Elle is bright and used to getting good grades, but with her
Mom in jail after a long descent into addiction and dealing, Elle’s life has become a
hell of foster homes and abuse. Grades have slipped and she can feel her hopes and dreams slipping away. Only her
friend Reg helps her keep it together.
Then, like a scene out of Little Orphan Annie, Elle’s absent
father appears in her life. He’s a
ridiculously wealthy Japanese businessman and he wants her to come live with
him in Tokyo. Before she knows what is
happening, she’s been whisked to Japan. She ends up living in a luxurious penthouse and
attending a super exclusive International High School with a bunch of other
privileged kids.
AS wonderful as this all seems, the new lifestyle doesn’t suit Elle well. Her father is largely absent, her aunt and grandmother in Tokyo despise
her, the popular kids (while nice to her as
long as she conforms) are mean to others in a way that makes Elle uncomfortable, and everyone is trying to convince
her not to fall for the one guy who actually treats her decently. Elle desperately needs to figure out a way to
make this “perfect” life work for her.
Rather more like a travel guide than a novel, Cohn delights
in describing life in Tokyo. One suspects that she was there on vacation and wanted to create a book in which she could work
in some of her crazier experiences. The story however doesn’t gel. Characters are
introduced and developed, but largely drop out at the end. The story meanders. In the end, Cohn just quickly ties up all the
major loose ends with the previously unreasonable adults all agreeing to be
nice. Lots of fun scenes but the story needed work.
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