Memoirs of a Geisha in Retro Chapter Chicks

Nov 03, 2018 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: paperback-own, historical, own

This book was wonderful. I absolutely love the movie, which I now need to watch!

In many ways, this was a sad story for me. I would really like to read a biography of a geisha and watch a documentary to really look into their world.

We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course.

Happy Reading!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more

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Jun 01, 2022 Maureen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Very interesting book of the culture of the Geisha. I really thought this was going to be more like an actual memoir, but apparently it is not. The story was well written but developed very slowly.
I enjoyed very much about learning about the history of the Geisha, but the ending was very disappointing.

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Oct 17, 2008 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: concierge, strong-women, world-war-ii, war, book-club, own, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, favorite, movie, culture

5 ***** and a ❤

An engrossing story - a window into another world, another culture, another time. Sayuri is so passive, she infuriates me at times. Yet I am deeply disappointed in her for the way she treats Nabu - her one aggressive act.

I first read it in March 1998. A year later one of my book discussion groups chose it and I read it again. When the movie came out my husband surprised me by saying he wanted to see it (he had been in international business and spent a lot of time in Japan). Beca ...more

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Oct 02, 2019 Theresa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: debut, historical-fiction, contemporary-general-fiction, z-pop-sugar-2019-reading-challenge

You will not see the rave review here given by others, who read Memoirs of a Geisha when it was first published 20 or so years ago. I did enjoy it for the most part, and I agree that it is unusual, giving a sense of peeking around the screens to see into one of the most mysterious, exotic, and foreign aspects of Japanese culture - the selection, training and life of a geisha. But for me, ultimately that very voyeurism became it's biggest detraction.

The story opens with s "Translator's Note" tha You will not see the rave review here given by others, who read Memoirs of a Geisha when it was first published 20 or so years ago. I did enjoy it for the most part, and I agree that it is unusual, giving a sense of peeking around the screens to see into one of the most mysterious, exotic, and foreign aspects of Japanese culture - the selection, training and life of a geisha. But for me, ultimately that very voyeurism became it's biggest detraction.

The story opens with s "Translator's Note" that immediately sets the stage for this being the memoirs of a geisha from the Gian district of Kyoto as told to and ultimately interpreted by a male historian. He even defines for us what his definition of 'memoir' as "provid[ing] a record not so much of the memoirist as if the memoirist's world." Very neatly and cleverly, the author has set us up as voyeurs.

After this point, the only voice you hear is that of Chiyo/Sayuri, our geisha, in the first person. You meet her first as the young girl Chiyo in a fishing village with a dying mother and aged father. She and her sister are sold, with Chiyo going into an okiya (the home of women where geisha live) as her unusual grey eyes and general appearance promise unusual beauty, and her older sister to a brothel. From there the story follows Chiyo through her geisha training and ultimately to full geisha and all that means. There is a vague *almost* romance thread as well, that often seems silly.

We also see a bit of history from the Japanese perspective, as it is set from about 1930 through the 1970s. Japan was suffering through the Great Depression, also with the Manchurian wars. Then of course came WWII, with incredible hardship, and ultimately the American occupation. Fascinating as it was to see these hints of a Japan that wasn't simply bent on destroying the US, of the very real hardships and turmoil in Japan at that time, there wasn't enough, it was just hints and teasers. Frankly by the time WWII came in the book, I was so irritated by the emotional shallowness of the narrative, I just wanted it to be over.

And that is the crux of my complaint: there is a lack of emotional depth, and frankly in many moments, totally unrealistic. I am talking about the whole mizuage section, her later first danna experience, even the interactions among the women of the okiya. This meant I as reader was not engaged or invested in the characters. I felt as if I was watching from behind a screen or curtain, or was even one of the men geisha entertain. This was the fatal flaw for me.

Being a voyeur can be tantalizing. But not for over 400 pages. ...more

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Jun 11, 2025 Scarlett rated it liked it · review of another edition

I liked it, I guess. I enjoyed the flowery imagery and the strong characters, but the plot was very... flat, I suppose. Why is this on so many top 100 books lists? Someone please enlighten me.

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Aug 10, 2009 Phair rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, historical-fiction, asia-fiction

Listened to this first as unabridged audio (around 1999?) then read the book for f2f discussion in 2001. Just as good the second time around- always flowing, interesting, detailed style. The writing was very visual. I love books set in Japan, especially in the old culture.

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