Glass Geishas [Kindle Edition]

Susanna Quinn's first novel takes us on an adventure into a hidden world of sex, drink and drugs. We follow the lives of white women who try to make easy money by chatting and flirting in Tokyo's hostess bars. Can they get out with the cash before being sucked deeper into Japan's multifarious sex industry, or will they be spat out as broken wrecks?

Susanna Quinn is well placed to tell us about these women - she was one herself. Hostesses live on the edge of society in a world ruled by money and gangsters. Our protagonist soon finds out that you look after yourself first and trust no one. It's an easy fast-paced read, full of well-developed characters ranging from a clueless British journalist to a kind but unsympathetic Geisha.

This may be a work of fiction - but I have no doubt that Susanna met all of these people during the time she spent in Tokyo. The story is as informative as it is entertaining, making this book a must read for anyone interested in alternative lifestyles and the people who live them.

ROPPONGI - the Soho of TOKYO. A fantaastic tale of sex, drugs too much alcohol set in
and around the seedy nightclubs of Roppongi. This book is without doubt based on well
researched knowledge and should serve as a warning to anyone thinking of sampling this
for themselves.

Steph goes to Tokyo wearing rose tinted spectacles - free drinks, loads of money to be
made and best of all she is going to be with Julia and Annabel, friends from her schooldays.

What a shock shes in for - nothing is as it seems and she is soon drawn into a seedy and
dangerous world. Susanna Quinn has obviously played a blinder with this her first novel
and l am sure it will be a bestseller l cannot wait to read her next one. Read it and
enjoy - l am sure thay like me you will not be able to put it down. Well done first rate.

Glass Geishas is not a book which will appeal to everyone. Virtually all the action is set in the Rappongi area of Tokyo which is the red light area of the city. There are many foreign girls working there, attracted by the opportunity to earn a lot of money. Some are naive when they arrive, some less so, but they all face the dilemma of what they are prepared to do and how far they are prepared to go for more money.

Steph is a new arrival in the area. Unusually she is not solely attracted by the potential earnings, although that is one factor as she is broke. However, one of her old school friends has preceded her and she is on a mission to find out what has happened to her as she seems to have dropped from view. Although this is the basis of the main story, interspersed within the book are two other tales. Mama San, the owner of a night club which employs hostesses including Steph, is telling her own fascinating story to a journalist who is planning to write her biography. Additionally there is an email exchange between two of the girls, which documents how their plans are falling apart and how they each are gradually forced by circumstances to compromise any moral principles they may have started with by economic necessity.

Although the subject matter will undoubtedly repel some, this is nonetheless an absorbing story. Steph strikes the reader as having been damaged by her previous life experiences, but is far from totally naive. She is, however, totally inexperienced in the culture of Japan and has no idea what is expected of a hostess by her clients. Key to her progression is a chance meeting with Mrs Sato, who is an old lady who was trained as a geisha. She becomes very important in Steph's life and almost becomes her spiritual mentor in her quest to learn how to do her job and to find her friend.

This is a story of exploitation and makes rather uncomfortable and indeed harrowing reading in places. Whilst I do not know how much of this is based on the reality of what goes on in Rappongi, it reads as though it is rather well researched and is a reasonable reflection of what goes on in practice. This makes for an interesting and absorbing read, though not perhaps one which one would describe as enjoyable.