Donna George Storey

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.… (mer)

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.… (mer)

If Donna George Storey's "Amorous Woman" feels like it’s confused, I’d say that’s probably because it is. This confusion is not a bad thing; in fact, it contributes to the history and narrative of the story. The only jarring parts are those where the erotic meets the pornographic and it just feels too out of place, too much like ‘trying’. "Amorous Woman" is intelligently written infused with history, social discourse, and intertextuality and even lead me to read some early Japanese literature. The story itself pays homage to Ihara Saikaku’s "The Life of an Amorous Woman" which was written before the English "Moll Flanders" or "Fanny Hill". Like the original, "Amorous Woman" is a ‘coming of age’ story, told from the perspective of ‘age and experience’. It is a story that engages you and keeps you turning the page; for the most part the erotic scenes are well placed, with only one or two that are out of place. The narrative shifts between independence and dependence and explores the internal struggle that many women face. Overall the novel is enlightening, enjoyable and rather well-written.… (mer)