Interesting in more ways than the author intended. Pathology on a plate. I don't know if she is the world's worst liar, or she really believed what she wrote and didn't spot herself saying the exact opposite a few pages later.

1. Her mother was rich, but her parents sold their girl children to fund themselves.

2. Her mother was sickly and weak at the start, but went on to have 11 children.

3. Mineko worked night and day, never took time off, and wanted time for herself, but then she hated not working every minute and added extra events to her schedule each day.

4. She worked non-stop for years without time off, but then had several vacations she took every year.

5. She had no friends, and the other Geisha of her age hated her, and played nasty tricks on her but she would always say she did this and that with her friends (never identified). She was not allowed out of the quarter or to socialize with servants or untouchables - so who were these friends ?

6. She didn't care about her customers, she only cared about dancing, yet she had customers who were special lifelong friends, and said it was unprofessional not to take care of all the customers.

6. She earned money for her house with her engagements, but she never paid any attention to the amounts (only to the rank based on amount earned), She gave away the envelopes full of cash without looking in them, yet she frets that there was not enough money coming into the house.

7. Keeping the house running was important to those who lived and worked there, and to all the craftspeople who depended on it, but she had no qualms about the craftspeople, and history when she shuts hers down (passed on from her adopted mother - the house owner).

The whole book was like that.

Her family and personal stories also didn't ring true. She supposedly was from an aristocratic family. Her father's family had no money, but her mother was rich. It strikes me the same as those who always say they have kings and queens as their ancestors. No one ever claims porters or ditch diggers as their forbearers, though they are by far more numerous than aristocrats and royalty.

She claimed that she decided and conducted her life at 3 as though she were an adult. She made the decision to go to the Geisha house, not that her father sold her. Though her other sisters were sold, and very bitter their whole lives. She tells all these stories with exact details of who said what and what happened when she is very young (under 10).

Some of her Geisha lore contradicts other sources. I have seen 2 other documentaries and they talk about Maiko as being apprentice Geisha in training, not just 'Dancing' Geisha as Mineko contends. She says Gion is different than other pleasure quarters in the country, perhaps that explains it, but it should be clearer.

She presents so much information about sex and de-flowering virgins of various workers who aren't Geisha, often with the same word for something else that Geisha do, that it really isn't clear what is accurate and what isn't.

Certainly before prostitution was outlawed (1957-59), the teahouses were also often associated with brothels and the Geisha was used as a come on to bring customers into the houses. They were all in the same area and competed against each other for customers. Girls were sold to houses and had no choice in what they did or didn't do.

Many think that one time Geisha were like the high class courtesans that would be kept by one rich man after another. They would never be prolific with men, because that would drive their cachet and value down. How long ago that died out, is not clear.

Still it was a strangely compelling read, despite the above problems and Mineko's selfishness and self-absorption. ( )

I loved this book. The way Mineko tells about her career as a geisha truly fascinated me. ( )

The book, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden was based around interviews with Mineko Iwasaki. She was unhappy with the misuse of her words and wrote her autobiography. The book details her life as a geisha from childhood up until her retirement a few years ago, in her 40s. In the West, at least, 'geisha' has always been thought of as a euphemism for a high-priced whore, but as the books shows, the women earn far more as geishas than they could ever hope to do on their backs. The world of a geisha is one where women run things and make lots of money whilst all the time looking like the epitome of sweet, submissive feminity. ( )

Iwasaki wrote this autobiography in response to Arthur Golden's book Memoirs of a Geisha. (She also sued him.) Unfortunately, the writing lacks spark and a great deal of her life just isn't very interesting. She seems somehow distant; I had the feeling there were things she was hiding. Only worth it if you are fascinated by geisha. ( )

Forthright, aristocratic girl becomes an elite geiko in this glimpse of an intriguing insular world; in her single-minded perfection and ease of ascent she is perhaps unsympathetic, but her strength desires no sympathy. ( )