Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I took my first look at the cover of my newly-arrived copy of Lost Girls, and was dismayed. It screamed Chick Lit, a genre that's definitely out of my demographic (and for the most part, out of my sphere of interest). That screaming pinkness, the Japanimation cartoon, the semi-lurid font... Did I really want to subject myself to yet another neurotic-woman/child-takes-on-the-world-of-work account?
Well, shame on Harper Perennial for making me judge a book by its cover (a huge issue these days, in my very humble opinion). If I hadn't held my nose and dived into the deceptively-designed thing, I would've missed an excellent reading experience.
This book is absolutely terrific. I loved it. LOVED it. There's not a word out of place, the main character is far more engaging than the average 20-something-on-her-own, and the insights into Japanese pop culture create a fascinating backdrop to a quirky, well-turned story. I'd been to Japan long ago, but I knew nothing of Love Hotels (the cover treatment predisposed me to think of them as squalid and furtive, not the truly interesting phenomenon that they are). I felt Hanrahan's descriptions of Tokyo, as seen by Margaret, were amazing and droll. Her character's obvious, skewed love for her adopted culture not only provided succinct pictures of a world that, to the average American, might exist in another semi-parallel galaxy, but elevated her coming-to-grips tale well above the usual "lost girl" saga. There is a generosity of heart here that is hard to find in run-of-the-mill Chick Lit.
Read this book. You'll enjoy it. Forgive the committee that designed the cover; they had far too narrow an audience in mind. Such limitations, so common in the big publishing houses these days, drive me mad; I sincerely hope Ms. Hanrahan does not lose readership because somebody designed Lost Girls to be read by the young. Good writing like this deserves more than one generation of readers. And a movie, too, if you ask me.
Susan O'Neill, author, Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Viet Nam
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