Sayonara Bar [Paperback]

Susan Barker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2007

At the center of the story is, Mary, a graduate student from England who has taken a job at a hostess lounge in Osaka, Japan, so that she can earn money to travel the globe. Unfortunately, she has fallen in love with Yuji, Mama-san's son, who has an uneasy alliance with the Yakuza.  Watanabe, a somewhat diffident cook, who works at the Sayonara Bar, has also taken an interest in Mary, and supposedly he can see into a fourth dimension, a manga-infused dimension which allows to see danger before it happens.  And then there is Mr. Sato who has become a regular at Sayonara Bar, as he tries to escape his wife's ghost.  When Yuji crosses the Yakuza, it has dire consequences for them all, and their lives become irrevocably intertwined in this wonderfully imagined debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Barker's piquant debut chronicles the life of Mary, a young Englishwoman working as a hostess at the Sayonara Bar in Osaka, Japan. Though not a prostitute, Mary is paid an hourly wage to flirt and converse with the bar's customers, primarily middle-aged Japanese businessmen. Her colleagues include Katya, a Ukrainian hostess, and Watanabe, the Sayonara's cook, who keeps a watchful eye over Mary and believes that he's an "intermediary between the third and fourth dimension." Barker precisely draws her characters, emphasizing their innermost thoughts and desires. Mr. Sato, a widower, has vivid dreams about his deceased wife even as he's attracted to Mariko, a bar hostess who claims to be conversing with his ghostly wife. As the tension builds among the characters, Yuji, Mary's boyfriend, is caught stealing from his boss. An enigmatic yet riveting climax brings this highly unusual view of Japanese society to a fitting close. (Mar.)
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Review

"An enigmatic yet riveting climax brings this highly unusual view of Japanese society to a fitting close."  - Publishers Weekly

"Dry humor and crisp observation." -Literary Review

"A stunningly eclectic debut.  Original, often perplexing, always intriguing...a showpiece of breathtaking new talent." -Daily Record

"Sayonara Bar is a cocktail of astringent cultural observations, genres stirred and shaken, subplots served with a twist." -Time Magazine (Europe)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312362102
• ISBN-13: 978-0312362102
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,444,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hello Osaka, April 9, 2005

By 

R. Brown "JapanVisitor.com" (Kyoto) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sayonara Bar (Hardcover)

Bad timing. After taking the Frankfurt Book Fair by storm in 2003, the then titled Tsunami Bar, a novel about a blond British bargirl paid to flirt in a "hostess bar" in Osaka, was set to do the same for the world. The world, however, intervened. Just prior to publication, a real tsunami wiped out much of parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and elsewhere on December 26th. The publisher, fast on its feet, realized it had to make a quick name change-hence, Sayonara Bar.

Before reading the actual book, the usual dread overtook me: another book by a former English teacher who spent perhaps two or three years in Japan. Another expert. Probably can't order from an izakaya menu. Would break out in hives at the ward office when filling out a simple form.

Then I read the book. It is no doubt heavily autobiographical: English woman goes to Japan planning to make some cash and then travel, but ends up working as an "economy geisha" and staying longer than she planned. What follows, I feared, would no doubt be snide commentary about Japanese, about the mizu shobai economy of such bars, and a blue-eyed expat's life in seedy Japan. In the process, however, the protagonist Mary comes into something darker and deeper than she bargained on-and the reader gets something both darker and deeper, too. Barker has a fluid style and writes sentences reminiscent of Haruki Murakami, observations like Natsuo Kirino.

The novel features several outstanding characters. While working as a hostess, Mary becomes involved with the bar mama's son, Yuji, who is connected to the Yakuza. And to which he professes the greatest loyalty. The introverted cook Watanabe observes all from an addled, manga-obsessed fantasy world. He believes he can perceive what others cannot. A third character, Sato the Salaryman, is an overworked lonely drone who finds solace in the smoke-filled bar, the only place he can forget his dead wife.

Barker's descriptions are spot on, the story a snapshot of a certain milieu but one that ultimately transcends it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative., May 6, 2008

By 

Michiru (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sayonara Bar (Paperback)

The Sayonara Bar is a novel that works best as a collection of ideas. The book introduces us to three main characters: Mary, a not-very-bright hostess from England with a disgusting boyfriend; Watanabe, a college drop-out who might or might not have magical abilities; and Mr. Sato, an uptight businessman who might or might not be haunted by his dead wife's ghost.

The book itself is fascinating. Aside from an interesting story with original characters, I found reading it to be very nostalgic. As someone who lived in Osaka, where the story takes place, it was wonderful to be re-introduced to all the areas I hung out and enjoyed. If you've never been, Ms. Barker's evocative imagery is a great introduction to the area and the people who live there.

Unfortunately, the book rather falls apart in the end. We never find out what happens to our three main characters, whether they come out of the trials they go through all right. I think the author was trying to be philosophical, but instead the ending was just confusing and unsatisfying.

The rest of the book is great, however, with interesting characters, exciting adventures and thought-provoking monologues. Whether you like the ending or not, its definitely worth reading.

4.0 out of 5 stars magical realism nicely employed, May 1, 2008

By 

algo41 "algo41" (philadelphia, pa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sayonara Bar (Paperback)

This novel, set in modern day Japan, follows three characters whose stories are told in alternating chapters. Two work at the same hostess bar, while the third is a "salaryman" who was brought to the bar by his boss. The novel has been praised for its fidelity to Japanese culture, and if you do not have even a reading familiarity with this culture, the cultural insights are a definite plus.

What marks the novel, however, is its use of magical realism. One of the bar employees is a young man who is a cook there, and who had a nervous breakdown while in college (this is not explicitly stated). He believes he has evolved into a human being of higher consciousness, and in fact some of the things he learns about other people can only be explained as magical. However, for the most part, he can be considered a realistic character, and his soaring delusions are voiced in exceptional prose. The salaryman also has something of a mental breakdown, but I was confused by the boundaries between his delusions, reality, and the magical.

Sayonara Bar is an original work of fiction which mostly succeeds and is an interesting read. It proceeds at a measured pace until the plot speeds up at the end in a not altogether satisfying way. I was particularly bothered by the role of Katya, who is portrayed as an unfeeling egoist throughout the novel, but at the end proves to be a devoted friend and lover.