Bar Flower: My Decadently Destructive Days and Nights as a Tokyo Nightclub Hostess

I didn't expect a Pulitzer Prize winning memoir, so I wasn't as disappointed as some are here. Overall, it's an OK read. It kept my interest the entire two days of reading. The style is simple, which was expected as well. The one thing that irritated me was the constant mistake between woman and women. I don't think she's ever used 'woman' in the entire book. I couldn't tell if it was intentional either. I would suggest it to anyone.

In Bar Flower: My Decadently Destructive Days and Nights as a Tokyo Nightclub Hostess, Lea Jacobson recounts the roughly two years she spent as a nightclub hostess in Tokyo's Ginza district. After she went to Japan in 2003 to work as an English teacher, Jacobson was fired from her job after a psychiatrist spilled the beans to her employer about her fragile emotional condition. She then went to Tokyo, where she began work as a hostess, entertaining Japanese "sararimen," even though she was psychologically unwell. Jacobson describes the underbelly of Tokyo culture as being in a "floating world," where everything is fluid and nothing stays constant for very long. Along the way, we're introduced to a variety of interesting characters, including a dragon-like mama-san, an Irish boyfriend named Nigel, who lies to her; and a four-year-old girl who learned perfect English entirely from Disney movies. Jacobson's knowledge of Japanese culture is spot-on. She details her drug addiction without feeling sorry for herself, and even though you don't want to watch her spin out of control, you do, because her story is heartbreaking. But Jacobson learns a valuable lesson from her mistakes, and she does a wonderful job of analyzing, not rationalizing, her decisions.

Lea Jacobson's memoir is subtitled " My Decadently Destructive Days and Nights as a Tokyo Nightclub Hostess." I'm a sucker for a good memoir and this one sounded really interesting. Jacobson is an American fascinated with Japanese culture and language. Her studies have made her quite proficient in the language, so she accepts a teaching position in Japan. Her visa is good for two years. Learning the culture through a book and experiencing it firsthand are two different things though. Jacobson has difficulty accepting the rigid standards and structures of Japanese society. She is fired from her teaching position and begins to drift. She ends up hostessing in a Tokyo nightclub. I think like most people I had some preconceived notions as to what hostessing entailed. Jacobson gives a detailed account of this profession. In fact her memoir reads as a diary, detailing friends, encounters and thoughts. We are offered a fascinating glimpse into Japan from someone living fully immersed in the culture. This immersion begins to take it's toll on Jacobson. She descends into alcoholism and self harm in many forms. She realizes she needs out and returns to the US, but is just as disillusioned there, and returns to Japan. Jacobson ends her book with the Japanese saying" Fall over seven times, wake up eight." She manages to pull it together. I found myself wanting a bit more concrete detail from the epilogue, but found her blog which ties up things a bit more.

Just finished the book. I picked it up in the first place because I was on a quest to read everything ever written about hostessing; this book was by far the best source of information and insight into the floating world. The author's writing style is neither too much nor too little. I could imagine how a book about a hostessing could get messy with lots of flowery detail and description, but Jacobson maintains a great balance. I appreciated her metaphors and anecdotes, and found that her analysis of herself and other characters was sensible and interesting. Strongly recommended to anyone with interest in the subject. Hard to put down and no boring moments!

In this book, Jacobson reveals a side of Japan that hardly gets any attention. An educated Japanophile with a keen eye for detail, she travels through the seedy and fascinating night time world of Tokyo, and takes us along for the ride. She shows us a dream world where beautiful girls in slinky dresses entertain red-faced, drunk business men. And she doesn't flinch when the dream shatters into a million ugly pieces. Jacobson becomes an expert at flirting and coddling men for her benefit. However, as an educated woman from the land of opportunity, she ultimately realizes that she really should know better. Luckily for us, she gets up to a lot of adventures before she does. Fun, then devastating, and finally inspiring, you will not regret buying this book.