2022
I didn't think that I'll re-read this book but Lisa of Troy's read-along group has this book selected for May so why not? I listened mostly and have a book for reference. It's such a slow story but I think it works for this fictionalized memoir.

Memoirs of a Geisha follows Chiyo's life which begins in a small fishing village. She and her older sister, Satsu were taken from their parents with the promise of a better life (their mother is terminally ill). They were shortly sold, Satsu into prostitution and Chiyo to a geisha house. Chiyo became Sayuri and trained in various traditional arts and became an apprentice geisha (maiko).

I'm not going to lie, this book has parts that made me very uncomfortable. The selling virginity to the highest bidder and having sugar daddy (danna). Bidding ceremonies and prostitution were outlawed in 1956. I try to remove my opinion and consider it part of history and old culture (pre and during WWII). It wasn't easy, but overall it's a good (difficult) story.

A ReadAlong group with Lisa of Troy.

2014
2 ⭐
DNF. Bought this paperback for a long flight, but never finished it.

Sem dúvida, uma das minhas melhores leitura foi “Memórias de uma gueixa”, não só pelo impacto que essa leitura me causou, mas também pelo conhecimento que me trouxe da cultura japonesa. Aprendi muito. Conta basicamente a história de Sayuri que em 1929 devido ao estado de pobreza e a saúde precária dos seus pais, é vendida ainda bem pequena (9 anos), com a sua irmã, para uma Okiya (casa de gueixas) em Kyoto. No entanto, ao chegar em Kyoto ela é separada da sua irmã e parte sozinha para viver nessa Okiya. Lá passa por todos os tipos de provações, humilhações, na tentativa de se tornar uma gueixa famosa. Ela tem que suportar Hatsumomo, uma famosa Gueixa que vive na Okiya que vê em Sayuri uma real ameaça ao seu reinado e começa então a praticar todos os atos de maldade possíveis contra ela. O enredo do livro é basicamente esse: a busca de Sayuri em ter sucesso como gueixa, ajudada por uns e atrapalhada por outros, principalmente por Hatsumono, seus treinamentos buscando a perfeição através da dança, da música, ao vestir seu quimono, ao se maquiar. Mas há personagens maravilhosos como o Sr. Presidente que em um momento de desespero a ajuda quando ela ainda era bem pequena, arrebatando o seu coração. Há também Nobo, um sobrevivente de guerra com grande sequelas físicas que também se apaixona por Sayuri. Temos também Mameha uma Gueixa muito famosa que auxilia Sayuri em seu árduo caminho para se tornar uma gueixa. Enfim há outros personagens tais como o Dr Caranguejo, uma gueixa que chamam Abóbora, há também o Barão, enfim uma gama de personagens inesquecíveis. Outra coisa que me chamou a atenção é o submundo que envolve o mundo das Gueixas, como a guerra entres elas para se ter sucesso, os interesses meramente financeiros das donas das Okiya, a venda da virgindade das gueixas para quem der o maior lance como se fosse um leilão, homens ricos, famosos e casados que procuram as Gueixas para satisfazerem seus desejos sexuais. Enfim são tudo aparências, o amor é uma ilusão, isso me enojou muito. Como já citei foi uma ótima leitura, amei esse livro, uma obra-prima de Arthur Golden, que estudou muito o mundo das gueixas e nos brindou com esse livro, que em parte pode ser um livro histórico, e parte um conto de fadas e também um livro de terror!

9.4.2020 EDIT:

Okayyyyy so it's horribly embarrassing that I once liked this book but I was also in high school and didn't know anything so I take back all my praise. This book is an awful example of a white man writing an Asian woman's perspective, benefiting financially from doing so, and contributing to the silencing and fetishization of Asian women. T.J. describes it very well in his review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This article also does an excellent job of going in-depth about how problematic this book is: https://kyotojournal.org/culture-arts...

I wonder if this book was published today if people would have spoken out about it more like they did about American Dirt. I hope so.


Original review from 2011:


People were skeptical when Kathryn Stockett wrote in the voice of two black women in The Help. Arthur Golden took it to another level when he, a white, middle-aged man, narrated as an orphaned Japanese girl on her way to becoming a geisha.

It worked, though. Even without knowledge of Golden's extensive experience studying Japanese culture and history, the reader is led to believe that the protagonist is telling the story herself. Memoirs of a Geisha transported me to a different era, where superficiality and beauty were more important traits for a women than practicality and intelligence.

I enjoyed the writing style Golden utilized with this book, especially the analogies. Here are two I marked:

"For it's one thing to find your secrets suddenly exposed, but when your own foolishness has exposed them... well, if I was prepared to curse anyone, it was myself... A shopkeeper who leaves his window open can hardly be angry at the rainstorm for ruining his wares."

"Her skin was waxy-looking, and her features puffy. Or perhaps I was only seeing her that way. A tree may look as beautiful as ever; but when you notice the insects infecting it, and the tips of the branches that are brown from disease, even the trunk seems to lose some of its magnificence."

A great read - I am so thankful for my friend who bought me this as a birthday present. Recommended to anyone remotely interested in Japanese culture or the life of a geisha.

*cross-posted from my blog, the quiet voice.

A pleasing mix of Great Expectations and Little Orphan Annie but all mixed up in Japanese Geisha society.

Full disclosure: I, like many westerners, believed that geisha were a high end version of prostitutes. Sophisticated, talented and very excessively priced – but prostitutes all the same.

Golden’s book has afforded me some erudition and I now know that is not the full story … except, well … there are still some elements of prostitution in the story. The fictional geisha first person narrator describes her own role as akin to a mistress rather than a wife, with formal rules that for the most part established that a geisha was connected to her “danna” or patron. It’s all very complicated and I never fully understood what was going on. To be fair, looks like the intricate etiquette rules confuse many Japanese as well.

My usual genre is science fiction / fantasy so this was something of a departure for me, but honestly, the description of Japanese culture, particularly Geisha culture, might as well have been something dreamed up by Jack Vance or Robert Silverberg it was so alien to me.

Golden describes the “memoirs” of a fictional geisha, Sayuri, and her ascent to the role of geisha in a bildungsroman style. We also share in Sayuri’s animosity with rival geisha Hatsumomo and her complicated relationships with patrons and sponsors.

Entertaining and provocative, this also sheds light on a time and place, Japan before, during and after WWII.

The world of Geisha is a secret and forbidden world. The shell is beautiful and seems to be a life of luxury, but the core is pure suffering. Geisha do not love, they do not choose their fate, and their life is owned by the men they entertain. They are not meant to feel. The very word geisha means moving art. That’s all they’re meant to be. Not humans but paintings. Like a sculpture, beautiful but cold as the stone their made of. Memoirs of a Geisha is a book that is based on a true story and let’s us catch a glimpsetof the world where the women paint their faces and don’t deserve to love.
Based in the 1920’s in Kyoto, Japan a young girl named Chiyo lives with her sister Satsu, in a poor town called Yoriodo along with her sick mother and elderly father.
Her father sells Chiyo and her sister to Mr. Tanaka to be taken to an office where they decide that Chiyo will become Geisha for her good looks and blue eyes but Satsu will be taken to a prostitution house in the pleasure district. Chiyo is taken to the Nitta okiya (Geisha House) to become a Maiko (apprentice geisha). She breaks her leg from trying to run away and her training is stopped. Chiyo is then told that both of her parents have died. She meets the Chairmen of Iwamura Electric Company and falls in love with him. She dedicates her life for him to become her danna (not a husband but similar, the danna gives geisha kimono, and money to afford an apartment. Danna are usually wealthy men). Hatsumomo is the lead Geisha in the Okiya and is jealous of Chiyo’s good looks and the attention she gets. Thus, she treats Chiyo like the dirt she walks on. The only person in the okiya kind to Chiyo is Pumpkin, an aspiring geisha the same age as Chiyo. Her dream is to be adopted by oka-san (owner of the okiya) and be the lead geisha of the okiya. Mameha, a renowned geisha, comes to the okiya to offer to be Chiyo’s onee-san (older sister). She teaches Chiyo all of the secrets to becoming a great geiko or geisha. She is no longer known as Chiyo but, Sayuri. Sayuri meets Mameha’s danna, the Baron. He takes an unusual interest in Sayuri, and when she goes to the cherry blossom festival held at his estate he brings her into his quarters. He presents to her, a beautiful kimono. He offers to give the kimono to her if she merely would take hers off. Sayuri panics and the Baron starts removing her obi. He did not violate her, just merely looked at her. Rumors spread that Sayuri is now a worthless Meiko (Meiko must be virgins for their mizuage; their first sexual experience which is sold to the highest bidder). With her debut not far away Sayuri has to mend all wounds with the patrons who heard the rumors that Hatsumomo spread. The bidding begins and Dr. Crab, one of Sayuri’s patrons, wins her mizuage. Sayuri then becomes a geisha, and unexpectedly is adopted by oka-san and is the head of the okiya. Pumpkin is extremely upset for that was her dream. Sayuri is given yet another name, Nitta Sayuri (taking the name of the okiya is a custom in the geisha world). She then obtains a danna, a general in the army whom she doesn’t really like.
War is declared on Japan. Sayuri’s danna leaves to fight in the war and is killed. Nobu, a patron and good friend, takes Sayuri into hiding in northern Japan. She lives there for years working at a dye factory owned by Nobu’s friend. Nobu comes for her and offers to become her danna. Sayuri, still in love with the Chairman, doesn’t know what to say. Nobu says that before she answers Sayuri and Pumpkin need to entertain a party with an American general to try and make peace. She accepts and tries to look like the geisha she was years before. Nobu clearly doesn’t like the General so Sayuri uses the general to make Nobu hate her. Sayuri tells Pumpkin to bring Nobu to the warehouse later at night. Sayuri brings the General with her and starts to be intimate with him. The door opens and instead of bringing Nobu as Sayuri asked, Pumpkin brought the Chairmen! The Chairmen sees and walks away. Sayuri runs to Pumpkin and asks why she would bring the Chairmen. Pumpkin says that Sayuri stole the one thing that she wanted, to be adopted by oka-san. She took what Sayuri wanted as vengeance.
Sayuri is depressed. She almost certainly lost the one she loved. She gets invited to a small get together and is surprised to find that the only person in the tea house is the Chairmen. He begins by saying that Nobu was supposed to come but heard about what happened and now is livid at her. He continues that he was the one who told Nobu because he understood Sayuri’s intentions. He says that Pumpkin explained and begins to kiss Sayuri. He confesses his love to her and offers to become her danna.
A danna is not a husband. Danna’s are usually married and have a geisha as a mistress. No matter how much she would like to marry the Chairmen she can’t. Sayuri moves to America because of a feud with who would inherit the Iwamura Electric Company, the Chairmen’s son-in-law married to the daughter he had with his wife or a rumored son with his mistress, Sayuri. She moves to New York and the Chairmen visits regularly.
The book ends with Sayuri saying that the day Mr. Tanaka took her away was the worst and best day of her life. She says, “As a young girl I believed my life would never have been a struggle if Mr. Tanaka hadn’t torn me away from my (house Yoriodo). But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.”
I would highly recommend reading this book. It’s a window into a different world and makes you admire but pity the geisha. ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ is an empowering novel that every person should read to appreciate what they have.

Edit: He descubierto que el autor tiene una controversia por este libro y aún estoy reflexionando sobre eso.

Por otro lado: en las últimas etapas de su existencia, Sayuri, una anciana japonesa radicada en Nueva York, comparte la fascinante historia de su vida con un joven amigo estadounidense. A través de la cautivadora narrativa de esta legendaria geisha, el lector es transportado a un Japón marcado por guerras y aún impregnado de feudalismo, explorando una de las tradiciones más intrigantes del país (y del mundo diría yo): la vida de las geishas. Este libro, que para algunos podría parecer denso, a mí me pareció de lo más cautivador y encontré en él un relato envolvente y enriquecedor que destaca por sus personajes y narrativa. No saben cuánto lo amo y es realmente lamentable que esté cancelado.

I read this book back when it first came out. I never wrote a review of it because when I first joined GR I didn't really know what it was all about. It took a bit before it sunk in for me.

Now GR members get spammed at times. The newest form of spam is review bumping. I didn't even know that existed because..well I'm a slow learner. I kept noticing the same person's reviews on my thread. Several times a day. All day. For weeks. Someone finally pointed out to me that they are bumping their reviews. Then I saw several status updates from people posting about how it was driving them bonkers.

Now my friend Kat decided to take a stand..she made a awesome little badge to show we are all fabulous..not just the top reviewers, and my friend Kelly has a great idea..we are gonna spread some love. Everyone on GR is Goodreads Fabulous.

Here's my friend Argona's review for this book. Her's is much better than anything I could have written..Go show her some love.
Argona..you are Goodreads Famous baby!
n  n

I read this book for the Goodreads' book club Diversity in All Forms! If you would like to join the discussion here is the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

This is a realistic-fiction story about geishas in Japan. The book is based off of a lot of research the author did and what their lives were like. The book was very good and detailed their everyday experiences. Geisha's whole purpose was to be trained to beguile the most powerful men. Their whole life as a geisha is to be surrounded by men.

This book was wonderful. I absolutely love the movie, which I now need to watch!



In many ways, this was a sad story for me. I would really like to read a biography of a geisha and watch a documentary to really look into their world.





n  

We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course.

n

Happy Reading!

Mel

I had seen Memoirs of a Geisha described many times as the “Perfect Novel” and one of the 100 books you should read before you die, so perhaps my expectations were a little height for this one as I was expecting an emotional read and a novel that would transport me in time and enlighten me to mystery of the Japanese culture of the time but sadly this story while good and well written was too slow moving and an unemotional read for me

I had been wanting to read this novel for years and they say “what’s for you won’t pass you by” so when I found this one in a used book shop I felt it was time to finally take this one home. It has been loved by so many of my friends over the years and I really was intrigued by the the lives of Geisha.

TBH I actually thought this was a true story and only realised about 30% into the book that it was a fictional account. The novel tells the story of a fictional geisha working in Kyoto, Japan before, during and after World War II. I loved the first first 100 pages of this novel, the story starts out strong and the characters and culture is intriguing. I enjoyed the slow pace (to start with) but then the book just seemed to drag and become dreadfully descriptive and I found myself page counting and wishing the the novel was 100 pages shorter.
I enjoyed the characters to begin with and yet by the end I was very glad to part company with them.

The book does offer a fascinating glimpse into the hidden world of the Geisha and this was an aspect of the novel that I really enjoyed and the reason I rated this one 3 stars (which means I liked it but didn't love it) but I am afraid this copy will make its way back to the used book shop and hopefully another reader will enjoy the experience more than me.

Absolutely stunning and flawless.
Promoted to one of my all-time favorite books.

I've no clue how the author wrote this, being that he is not a geisha, not Japanese, not a woman, not from the World War II era, etc., etc.... but it is absolutely incredible.

Instead of bashing this book, I'm simply going to quote a post I saw because it put my thoughts into words:

"Japanese woman tells white American man about her past life as a geisha. White man then writes a novel that sells itself as an accurate memoir of Japanese woman's life, but instead falsifies a number of her life events, misrepresents her trade, and exoticises her culture. He also names her as a source even though she specifically asked him to keep her anonymous. Japanese woman gets death threats. White American man becomes bestselling author.

Then Japanese woman gets fed up and writes her own memoir to set the record straight. Meanwhile, white American man's book gets adapted into a film that grosses $162 million and wins three Oscars."