her downfall into that world. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, I thought it took guts to do what she did and then more guts to write about it.

90-Day Geisha is a detailed look into an aspect of Japanese culture not widely explored; that of a Tokyo hostess. Chelsea gives a first-hand account of her time spent as a hostess in the Roppongi district, entertaining Japanese business men and being taken on lavish shopping sprees and dinner dates. Chelsea's ability to hook the reader from the first page is one not often found in a first time author. Her candid writing style allows for a story that is believable, even as she recounts stories of unimaginable wealth, cultural curiosities, infatuation, crime and mystery. I sat and read this novel straight through. It is genuinely captivating, with all the classic elements of a good story; love, adventure, mystery and testing of one's moral compass. Though all these elements exist, they are presented in a manner that is original and kept me guessing at how everything would resolve right up until the last page. Well worth a read, I believe that we will be seeing much more from this author in the future.