Memoirs of a Geisha (fiction)

Arthur Golden (1997)
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THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional novel by American writer Arthur Golden, about a geisha who works in Kyoto, Japan, before and during World War II.  A nine-year old girl named Chiyo is plucked from her poor village in the countryside, separated from her sister, and sold to a geisha boarding house in Kyoto.  She is forced to adapt to a completely different world filled with rigorous training on hair, makeup, dance, the best way to pour tea and sake, and ultimately on the art of managing complicated relationships with rich and powerful men.  Her transformation into a woman and a geisha brings demanding masters, jealous rivals, an auction for her virginity, and unfulfilled love.  Told from a first person perspective, the story feels utterly convincing and truly authentic, although there is some debate around its historical accuracy.  No matter what, it is a brilliant, captivating book that was an immediate bestseller.
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A5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THOSE WHO LIKED THIS BOOK

GREAT QUOTES FROM MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

“You cannot say to the sun, 'More sun,' or to the rain, 'Less rain.' To a man, geisha can only be half a wife. We are the wives of nightfall. And yet, to learn kindness after so much unkindness, to understand that a little girl with more courage than she knew, would find her prayers were answered, can that not be called happiness? After all these are not the memoirs of an empress, nor of a queen. These are memoirs of another kind.” 

INTERESTING LINKS:

  • Read the New York Times review, "A Woman's Tale, Imagined By a Man", by Michiko Kakutani in 1997 of Memoirs of a Geisha.
  • There is some controversy over some source material.  Arthur Golden interviewed a geisha named Mineko Iwasaki for background information, and she later sued Golden for breach of contract and defamation of character, a case that was settled out of court.  Iwasaki then later wrote her own autobiography that pained a very different picture of geisha life at that time.  The book, Geisha, a Life, can be found at Amazon.
  • The book was turned into a feature film in 2005, starring Zhang Ziyi.  The film received mixed reviews, including criticism for mainly casting Chinese actresses as Japanese women, but the movie ultimately won three Academy Awards. 

MAP - KYOTO, JAPAN

A PREVIEW OF THE MOVIE