Rating: 
Summary: Majestic
Review: I don't know where to begin in praising this superlative novel. How about this: nothing in recent memory moved me like this story did. Genuine, deeply developed characters. An exotic setting and time. A rich and surprisingly unpredictable love story. Endlessly interesting, the novel on every page ROCKS! Read it. Trust me, you'll be happy.
Rating:
Summary: Arther Golden is incredible!
Review: From the moment I picked this book up I couldn't put it down. I must have finished it in two days! (Although I've reread it countless times since! ) Every single person that I've know who has read it has fallen instantly in love with the characters and the mysterious wolrd of geishas. It's definately not a book for all you action fans out there, but if you're the sensitive type of person who loves to discover a window into a place and lifestyle you've never experienced, this is a must read! The ending was the best! (Personally, I think that this book is more suited to the taste of females than males...)
Rating:
Summary: Simple prose makes for a superb read
Review: This is a novel that should satisfy any reader's appetite for characters who live and places that are real. The protaganist is Sayuri whom we follow from her involuntary servitide to an 'okiya', a sort of boarding house for geisha, through her training as a geisha, to her position as one of the most adored in her profession. Through the author's simple prose and ample, but not overstated, use of detail, we are able to be in Sayuri's world; we are in the Gion teahouses with her while she displays her subtle graces to her wealthy customers and we come to understand the often intricate relationships between customer and geisha. Sayuri is a strong character who has aspirations even in the midst of the hardships of her servitute, the depression of the 1930s, and WW2. She is not perfect and I frequently thought her unlikeable; she is not immune from jealousy and treachery. But one very easily admires her strengths and is able to empathize with her actions in the setting of another culture. The author, who is male, has done his research well. He has succeeded in placing the readers in another culture and letting them enjoy the trip.
Rating: 
Summary: First half 4 stars, Second half 1 star
Review: The complexities and contrived beauty of the geisha's life are fascinating. The first half of the book is compelling, and I found it hard not to empathize with the weak, innocent Sauri ~ intuitively discovering her new life. The ending was weak ~ it fades out with few details of her remaining life ~ and nothing about her powerbrokering in later life.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Captivating
Review: My review title says it all...a truly wonderful novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Mediocre Work
Review: Despite high praise and much-touted attention, it was adisappointing read. The pace, from the very beginning of the novel,is slow...However, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA does have its high points. The research is exquisite. The dialogue manages to remain intriguing...The reader perpetually roots for the geisha in a battle of good vs. evil. Although this book could certainly never be classified as one of the finest ever written, it does merit reading--especially if one has an interest in gieshas and Japanese culture. END
Rating:
Summary: It's almost real...
Review: The author creates a very vivid story of a girl coming to age as a geisha. It is so real that while reading it, I kept on flipping to the cover to remind myself that it is fiction! The story was wonderful, however the pace seemed to drop towards the very end. Still, it is definately worth reading. Once you read the first line, you won't be able to the book down until the last line. If you are interested in learning more about Japanese culture, this book can push you in the right direction.
Rating: 
Summary: a mystery
Review: I think this story might have worked if it had been written in the third person. It takes a much better author than Golden to pull something like this off. In third person there would have been some opportunity (and real challenge) to draw the narrator in more detail, but as it is she comes off as papermache. There is never a deep emotion from her, everything happens on the surface. Of course a male author can write a female character well -- but not in this case. Golden took the convenient way out, and the result is stereotype that is (at worst) offensive and (at best) boring.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging, but a little shallow
Review: This is an engaging read from the very beginning - beautiful prose, tense rivalry between the characters and the constant uncertainty that surrounds Sayuri's life make it hard to put down - it made a four hour bus trip seem to pass in minutes for me. On the other hand, there are aspects of the book that are very unsatisfying. As many have pointed out the character development is a bit one dimensional and (Beware - spoiler to follow...) I think that the story suffered in the post war years - it was not in the least satisfying that Sayuri acheived her dreamed of goal and it's very hard to believe that the Chairman fell in love with Sayuri when they met for five minutes when she was twelve and he was already an established businessman in his thirties, and that this love would endure unrequited and undeclared for eighteen years before blossoming into the perfect relationship. Sayuri's own obsession with him was a little more understandable but it would have been more satisfying if she had gained insight and maturity from her trials and come to see him merely has an important inspiration and guiding light and then gone on to find or create happiness in her own way. Several characters in the book reprimand her for never taking control of her life (most notably Nobu), and perhaps the author should have taken their advice.
Rating:
Summary: BETRAYED!
Review: Arthur Golden painstakingly made this book appear to be a true story. I was so taken into Saruyo's life that I was completely devastated to learn, only at the very end, that the entire story was fictional. The book jacket and "translator's note" are extremely deceiving. I'm sorry I ever got so involved in the characters.
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