I Love Lord Buddha

Rating:
Summary: Review from DailyCandy.com
Review: "Karmic Relief"
10/01/2004

Clients. Can't live with them, can't light them on fire.

They bombard you incessantly with insipid questions and jerky
demands. You answer every one with apparent delight. They tell
inane jokes and chew with their mouths open. You laugh
uproariously through all five courses.

"They'll get theirs in the next life," you reassure yourself
after that "accidental" ass grab at the last brainstorm. But
what if someone sped up the process? Enter Hiyoko, the ballsy,
hyper-cool heroine of "I Love Lord Buddha," first-time novelist
Hillary Raphael's breathtaking romp through Tokyo in the '90s.
Equal parts insatiable nymphomaniac, mesmerizing guru, and self-
destructive firebrand, Hiyoko leads a revolt against the karmic
drain that is Japan's adult-entertainment industry.

The tale of Hiyoko's transformation from jaded American wanderer
to ethereal neo-geisha revolutionary spurts piecemeal from the
mouths of delicious characters like her sensible cousin, her
love-struck shrink, her fellow hostess followers, and the
Tokyo police.

Written entirely in lowercase and often a bit ... racy (read: NC-
17), the hypnotic story barrels along at breakneck pace until
the clients of Tokyo get their (karmic) just desserts.

If only this would befall your clients before they could order
their chocolate ones.

DailyCandy.com

Rating:
Summary: i'm not sure about the 5 stars, i'll decide later
Review: a first novel that once i started reading seemed to have to have come from the san francisco sixties. but it wasn't, it's new. i'm not quite sure, after just one reading rather i like it or not. the strange capitalization takes a little while to get used to. the story doesn't exactly flow, there are a series of vinyettes that go in all directions but come together here and there to make a story.

the story is loosely about HIYOKO a westerner in tokyo who builds a cult religion with followers coming from young women who work in tokyo's hostess bars. with images coming from the AUM cult of subway gas fame, HIYOKO's cult flows through the neon lit world of sex and drugs.

i suggest that you read the sample chapter first. it's available at neogeisha.org.

Rating:
Summary: A Spiritual Adventure
Review: As a practicing Buddhist, I connected on a personal level to the tenets so playfully explored in this work of (quasi-)fiction. The story weaves its way through many of the central contradictions facing Buddhists in a consumer society. At the same time, it is essentially a "comedy" in the sense that absurdity pervades every page of this episodic novel. Characters are more like caricatures-- however, the reader is never condescended to, but always compicit with "the joke". I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to engage in the contemporary urban spiritual dialogue.

Rating:
Summary: My latest favorite novel!
Review: Funny, sexy, outrageous, fast-paced, mystical, and riveting, you must read this book in one sitting! No beginning, middle, or end, only non-stop hallucinated action frenzy, punctuated by saturated gorgeous scenes. My only regret is that the actual Tokyo I know is nowhere near as wild and hypnotic as Raphael depicts it.

Rating:
Summary: i feel justified acting the way i was built
Review: This holiday season Raphael sweeps you into the "in" crowd and you feel as if you are HIYOKO's right hand woman waiting for the moment the men are transfixed by your collaborative beauty to redesign the world under her vision. This novel with remind you why you dress the way you do. Why you walk the way you do. And why you make love the way you do.

Rating:
Summary: Read. Worship
Review: This is otherworldly brillance. Perfection. I shall start a campaign to raise money to place these in every hotel room next to the Gideon Bibles. Hillary Raphael is poison diluted with nectar. Absolutely sublime.