Memoirs of a Geisha

This one has been on my "to read" shelf for more than a year, and I wish now I hadn't waited so long. Sakamoto Chiyo is the daughter of a poor fisherman. Her mother is dying from cancer and neither Chiyo nor her sister have much of a future -- though, of course, it doesn't seem that way to her. But it's 1929 (she's nine years old), and things are about to get much, much harder. Partly for his own (unstated) reasons, partly to rescue his two daughters while he still can, their father sends both girls off to Kyoto to be apprenticed into the geisha trade. Actually, he sells them -- they "belong" to their new mistresses -- but it takes a little while for the reader to realize that. Satsu, the older sister, doesn't meet the requirements and becomes, for awhile, a prostitute, until she manages to run away and essentially disappears from the story, except in Chiyo's mind. But Chiyo herself becomes a maid -- sort of a pre-trainee -- in the okiya of Mother and Auntie, and though she loathes the life, and the loss of her home, and expects nothing good of her own future, she adapts rather quickly. Over the ensuing years, she becomes first an apprentice, then a full geisha, and the story of her training, her growing understanding of her world -- the limits of the geisha-world of the Gion district of Kyoto -- and her understanding and misunderstanding of men makes up the first three-quarters of the book. Golden, a Westerner, nevertheless has considerable experience in and understanding of Japan and the social institutions peculiar to its recent past. He puts you there, looking over Chiyo's shoulder as she attends lessons in flute, shamisen, dance, and tea ceremony, as her name changes to Nitta Sayuri when she becomes a geisha and is adopted as the "daughter" of the okiya, as she learns from her "older sister," Mameha, and suffers under the thumb of Hatsumomo, the senior geisha of her okiya, and as she forms her lifelong attachment to the Chairman and to the one-armed Nobu-san. Chiyo/Sayuri is a strange (to us) combination of worldliness and sophistication on the one hand and utter naivete and ignorance on the other, as was apparently typical for geisha. She has no idea whether a pound of tea costs more than a broom, but she shows astute knowledge of the history and art of every kimono among the thousands she wears in her young life. And, of course, just as she's nearing adulthood, World War II brings its full weight down upon the ordinary people of Japan, including the geisha. I can't recommend this novel too highly. It also proves once again that Knopf continues to be the premier publisher of high-quality fiction in this country.

A commentator has said that this is a book that seems to stay open. It's absolutely true! I first had an interest in reading "Memoirs of a Geisha" because I have never read a novel about Japanese culture before, and I wanted to learn more about it from an author who had studied it in-depth. Once I started, I couldn't put the book down until I finished it a few days later. The story of Sayuri's life as a geisha in Japan around the time of WWII is engrossing, fascinating, and at times disturbing."Memoirs" chronicles the life of Sayuri (as narrated by her to a fictional biographer), and how she goes from rags to riches, from riches to rags, and back again to riches. The plot is truly a page-turner; Golden also writes in lush detail about every aspect of Japan's geisha culture. However, Sayuri's development throughout her life, while believable, was disheartening. Here was a woman with so much potential--she's beautiful, intelligent, insightful--and she is trained to be manipulative, deceitful, and opportunistic. Not that this is surprising, based on the environments and upbringing she experiences. It could be argued that she made the most out of her circumstances; she took the hand she was dealt and then beat the dealer at his own game. Still, the reviews that compare Golden with authors like Austen and Dickens ring hollow when you examine the progress of a David Copperfield or an Elizabeth Bennett, who rise above their circumstances and whose individual characters are refined and brought to a higher level of integrity and morality--the opposite, in my opinion, of Sayuri's.As other readers have commented, the ending was a little to "neat" for me. I felt betrayed by the Chairman's reaction to Sayuri's last desparate act; indeed he seemed to condone the notion that the end justifies the means--go for what you want, and break the rules of ethics if necessary. Sayuri's lowest, most contemptible moment with the Minister is rewarded with a happy ending. Now I sound now like I'm not recommending this book--I do, heartily! But be forewarned, the ultimate message of this book is one that is very lonely and spiritually devoid: rely on yourself, because God and man alike will fail you.

There are some books (and some movies) written using a well-known formula. These formulas almost always guarantee bestseller success. One of the most popular is the "Cinderella". It is a surefire way to sell books, and this is why you see it time and time again. This is how it goes:· Hero or heroine must be born into poverty or come to it fairly quickly in the story.· Hero or heroine must possess extraordinary beauty and/or above-average intelligence.· Hero or heroine is subject to the most hideous trials and tribulations while still a child, and when you think nothing worse can happen to the creature, it does.· Hero or heroine possesses a heart of gold.· Hero or heroine has the opportunity to be equally evil to those that damaged him/her, but because s/he is compassionate, s/he refuses to.· Hero or heroine rises above adversity and survives all calamities· There is always a happy ending."Memoirs of a Geisha" is a perfect example of the "Cinderella" format (some readers called it Oliver Twist, some Jane Eyre; it's all the same). Chiyo is an extremely beautiful child (the constant reference to her gray eyes became too much too soon) and very smart, whose father is a poor fisherman, not very bright, and whose mother is dying. She and her sister are sold and soon separated, and poor Chiyo (who will later change her name to Sayuri) suffers enormously for the next 400 pages or so.The best part of this book is its detailed descriptions of all things geisha, from makeup to hair to clothing to ceremonies to education to housing... After reading the book, i felt that i had learned a lot about this important subgroup of Japanese culture. I also enjoyed the prose, for the most part. As a person who sometimes has to explain foreign customs to others, i identified with the tone that Sayuri used when describing things. The story of young Chiyo is also quite entertaining, from her days in the tipsy house till she gets under Mameha's wing. After that, the story line goes downhill. The worst part, from a literary standpoint, is that the book is formulaic, and uses many artificial devices to keep the plot going. For example, how come Hatsumoto is so bent in destroying Chiyo from the moment she meets the poor girl, who is only 9 years old? Hatsumoto can't be that much older than Chiyo, yet she is machinating like an old witch, and we do not know exactly for what reason. Also, Chiyo's encounter with The Chairman is so brief, yet she is so affected by it for years and years to come. Even though when they met she was crying and her vision was blurry, she remembered his features like they were engraved in her brain. The Chairman and Hatsumoto are artifices to make the story move along. The flow, especially after Chiyo becomes Sayuri, is really poor. The intrigues and the "convenient" situations and coincidences that take place really detract from the story. The final pages are particularly bad. All of a sudden, the author wanted to wrap it up and there is absolutely no development and scenes just do not make sense. I can't really explain some of my objections without spoiling the end, but all things related to The Chairman were so very unbelievable. There is no amount of willing suspension of disbelief to make me swallow the final chapters.People love to see these plots because they are predictable and there is a feel-good quality to them. For example, i have to admit i couldn't wait till i found out what horrible ending Hatsumoto had, after being so cruel and despicable to poor Chiyo. But overall, except for the cultural aspect of the book, this is as bad as a cheap romance novel from the supermarket.

Love the movie.. audio

This is a great read for anyone who loves an underdog. The women in the story are inspiring in the way they hold themselves together, even through the worst atrocities. The imagery is so detailed I can feel air of Japan.