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Summary: All-time favorite
Review: This books blew me away by all the intricate details about the geisha lifestyle that it could have passed off as a biography. Arthur Golden spent ten long years to researched everything geisha so he could give us this excellent book. Because of this book I have been completely obsessed with learning a lot more about this mysterious tradition that most people don't have a clue about. People outside of Japan, including myself, have this idealized image of what a geisha is and that is as a prostitute. Truth is they aren't. Sex may be involved but that isn't the whole point of what a geisha is and that is what I have learned from Arthur's book. I hope some day we can stop stereotyping other people's cultures and actually attempt to learn and understand what they are truly like. Perhaps this book could be a good starting point in the right direction to ending cultural stereotyping.
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Summary: geisha
Review: this book is easy to read.and sounds like based on true story.but it is not. I just can't belive that author is not japanese.
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Summary: Excellent Read and discussion book
Review: I am amazed at how fast I sympathized with and wanted to know about Sayuri, the heroine. Normally a book takes pages to build identifictation with the hero, but not here. This is all the more amamzing considering that she is a young girl (I am a 30 something man) and from a culture I know little about. This early interest in her life is not disappointed as the book continues. In fact 20 pages from the end, I am still curious. Well written and a fast read and well worth discussing with friends.
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Summary: Memoirs of a geisha
Review: The Memoirs of a Geisha is a compelling story about a poor young village girl who is auctioned off to the highest bidder for her virginity and later becomes a very prominent geisha. This story is filled with romance, eroticism and suspense which is written in a colorful way that makes it difficult to put the book down. Each chapter Sayuri is evolving into an enchanting, beautiful creature that overcomes the hardship of her past. She has been trained to entertain the most powerful men of Japan and to love someone is considered a fantasy. This book brought me through all of the emotions and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has ever had to struggle.
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Summary: tremendously detailed and a wonderful read
Review: Since reading Memoirs of a Geisha, it has become one of my favorite books. The detail almost made me think that I was watching what was happening right in front of me. I found my self wanting the story to continue after I finished. I have recommended this book to many friends, and I anxiously wait for the movie so that I can compare the two. I don't see how it can improve on the book, which was superbly written.
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Summary: Memoirs of a Geisha
Review: Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, is a very exciting novel. It's a novel that's full of passions, feelings, and sad moods which make readers want to keep reading to discover what's going to happen next. Also, Arthur Golden, provides lots of details for each event, and he discusses it smoothly with feelings and actions. Memoirs of a Geisha is about a young girl who got traded by her father and by the person that she admired; therefore, this incident changed her life. Because of all the exciting events and feelings, I highly recommened this novel.
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Summary: Through the Eyes of a Geisha
Review: Entrap yourselt within the beautiful and enchanting culture of Japanese geishas. Memoirs of a Geisha is a book that gives great meaning to the overlooked Japanese culture of geishas. This book is surely different and unlike any other book I've read. Not only because of the plot of the story or the theme, but because of the way it's written. The author of the book, Arthur Golden, portrays the story in the eyes of a young girl whose life is going through the tough stages of blooming into a geisha. From her tortuous childhood living in a tiny village and being taken away by a stranger to the time of her present adulthood, adventures, and hardships are all illustrated using intriguing language and explicit details. The narrator's sufferings and achievements make the grand theme of this book obvious and true. The theme is revealed in many parts of the story. Because the theme is so easily found, the book goes quite deeply into fine points about the foundation topics that lead into this theme. Although set in a far-off and foreign country in the time of World War 2, the setting is one more thing that makes this book readable and enjoyable. By using original Japanese words, the reader gets used to the setting of this beautiful country more. The words to describe the settings draw the most incredible pictures in the readers' minds. The story also has many surprises, twists, and turns that totally leaves the reader grasping for need of reading on. The quick pace in the plot and the quickly changing conflicts and problems leaves no room for the reader to be bored. Memoirs of a Geisha is interesting and definitely not boring. A wide range of different types of readers would get into it easily. It gives the reader a totally new perspective of history and leaves them with more knowledge about the dramatic life of Japanese geishas.
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Summary: Astonishing, Captivating, and Unique
Review: It's characters are vivid, sparkling. The wording is clear, elegant. But what makes Memoirs of a Geisha truly astonishing is that it is unlike any other book I have ever read. Arthur Golden, in the words of fictitious geisha Sayuri, relates the tale of the lilfe of a young Japanese girl, from when she is wrenched from her childhood home through her life as an entertainer. First-person narration allows the reader to experience the events of Sayuri's life through her eyes, and to watch her grow and change. For example, the young girl Chiyo makes very innocent and naive gestures, such as whistling Mr. Tanaka's name over and over to herself (16). Later, there a fewer such instances as Sayuri matures. Another remarkable element of Memoirs of a Geisha is Golden's use of characterization. One memorable moment is when Chiyo first meets the intimidating Mother. Describes Chiyo, "Instead of being white and clear... her eyes had a hideous yellow cast, [like] a toildet into which someone had just urinated. They were rimmed with the raw lip of her lids in which a cloudy moisture was pooled, and all around them the skin was sagging" (42). I also loved the succinct dialogue in Memoirs, exemplified when Chiyo expresses her liking of Mother's kimono. The latter responds, "Do you have any idea what it cost?... More than you did, that's for certain" (42). However, the most important asset of Memoirs was its unique plot. While many romances, mysteries, and horror stories follow a rigid sequence with litle deviation, this tale shatters the mold. Based upon the life of a single character, the plot is abstract; descriptions and characterization are the key to the tale. This is what captivated me, and it will astound other patient readers as well. In future generations, Memoirs of a Geisha will be considered a classic, much like Jane Eyre is today. To all readers who are fans of Oprah's Book Club novels or who simply enjoy a well-written book, I highly recommend Memoirs of a Geisha. If you take my advice, I guarantee you will not stop thinking about Sayuri's life.
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Summary: Exquisite and exhilirating
Review: At first I was wary of reading this book because of its acclaim and because I was worried that a foreign treatment of the geisha might be biased or inaccurate. I still can't say whether this book had been an accurate portrait, but as a story, it is probably one of the best books I've read this year. "Memoirs" is a well-written, plot- and character-driven story. It's written in a way that's reminiscent of Wally Lamb, but this is unique in its own way. Never was there a moment where the story sags or slow down. It's a rare and enlightening look at a secret culture that's both elusive and seductive. The ending is always hard, especially for a book like this where you want to see everything wrapped up. There is no perfect ending, and given the bond that author Arthur Golden created for me, there would be no adequate ending that won't make me miss Sayuri.
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Summary: Whats wrong with fairy tales anyway?
Review: The life and times of a little girl who would become a celebrated geisha in post WW11 Japan. A fairy tale of a read; complete with the required cast of characters, a life full of challenges and the girl gets her guy kind of happy ending. Sap that I am I enjoyed every minute spent between this book's covers. The author paints beautifully detailed pictures of an almost secret society with his words, the characters are so fully described their motivations are easily understood and it has to end somehow so why not happy! The fact that Mr. Golden seems to be in such easy communication with his feminine side both startles and intrigues me.
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