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Loading... Memoirs of a Geisha (1997)by Arthur Golden
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No current Talk conversations about this book.  PilgrimJess | Apr 17, 2014 |  This powerful, impassioned tale showcases a life every American likely knows about, but knows nothing of. It was truly incredible to see the story progress and, while the ending wasn't a fairy tale one, it couldn't have ended any other way. (  )1  benuathanasia | Apr 1, 2014 | It’s engaging and an easy read. I really enjoyed this book. Much better than the movie version :) (  ) Theuglydaughter | Mar 19, 2014 | Saw the movie!  ClosetWryter | Mar 3, 2014 | The best book I've read in terms of transformation. ( ) veronica_maria1023 | Dec 22, 2013 |
 Golden fills the book with vivid images and subtle descriptions of the nuances of Japanese culture, and is absolutely brilliant in his description of the customs and rituals of the geisha. Through the meticulous detail the reader can fully understand the politics, rivalries, and traditions of the Japan geisha society.  Mr. Golden gives us not only a richly sympathetic portrait of a woman, but also a finely observed picture of an anomalous and largely vanished world. He has made an impressive and unusual debut.  Haarhuis's foreword and Golden's epilogue, the one appropriating the guise of a novel and the other taking it off, suggest an author who is of two minds when it comes to his work. It is not surprising, then, if his readers share this uncertainty. The decision to write an autobiographically styled novel rather than a nonfiction portrait is most obviously justified in terms of empathy, of allowing greater freedom to explore the geisha's inner life. Unfortunately, Sayuri's personality seems so familiar it is almost generic; she is not so much an individual as a faultless arrangement of feminine virtues.
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From start to finish, the listener is absorbed in the elegant spirit of Davis's performance, eager to hear the next chapter of Sayuri's transformation into one of the most famous geishas of the century. How unfortunate, then, to learn that book readers not only get the basic story, but a fascinating look at the intricate rules and rituals of geisha culture. Here, for example, is one of the many revelations omitted from the cassette: "Japanese men, as a rule, feel about a woman's neck and throat the same way that men in the West might feel about a woman's legs.... In fact, a geisha leaves a tiny margin of skin bare all around the hairline, causing her makeup to look even more artificial.... When a man sits beside her, he becomes that much more aware of the bare skin beneath."
We're also denied several subplots--the aborted friendship between Sayuri and a geisha named Pumpkin, for example, or much of the story involving the man Sayuri is secretly in love with. But what remains is as precious as a traditional Japanese kimono--at once artistic, suggestive, and moving. --Ann Senechal
(retrieved from Amazon Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:43:46 -0400)
In 1929, an impoverished fishing village father sells his nine-year-old daughter, Chiyo, to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and she becomes subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. As she grows older, her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of Hatsumomo. She is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic graces and social skills a geisha must master. As a renowned geisha, she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. With the onslaught of World War II, Japan and the geisha's world are forever changed.… (more)
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Wow, this is a surprising book.Now I've said in other reviews that if I have a favourite genre then its history or more accurately social history and this book reveals a lifestyle I know nothing of and which has now vanished.
The story is certainly cruel at times there are also touches of deep humour. The book follows the tale of Chiyo whom along with her sister Satsu are taken from their penniless father and dying mother and sold into an okiya in Gion. Chiyo who is younger with striking blue eyes is to be trained as a geisha whilst her sister is sold into prostitution although here the lines become a little blurred as the only way a geisha can really make money is to become a mistress to a wealthy 'danna' and therefore sells sex for favor a bit like prostitution really. Ultimately in both instances their job is to entertain wealthy men. The geishas are seen as an investment who must repay for their owners for food, clothing, lodgings and training out of any future earnings. The quickest way to do this is by the sale of their 'mizuage' or virginity. It was certainly amusing as Chiyo (who becomes renamed as Sayuri) is explained the facts of life by her mentor Mameha who speaks of a man's 'homeless eel'. Even after they have repaid all there debts they are still expected to contribute towards the running of the okiya so continuing the cycle of abuse.
You certainly feel for Chiyo/Sayuri in her trials and tribulations as she grows older but despite the dark nature of the material this is not a maudlin tale but one of a society that we in the West cannot hope to understand. Perhaps that is the most surprising part of the book as it is hard to imagine life like this even in 1930's Japan because nowadays it is seen as an advanced country rather than a third World one whereas if it took part in some less developed country it would not surprise us at all.
My main complaint with this book is that it is written by an American and you can certainly see from the last few chapters how it is aimed at an American mass market. That said I still found it a remarkable book and one that I feel will last with me for a while. (