What do You think about Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005)?
A beautiful story that explores the secret world of the Japanese geisha (if you think that geisha = prostitue, you need to read this book just to learn how wrong that assumption is), told in the style of an interview with a woman named Sayuri Nitta, who used to be one of the most famous geisha in Kyoto. My favorite parts of the story were the detailed descriptions of geisha beauty rituals (they wax their hair and sleep with their necks resting on wooden blocks so they don't mess up the hairstyles) and tradtions (when a geisha leaves her okiya, or geisha house, a spark is struck against her back for good luck). The descriptions of the kimono worn by Sayuri and the other geisha in the book are also gorgeous. The only part of this book that I didn't love was Sayuri's constant adoration of a man know only as the Chairman. Sayuri meets him when she's eight, and because he's kind to her and buys her a flavored ice, she decides that she's going to become a geisha just so she can meet him again. Did I mention that the chairman was about forty at the time? I didn't have a lot of faith in the level of Sayuri's love for him, and just couldn't wrap my head around the idea of an eight-year-old girl falling in love with a man more than thirty years her senior. UPDATE: So, I wrote this review when I was in high school and didn't know much about the actual writing process of this book. Turns out Arthur Golden didn't actually do that much real research and had a bad habit of just making shit up. This book apparently pissed off a real geisha so much that she wrote her own book in response. I'm writing this update now because today in my literature class we were talking about how we all basically read only British and American books, and this one girl starts talking about how she used to only read American books and then one day read Memoirs of a Geisha and it just, like, totally opened her eyes to other cultures. And everyone is looking at her like she just said that watching The Godfather helped her understand Italian history. So basically what I'm saying is, don't come to this story looking for historical accuracy. It's still a good story, just not necessarily an accurate one. Think of it as fiction, and you'll be fine.
—Madeline
I got tricked into thinking this actually was Chiyo's biography. I read the preface by the imaginary professor matter of factly, not giving much thought to it. Of course the idea of reading an autobiography sparked my excitement. I liked the prose, the part of the book in which Chiyo was not yet abducted stood out and "felt" Japanese. What quickly brought me back on the right track again, was the formulaic style. Chiyo's life consisted of a little too many Cinderella ingredients to not make me doubt her existence.For example, her brief encounter as a child with the (view spoiler)[ Chairman and the way this affected her for the rest of her life didn't seem very likable, and appeared purely added for romantic 'it's fate' impact. Then there was Hatsumoto's limitless - evil stepmother! - hatred for what was in the beginning hardly more than a poor little girl from the countryside. (hide spoiler)]
—Loederkoningin
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!(view spoiler)[ : "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." (hide spoiler)]
—Sophia.
