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.

This was one of the best-written books I have ever read. There was something so special about the writing style, I can't really put it into words. It was just so "fitting" and transported me right into this fascinating world. I knew absolutely nothing about the Geisha tradition going into this book, and I feel like I've learnt so much! It is extremely evident that the author did a lot of extensive research and clearly appreciates the Japanese culture. I never would have guessed that I could become so invested in the life of a single girl, who is growing up in a country I don't have any connection to, and who is living a lifestyle I've never thought all too much about before.

I thing the exquisite writing style is what truly makes this book. Of course the plot is interesting as well (especially if, like me, you don't know anything about all the work that goes into becoming a Geisha), but without  Arthur Golden's wonderful storytelling it would have been only half as good. He made me feel things I wouldn't have felt otherwise. He managed to make even the most mundane things sound exciting and interesting. I especially need to mention the fact that there were many things happening I would have found disgusting and appalling under different circumstances (this is not a critique on the book itself; these situations are realistic and an attribute to the time period the book takes place in). However, the author pulled me so far into the story and had such a beautiful way of describing things, that I just couldn't bring myself to be angry at anything.

All in all, this was an absolute perfect book to me. If I were to teach a writing class, I would definitely choose this novel as an example on great storytelling. It deserves all the hype and acclaim it gets.

The Book Report: The politics of the okiya, or geisha house, closely examined through the rise of Chiyo, an unpromising girl sold into slavery by her peasant family, to become Sayuri, a sought-after and renowned geisha in pre-WWII Kyoto.

Chiyo's arrival in the okiya is inauspicious, and her introduction into the horrible world of all-female hatreds and politics comes at a heavy price. She attempts to run away back to the family that sold her into slavery in the first place, which shows that kids don't think in logical patterns; fortunately, she falls off the roof and breaks her arm. Her friendship with a fellow slave, Pumpkin, thus begins, and with it the events that will lead her into rivalry with Hatsumomo, the okiya's lead geisha, and ultimately into her new identity as Sayuri, a full-fledged geisha.

Golden treats us to the full world of geisha, including its roots as slavery and its unpalatable customs, such as misuage, the ritualized and monetized deflowering of barely pubescent girls as a preparatory step to their ascent into geishahood.

Sayuri lives through the tribulations of having only a minimal say in the men she must serve as companion, as hetaira, as whore; she falls in love with one man, whom she cannot, for good reasons, pursue a relationship with; and she uses her wits, her wiles, and her body to survive and thrive during the national trauma of WWII and its aftermath. By the end of the story, Sayuri is a free woman, possessed of a life many many women across the world would envy, and telling us the remarkable and astonishing story of a slave girl's rise to wealth and position.

tt
My Review: Quite a lovely book to read, and really very nicely made. Well, except for that whole missing bit that we like to call “World War Two.” The author spends what, five pages maybe, on the *entire*second*world*war. One whole star off for that, so we're down to four.

Then there's the whole issue of sourcing. Golden interviewed an actual reitred geisha and used her life as a basis for his novel. Nothing untoward there, is there? Well, apparently so...the lady was acknowledged in the book and she was subject to death threats and other reprisals. She sued Golden and the publishers, claiming breach of contract, and got an out-of-court settlement. Then she went on to publish her memoirs! After getting the settlement for having her privacy broached! Oh gross. Greed is a turn-off for me, and so, despite the fact that Golden didn't do jack poop wrong, half a star off. Three and a half, for those counting along.

But the last half star vanished more recently than I read the book (back in 1999). It went away because Arthur Golden's source, Mineko Iwasaki, painted in her memoir a very very different picture of her life and that of a modern geisha than Golden did. Different enough that I felt the novel, representing itself as an accurate portrayal of a geisha's life, was flying false colors. It's fiction, so changing stuff up is normal and acceptable, but the background of the book is what made it interesting, the world of the okiya and its rituals and its rhythms were the *point* of my reading the book...and the source herself, in a polite Japanese way, said “pfui” to it.

And now we're at three stars. All of them, at this point, are for Arthur Golden's pretty, pretty sentences.

There are two distinct schools of thought about this famous novel. One says it’s page-turningly brilliant and the other says it’s pernicious nonsense and dull to boot. Naturally, being very grumpy, I am of the second school of thought. Sophia’s review from 2011 perfectly sums up all the problems

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

So I won’t repeat all her points. I quit on page 138. To begin with I was fairly uneasy about the whole idea of a white Western man writing as an Eastern woman but I still believe an author can’t be confined to their own time & place, that would be absurd. But this was pushing the boat out more than somewhat. In the acknowledgements printed at the back Mr Golden is most respectful of all his great Japanese informants, as well he might be. His main informant sued him for misrepresentation (settled out of court).

SOME OF THE DIALOGUE IS RIDICULOUS

This is a 12 year old girl speaking :

I’m no more a rival to her than a puddle is rival to the ocean.

I’d give anything to undo my mistakes. I’ve waited so patiently in the hopes that some opportunity might come along.

I’m like a river that has come up against a dam, and that dam is Hatsumomo.

Doesn’t sound like any 12 year old girl I ever heard, but maybe they all talked like this in 1920s Kyoto.

BUT MAINLY

Whereas many people in their enthusiastically describe this as compelling, I thought it was really not compelling. I was uncompelled. I was like a river that came up against a dam, and that dam was the remaining 290 pages of Memoirs of a Geisha

The world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may face or suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.

A historical account of a young Japanese girl and the trials and tribulations that she faces on her path to becoming and working as a geisha.

The novel mostly centres around the theme of the hardships and challenges that Chiyo Sakamoto
has to face right from a very ripe age of 8-9. The narrative is gripping, the story is engrossing, and transports you to a different time and place (off-course with the good imagination that we readers possess). However, this is a long book (longer than most), lasting 500 odd pages and it did take some good amount of time to finish it. The novel, in the first 100-150 odd pages was a bit slow, but it eventually picked up pace towards the latter half.

Overall, I'd say it is a commendable work of evoking a vanished world in great detail. And once again, as many historical fiction novels point out the struggles of a woman / girl, Memoirs of Geisha also did the same via great imaginative empathy.

This book is yet another example of how indefatigable a woman can be. Even after constantly being tormented and being unbearably suppressed, a woman can stand her ground.
Not just stand, but make her way through it with a bang!
The vivacity of a woman's spirit, portrayed in the book, is utterly commendable and shows how overwhelmingly resilient a woman can be.

Looking forward to watching the 2005 movie adaptation now; read that the movie was nominated for 6 Academy Awards and won 3 out of them, which makes me more excited to watch the movie.

Coming to the rating, I'd round off my 3.75 stars to 4! (again emphasizing on the need for a decimal rating system on GR, haha!)

What a disappointment. Why is it that in most books' reviews, only the marginal niche fans vote massively, upholstering the average score so unfairly. Unless, it is the romantics who do read diversely that in their unbiased way, gave the book four to five stars. Even people who gave the book the same score as me must have done so for different reasons. Maybe the ending threw them. Maybe I'll never know. I'm left scratching my head as to why this book is considered the best historical fiction on this site.

I'll pool all my misgivings from the last third of the book in this paragraph. Chiyo's outlook towards life is delusional, and is vindicated by her being united with her beau. I wonder what friends I myself would have had my life been more successful. Chiyo's memories of her past are very selective. Sometimes she wants to be a geisha, but anyway she has no choice. Her heart breaks and reseals itself over her journey in becoming one. Her infatuation with the Chairman and her laughable dressing of her repulsion to Nobu sums up the genre of romance. The book is an ungodly mess in its themes. The analogies and lesson-like counsel that passed for wisdom at the end made it all clear. This book's just an escapist dream for delusional romantics of all genders and ages. My reason for my score is mainly that at not one point did the book reel me in. I was never hooked.

I have to consider Hatsumomo, most of the book's main archenemy. She is described as stupid, but reveals herself as cunning. The latter attribute is proved beyond doubt. But her stupidity, abetted by drunkenness, only comes at the end. This was a missed opportunity to dress up a promising character. When Hatsumomo mars a kimono belonging to her rival, it's almost an act of vandalism. But we are never allowed to get the insight whether the act itself has the fuel of 30% meanness and 70% stupidity, or the other way round, or some other permutation.

I first intended to write more than I'm doing. But I want to put this book behind me quickly. I want to make two points (which is more than my favorite team can make at the moment). First, I knew that such a dishonest and cowardly book would make of the tragic Pumpkin, a mean spirited person. I knew it! Her separation from Chiyo should have been temporary. Instead, she estranges herself from joy and purpose in life in the most random way. She is very wimpy in her decision to "join the dark side". It's just not that convincing. Maybe her scavenging act early on foreshadows what the author did with her. It's not an excuse though. Second thing, the stupid and bizarre episode between Chiyo and the Baron. It should have had consequences, but it seemed like the mother of all treaties had been signed between all parties. Very inexplicable. Inexplicable but quite welcome. It's an occurrence that made me distance myself from the narrator. I don't have to be concerned with her when she troubled trouble.

This book, were it a flawed masterpiece and dealt with a genre I detest, would still have gotten more than two stars. But at no point did Memoirs reach a pinnacle or peak of sorts. No event was reciprocal, there was no theme except from a rags to riches story. Nature sometimes was described richly, but new objects of unfamiliarity and technology were glossed over, which is cool, as we're all aware of modern contrivances. It's just that everything I've mentioned makes the narrator fake. It's just sad. It means I'll never read this book again. Neither it nor I deserve it.

This is such a beautiful and mesmerising story! Arthur Golden paints a vivid and remarkable picture of the mysterious world of geisha and I'm not surprised it took him six years to write it. Even though the language can get a bit too dramaric in some places, I thought the story was still believable. This book didn't stir so much noise for nothing!

So.. Memoirs of a Geisha. I'd been wanting to read that one for a very long time. I had heard so many good things about it. It's supposed to be awesome, and deep, and beautiful, right?
Wrong. It's not.

The writing was what bothered me the most. It's pretentious and superficial, and sloooooww and it goes on and on and on and on and on and still, very little happens. In some sort of weird combination, the writing is both superficial and cliché. It feels like Golden thought it would be a good idea to emphasize all the Japan-and-nature clichés to the point of ridiculousness : I still can't believe how many times he compares something to the nature. Ironically, it doesn't feel natural at all. It feels forced and weird and and it's very annoying, as it slows down the pacing (which is already very slow) and frequently interrupts the narrator's flow of thoughts.

Examples? Yes, yes. Because I was so sick and tired of reading for the 40th time how something is LIKE a bird or a snake or whatever, I made a list. Enjoy, people.

This is how Sayuri narrates the story. Please notice and enjoy how natural this way of thinking sounds :

"I felt as a dam must feel when it's holding back an entire river."

"I felt as sore as a rock must feel when the waterfall has pounded on it all day long."

"My poor scalp felt the way clay must feel after the potter has scored it with a sharp stick."

And it goes on :

"Like water bugs kicking along the surface."

"Like the crisp skin of a grilled fish."

"Like a scrap of paper in the wind."

"Like ruts in the bark of a tree."

And on :

"Like a pig trying to survive in a slaughterhouse."

"Like a stray cat on the street without a master to feed it."

"My mind on the eve of my debut was like a garden in which the flowers have only begun to poke their faces up through the soil."

"It was like when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly."

"Out of my element as a pigeon in a nest of falcons."

"Felt as a simple smelt must feel when a silver salmon glides by."

Still not enough? I was hoping you'd say that. Here you go! :

"Like what a workman does to a field using a hoe felt the way clay must feel after the potter has scored it with a sharp stick."

"I felt as the waves of the ocean must feel when clouds have blocked the warmth of the sun."

"As if he were the wind that blew and I were just a cloud carried upon it."

"Like a tree and its roots, or like a shrine and the gate that stands before it."

"With as much difficulty as a hungry child turns away from a plate of food."

"I felt like a slab of tuna the grocer had just delivered."

"I was like a temple bell that resonates long after it has been struck."

"I tried to imagine I was simply a house standing in the rain with the water washing down the front of me."

"Like when a stone is dropped into a pond, the water continues quivering even after the stone has sunk to the bottom."

"Like the tree where the tiger might sharpen its claws."

"Like a fish belly-up on the stream."

"A tree may look as beautiful as ever; but when you notice the insects infesting it, and the tips of the branches that are brown from disease, even the trunk seems to lose some of its magnificence."

"As much a part of her as a song is part of a bird."

"Was as simple as a stone falling toward the ground."

"If you no longer have leaves, or bark, or roots, can you go on calling yourself a tree?"

"Felt toward him just as an ice pick feels toward a block of ice."

"The two of them weren't "spending time together" any more than a squirrel is spending time with the insects that live in the same tree."

"Like the fisherman who hour after hour scoops out fish with his net."

"Like a mouse expecting sympathy from the snake."

"Like rice pouring from a torn sack."

"Expanding just like a river whose waters have begun to swell."

"I was like a child tiptoeing along a precipice overlooking the sea. And yet somehow I hadn't imagined a great wave might come and strike me there, and wash everything away."

"Like a snake that had spotted a mouse."

"Your eyes hang all over him like fur on a dog."

"I began to feel like a tree whose roots had at last broken into the rich, wet soil deep beneath the surface."

"Just as naturally as the leaves fall from the trees."

"Just as a stone must fall toward the earth."

"It was all like a stream that falls over rocky cliffs before it can reach the ocean."

"No more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean."

"Just like watery ink on paper."

So yeah. Just because of that, it can't get more than 2 stars for me. It just can't. It's awful to read.

And the characters. *SIGH* What can I say about them? Hatsumomo was just a big cliché, and so was Pumpkin, and so was The Chairman.

They didn't feel real. None of them did. Sayuri on top. So I'm supposed to feel something for her, right? Relate to her somehow. That was impossible. I don't know why, but somehow I was able to relate to Chiyo - but not to Sayuri. Even though they're the same person, I couldn't bring myself to care for Sayuri. As soon as she "grows up" (even though she keeps telling her story with the skills of a freakin' 4 year old) so around the time when she becomes a geisha, that is, she becomes insufferable.

And she has this sort of weird fascination for adult men, first M. Tanaka and after The Chairman, and it's just so annoying. Why does she like them? Why?

And, yeah, she was also such a victim. She never made anything to change her condition, she was just this kind of submissive woman who, well, blinks and, I dunno, bows. I know it's the way she's supposed to behave, but still, it's infuriatingly boring to read about such a character. The only thing she ever does for herself is  sleeping with The Minister so she doesn't have to undergo Nabu-whathisname as a danna but even that is done in the purpose of eventually being with The Chairman. And who was he, that Chairman? Who was that man we hear about, again and again and again? What's he like? Have they ever had a real conversation? I don't think so. She idealizes him, she never sees him as who he really is, she just keeps wetting holding that stupid handkerchief every night and that annoyed me. It felt childish and weird.

The only character I liked was Mameha, and she's the angel of the story, meaning that you're just supposed to like her because she's, well, perfect, kind, loyal and beautiful, the way Agnes is in David Copperfield or Melanie in Gone With The Wind.

The informations about Geishas were nice, I suppose, but I don't know how much of it is true. The war was awfully, awfully boring, and very badly executed.

I think you can see it was written by an American just by the way the United States are depicted. They atomically bombarded Japan and two of greatest its cities and yet, Sayuri doesn't even blink and say "The American troups were very kind to us and gave candy to the children." Er... Really?

The plot dragged on and on, and I had to struggle to finish the book. The ending felt rushed. I hate, hate it when authors do that. He wrote a whole book about someone's life, and the final chapter is soo rushed and it goes like "So that was forty years ago, now I'm seventy and I'm old and I'm gonna tell you what happened in my life between then and now in like, two sentences. So I married the guy I talked so much about, and then we went to live in the USA because that's like ZOMG the best country EVAR! And then he died, and.. Ah yes.. Did we have a kid? Oh, but wouldn't you like to know!.. Well you won't, cause I'm not telling you, neener- neener. Whatever I'm old, and I'm probably gonna die now LIKE A BIRD THAT FLIES AWAY", because what would be the final sentence without a nature-related comparaison, huh? Right. I swear, the book probably deserves an award, for like Worst Ending Chapter Ever or something. It made no sense, it gave no real closure.

Everything in this book was just so... flat. It tried to be epic and it tried to be a classic but it failed so badly. The characters weren't well fleshed-out, it was obvious that the Good people (Sayuri, Mahema) would triumph over the Bad (Hatsumomo), it was obvious that Sayuri would get her happy ending after all..

See, all throughout the book, I was completely disconnected, I didn't feel anything. I didn't smile, or laugh, I certainly didn't cry. I can't even say I'm angry or that I hate the book - because hatred requires that I care, and I don't. I'm just... indifferent. Bored. Unimpressed. And isn't it the worst state of mind you can possibly be in after you finish a book? Ultimately, it didn't leave a mark.

So the book as a whole was a major disappointment and I'm glad it's over. I just hope the movie might be better - I kept thinking it would be better to watch it, seeing how graphic the descriptions were (of the kimonos, for example). [Edit: So I saw the movie. Meeeh.]

But as a book, it was unconvincing and very flawed.

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."

First book I've read on Geisha's and I loved it so much it has fueled my need to get to Japan and my fascination with all things Japanese.

I thought this was a fantastic book and a great insight to the culture although I am aware of the controversy surrounding it and the liberties the author took but this will still remain an all time favorite for me.

I first read this book in high school, and although I remember liking it, I don't think I was paying very much attention because I seriously thought the book was just about a bunch of Japanese hookers. But I reread it a few weeks ago, and I loved the story. Memoirs is about the life of this peasanth girl, Sayuri, in pre and post-WW2 Japan who is sold into life as an apprentive Geisha, and then ultimately, an actual Geisha.

The novel is full of these really great, vivid details of a variety of characters: gorgeous but evil rivals, the heinous older ladies who run the Geisha houses and practically enslave these girls, and the Geishas' patrons. Readers discover the world of the Geisha through the eyes of Sayuri, as she struggles to find her place in this society and at the same time, follow her heart
(very cliche, I know, but I don't want to give away the story!).

So the Geisha are women in Japan who are trained in the arts - playing music, dancing, acting, performing tea ceremonies, etc. They make their living entertaining wealthy Japanese men (business men, doctors, political figures), usually in large groups, in tea houses. In pretty rare cases, some of the most popular Geisha undergo a binding ceremony where the geisha is hooked up for life with a Dannah- a very wealthy man who supports her and takes care of her, in exchange for intimacy with her. There are some pretty disgusting scenarios in the book where they just come off like highly-paid prostitutes, but for the most part, the girls in the book are very colorful, strong-willed, and interesting. It's just a very fascinating look into old Japanese culture.

I am so glad to have re-read this masterpiece.Arthur Golden's exquisite writing effortlessly transports readers to the mesmerizing world of Kyoto's geisha culture. Golden's meticulous attention to detail and seamless interweaving of historical elements into the narrative are commendable. Hatsumomo stands out as one of the most compelling literary villains, embodying pure malevolence. Chiyo’s journey becomes a shared odyssey as she grapples with the hardships of life, tradition, and rivalry. At its core, the narrative is a poignant tale of survival, hope in the face of great adversity, and resilience.
Such beautiful writing! Sheer joy to read.

“Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be.”