Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am able to give this novel a three because of the author's ability in historical fiction. The descriptions of Japan and the general workings of Geisha were quite enjoyable. The storyline, however, was very predictable and reminiscent of a V.C. Andrews novel, entertaining and suspenseful for a twelve-year-old, but boring for a more mature audience.
Rating:
Summary: Revelations
Review: Memoirs of a Geisha is a poetic depiction of a young woman drowning in the vague abyss of poverty and tragedy, brutally forced to pierce through the murky and secluded world of being a geisha. In this groundbreaking book, we can peer into the life of Chiyo, a girl who survived adversities because of her stunning and beautiful features and acidic wit. A revelation of a forsaken Japanese culture and a quite remarkable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I love the female fantasies of Geishas, Ballerinas, Bellydancers, Princess and have been wanting to read this book after everyone I know recommended it to me, saying I would love it. I did. So, if you have hesitation because of all the hype and worried it wouldn't live up to expectations, don't worry. I was wondering where it would all go when it opens in a small dreary fishing village, but once I started, I couldn't put it down. The descriptions of the costumes and the life of Geishas were intricatly woven into a beautiful story about a woman you grow to care about deeply.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, Unexpected and Enlightening
Review: Arthur Golden is on to something. His many years as an American living in Japan has given him unusual insight into the culture of pre-World War II Japan.This story of a beautiful young girl from a small fishing village, taken away from her dying parents (with her sister) and sold into slavery as a geisha, reads like a well-told autobiography. A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the interplay between geisha and patron, geisha and customer, geisha house and Japanese culture. An excellent, well-written book with only a few very minor rough edges in the writing. It's a believable, poignant and interesting read. Hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Oh My
Review: I have read many a book, but this one took me somewhere in time I could never have imagined. It was all so real, I had to keep reminding myself that this was a novel. You could actually reach out and touch these characters. TREMENDOUS!
Rating:
Summary: Subtle Transformations
Review: To read Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha is to sink into a new and strange pool of water and watch the light change colour on the surface of the pool. He writes beautifully of the transformation of little Chiyo into the geisha Suyari (both the changes inside her but also, important for a geisha, the outward changes required of her) and introduces the reader into an exotic, new world along with the young protaganist. The majority of the novel is this story of becoming a geisha and that is the part of this book that is so magical. The cast of supporting characters (geisha and their clients) is wonderful. The book picks up speed with the World Wars and falters a little with the somewhat forced ending but the magic of the bulk of the book before all of this will carry the reader joyously over anything. This was a marvelous and knowing novel that will transport the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Travel to a secret world
Review: There is not much to be said about this book that hasn't already been said. I'd been meaning to read it for years, and when I finally did, I was not disappointed. Golden has created a world that so few of us know anything about. I certainly cannot speak to the accuracy of his depiction of the life of a pre-WWII Geisha, but was captivated none-the-less. His portrayal of the character of Sayuri is not fairy-tale perfect as so many have implied. I found the character believably flawed-particularly in her treatment of Nobu, the gruff-but-kind, disfigured businessman who chooses her to be his mistress. And, even in her later days in New York, she still seemed to maintain an aura of artificiality, as though the role of the Geisha could not be shed. I couldn't help but be swept up in the world Golden has created. The story is well-worth the hype it has generated.
Rating:
Summary: an exquisite story like a cup of really taste fine tea
Review: i've felt so lucky after i finished reading this beautiful novel, because i didn't know it was novel. i bought this book when i was purchasing my textbooks for my classes thinking i may find some free time after test to read and, previouly i became to know about this book by some music video called, 'Nothing Really Matters' by Madonna. So, i just picked up for fun how Madonna interpreted another woman's life this time around ever since Evita but, this time i didn't know actually this book is novel, all fictional except the parts where the author describe the way of life Geisha lives in Japan. So, if anyone read this book already should relate my feeling of what i felt as i was reading this book without knowing everything was just fiction. i was, for the first time, emotionally involved with all of the characters' play. The kaleidoscopic life of Sayuri as an innocent(why oh why, the man who wrote this book knew definitely how a little gir might feel and think in the world!) girl to the woman hood in such a subtle ways that you will not suspect that this person who is talking is lying...Hatsumomo's cruelty but later her unfortunate turn of life, and little Pumpkin's irresolvable pain and sadness in her heart, Sayuri's love for chairman....i felt so strongly with every one of them and relate my feeling, thinking myself 'oh my, this woman HAD a dramatic life' i finished up this book within a night, and when i finally look at the acknowledgement, i found out, this whole story is fiction. so...oh well. i tried to read after again, but i couldn't have the same exciting feeling i had when i was reading it for the first time. anyway, it's a good, and heart breaking novel. it not only well describes the life of Geisha i never knew before but also, the way the author creates the stories and characters in this novel is just marvellously exquisite and detailed(but not boring). if you have ever had a chance to have a cup of light green tea in one of those Japanese tatami room, with your best friend or lover, at night with some nice cool breeze flowing in from the window, with music nothing but the silence...that should be it okf what's like reading this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Exotic
Review: This book swept me away to another world and another time. I could not believe that this book was fictional, it seemed to be written not only by a woman, but by a true geisha. Mr. Golden is a talented writer and this is a wonderful book to be cherished.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting look at geisha life
Review: I thumbed through this book at the bookstore for almost a year before I finally borrowed it from the library...and then regretted having waited so long to experience this interesting story. Golden follows the life, love and intrigue of Sayuri, a poor Japanese girl basically sold into the geisha profession in the 1920s. Golden spent 10 years researching the geisha culture, and breaks many Western stereotypes of the profession while being praised for his ability to capture Japanese culture so innately.
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