false 1393909 <![CDATA[Memoirs of A Geisha (Memoar Seorang Geisha)]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183243778m/1393909.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183243778s/1393909.jpg 930 94 1558965 book 1997 Memoirs of a Geisha total:184091|5:61391|4:69237|3:39205|2:10367|1:3891| 184091 726143 228400 10922 614 3.94 184097 10923 2361850 3.87 740 152 5969907 301997 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 166308
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 3 26 false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 20:19:58 -0700 2007 Thu Dec 17 09:49:36 -0800 2009 Memoirs of a Geisha is beautiful, melts lightly off the tongue and will be forgotten shortly after it's done. The language is strikingly lovely, and Golden paints a remarkable picture of a time and place.

If you're looking to learn som...more...]]> 18716597 616321 929 1400096898 9781400096893 574 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255709680m/929.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255709680s/929.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/929.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 4.04 4139 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 2 42 false Tue Feb 21 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Mar 26 17:12:42 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 17:13:46 -0700 2008 Memoirs of a Geisha is an American novel, and as such the attempt at West does East, especially on the complex and delicate subject of the geisha, is compelling, interesting, but also heavy-handed and ultimately ineffective (even more so in the case of the film). It is a wonderful introduction to ge...more...]]> 15354886 629570 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 5 17 true Sat Mar 10 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 13 14:39:28 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 13 14:40:42 -0800 2008 more...]]> 731292 60270 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 4 12 false Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Apr 15 11:20:36 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 15 11:20:36 -0700 2007 more...]]> 11553338 648131 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 5 9 true Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Thu Jan 03 12:45:34 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 03 12:59:42 -0800 2008
I ...more...]]> 30711198 1229614 374147 0679781587 9780679781585 1074 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698m/374147.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698s/374147.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374147.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 4.00 6407 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 1 8 true Tue Aug 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 15:34:05 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 16:01:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 22188742 1160349 374147 0679781587 9780679781585 1074 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698m/374147.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698s/374147.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374147.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 3 14 false Tue Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue May 13 17:42:04 -0700 2008 Tue May 13 17:47:32 -0700 2008
Like much of non-Asian America, I was swept up in the delight of reading this book in 2000. I was fifteen and precocious, and the narrative was arresting. I couldn't put the book down. I wrote th...more...]]> 534520 46973 374147 0679781587 9780679781585 1074 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698m/374147.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698s/374147.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374147.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 5 5 false Mon Apr 02 12:35:34 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 16 17:25:10 -0800 2009 more...]]> 24911607 771958 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 2 8 false Thu Jun 19 12:02:57 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 11:17:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 14212198 856231 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 2 5 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Jan 31 17:09:04 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 18:35:44 -0800 2008
The "memoir" of the elegant Sayuri, whose life as a high-class geisha is disrupted by the outbreak of war, is written in an intriguing and alluring monologue -- purportedly narrated by Sayuri herself to the autho...more...]]> 8897249 419287 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 4 5 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Fri Nov 09 14:01:57 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 09 14:25:04 -0800 2007 more...]]> 7584086 532973 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 4 5 false Thu Oct 11 10:31:45 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 12 15:24:57 -0700 2007
The culture of this book is what interested me the most. The role women played and their place in society. Although this is merely "based on actual events", I k...more...]]> 36543298 1387551 374147 0679781587 9780679781585 1074 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698m/374147.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698s/374147.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374147.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 5 3 false Thu Oct 30 05:27:18 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 19 15:57:53 -0800 2008
Memoris of a geisha is an astonishing novel that exposes the questionable secretive life of geisha specifically, and the superb Japanese c...more...]]> 4234536 255250 374147 0679781587 9780679781585 1074 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698m/374147.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698s/374147.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374147.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 4 3 false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 1998 Tue Aug 07 18:39:20 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 18:49:29 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1566110 108125 374147 0679781587 9780679781585 1074 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698m/374147.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174263698s/374147.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374147.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 4 3 false Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu May 31 13:10:43 -0700 2007 Thu May 31 13:10:49 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4004648 147280 937 0739326872 9780739326879 240 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749068m/937.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749068s/937.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/937.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.96 1537
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.]]> 1997 2 3 false Thu Aug 02 21:59:40 -0700 2007 Thu Dec 17 03:31:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 10950387 123169 929 1400096898 9781400096893 574 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255709680m/929.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255709680s/929.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/929.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 2 3 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Mon Dec 24 05:05:22 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 24 05:09:25 -0800 2007 True, until the second world war starts, the book's a pretty nice window into that hidden world (as much as Golden's resources allowed him to know) but beyond that this book becomes another...more...]]> 1860220 126538 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 2 3 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Jun 11 15:41:58 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 16 21:15:33 -0800 2009 14747721 882233 929 1400096898 9781400096893 574 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255709680m/929.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255709680s/929.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/929.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 1997 5 4 false Wed Feb 06 12:49:13 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 08 13:55:44 -0800 2008 2 The movie wasn't as good as the novel. In fact it wasn't even that good ! I advise you to read the novel FIRST !
...more...]]> 9164179 41630 930 0739326228 9780739326220 7936 <![CDATA[Memoirs of a Geisha]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066m/930.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157749066s/930.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/930.Memoirs_of_a_Geisha 3.94 184091
We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 1997 5 3 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 15 14:45:02 -0800 2007 Wed May 14 04:41:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1393909