My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life

By: Rachel Cohn

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

"I'm here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!

In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS - the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity.

Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her 16th birthday discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahara, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington, DC, to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hypercritical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troupe of ubercool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode.

My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.

©2018 Rachel Cohn (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

A Very Dear Story

I can't remember why I downloaded this but it turned out to be a welcome change of pace from my regular "heavier" preferences. Some of the bulk of the middle portion of the story couldn't interest me much and seemed lacking, but as a 53 year old science fiction junky I'm probably not the intended audience. Overall I enjoyed sharing the plight of the protagonist and feeling the value of her standing up for herself (eventually) when it counted. Sudden immersion in her Tokyo experience isn't so unlike science fiction either.

The narrator was flawless for the role to such an extent that I only realized afterwards someone had been reading it rather than that the protagonist was telling it to me first-hand.

It was awsome

First of all all the twist and turns where great i hated ryuu at first but then when he treated nik to kill him it was awsome ten out of ten for this book

Couldn’t stop listening.

I want to start out with I’m a grown adult women, but when I started this book I had the understanding that the main character was a TEENAGE girl and wasn’t annoyed by her annoying tendencies because I once was a annoying teenage girl. I read other reviews on this book and seen people talk about how this girl is and how she’s acting, but forgets this is a peek into a newly 16 year old girls life. Yes the other Characters didn’t have have much growth but it was fine, it wasn’t about her friends or school mates. It was about her and her father, I wish there was more because there was more to be explained.. but it was a good story and worth the read if you keep in mind it’s about teenagers not grown women

Such a bad accent

The story was great; intriguing, even. The narrator was great for everything except her horrendously terrible Japanese.

Woah that accent...

The story was interesting but my goodness that butchering of Japanese was rough to listen to. I knew I was gonna be in for it when the narrator kept saying Tokio vs Tokyo. It was to the point where I was wondering if the main characters first friend was actually African and not Japanese. I think if the narrator would have just kept with American pronunciation vs trying to do an accent it would be less distracting.

Love this storyline

I love this book about a child with imperfect parents and a father who tries to step up and give her the life she deserves even through the trails and tribulations in his life and trying to figure out what being a parent really means. I wish this author would have made at least 1 more book to follow this imperfect family and beautiful child who is learning through her messy family life and friends.

Cute story Japanese culture good listen

The story about the teen was endearing, but I most loved learning about people, places, phrases, food, cats, traditions and overall culture of Japan. A really interesting listen! Kept me wanting more.

Nothing pronounced right

Well, hardly anything pronounced right… if a book takes place mostly in Japan, maybe somebody should’ve done a little more research or gotten help to pronounce the words right! It was really frustrating for me

Heartfelt. Important current family story

This story was a great example of how our kids can be left behind in a very tough and completely unfair foster system. We need to do better for our youth. Yet, this character gets a “dream come true.” However, as in real life nothing is ever perfect.

Hidden agenda

There’s cussing and kissing and lots of pro-LGBTQIA’s and a gay friend. I would recommend 18+ years to read.