Smoking hopes

"Hopes is the name of a Japanese brand of cigarettes favored by the customers of Club Kiki, where the narrator of this stunning first novel, Charlie Dean, works as a hostess. With plastic surgery, hair implants and other cosmetic devices, she has altered her physical appearance to manufacture a ravishing beauty. A well crafted story of the bittersweet pain of living in a confusing and modern world". -- San Antonio Express-News