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What Members Thought
Nov 01, 2007
Marla
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
book-club,
historical-fiction,
book-discussion,
audiobook,
girl-power,
favorites,
with-reservations,
chick-lit,
adult,
romance
Great story about a woman who becomes a geisha in Japan. Geishas are entertainers more like celebrities and not to be confused with prostitutes. They could be compared to old fashioned courtesans, trained in music, dance and conversation to entertain men.
The misconception of geishas being prostitutes is from WWII when the American GIs were in Japan after the surrender, Japanese prostitutes in kimonos were shuttled into camps and called themselves geishas.
Geishas were sometimes mistresses of succ ...more
The misconception of geishas being prostitutes is from WWII when the American GIs were in Japan after the surrender, Japanese prostitutes in kimonos were shuttled into camps and called themselves geishas.
Geishas were sometimes mistresses of succ ...more
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
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
This was an incredibly rich book.
The story was quite amazing, if a bit implausible (a geisha plucked out of the deep countryside? a Japanese girl with blue eyes?). The characters are great, although the description of the skills she had to learn to become a geisha were somehow less developed than descriptions of the hardship of life in Gion. Some episodes that describe how geisha entertain were good, but the gleeful enymity between main character Sayuri and Hatsumomo is neither explained nor properly developed - and then, just
...more
Jun 17, 2021
Sue
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
early-20th-century,
asia
This has been on my shelves forever & was pulled out in an effort to finish up a reading challenge. Why did it linger so long on my shelf?? (Because I have too many books waiting there, of course.) But honestly, I devoured this. To the extent that I just sat & read outside on my deck for extra time the last couple mornings because I kept saying, "Just one more chapter, then I'll go in & do chores". It was so beautifully written & took me into a world I knew absolutely nothing about, that I was c
...more
Although I like reading Chinese and Japanese historical novels this one didn't catch my fancy
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Loved it, loved it, loved it! I was dragging my heels from reading this one due to all the hype about it and I finally picked it up for a challenge and I regretted that it's taken me so long to actually read it.
What a wonderful world Arthur Golden has created for his readers. I really liked in that he chose to write it in a memoir kind of perspective and that he's set it up in the beginning with the memoirist (if that's a word?) stating that he could still hear her voice telling him her story be ...more
What a wonderful world Arthur Golden has created for his readers. I really liked in that he chose to write it in a memoir kind of perspective and that he's set it up in the beginning with the memoirist (if that's a word?) stating that he could still hear her voice telling him her story be ...more
This was an amazing story. I learned a lot of things about geisha that I didnt realise. I always thought that they were stage performers and that was it. I didnt realise how much more they did and went through. I also learned lot about the Japanese culture that I didnt know. The characters (while not always likeable) were real and believable.
I read this book years and years ago while I was working at a book store. I thought the writing was unlike anything else I had read so far, it was stunning, as was the story. This is a book that everyone should read at some point in their lives.
May 13, 2008
Liz
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics,
book-to-film-club
Dec 18, 2008
Tess
added it
Dec 26, 2009
Juliana Philippa
marked it as to-read
