Memoirs of a Geisha in Around the World

Sep 20, 2013 Renae rated it liked it

Shelves: setting-japan, genre-historical, read-in-2013

I’m sure that, as many have claimed, Memoirs of a Geisha is a very heavy-handed, westernized portrayal of Japanese culture. And considering the uproar Mineko Iwasaki raised in response to this book, I’m willing to bet that this isn’t particularly accurate or authentic, either. But to be honest, I don’t know. I’m not a scholar of Japanese tradition or culture, so I probably never would have known the difference between Golden’s inventions and reality. And, this being historical fiction, I suppose I’m sure that, as many have claimed, Memoirs of a Geisha is a very heavy-handed, westernized portrayal of Japanese culture. And considering the uproar Mineko Iwasaki raised in response to this book, I’m willing to bet that this isn’t particularly accurate or authentic, either. But to be honest, I don’t know. I’m not a scholar of Japanese tradition or culture, so I probably never would have known the difference between Golden’s inventions and reality. And, this being historical fiction, I suppose it’s excusable.

All that aside, I found the book to be very interesting and quick to read, in spite of its comparative bulk—661 page ebook. Even though there’s not much action and little dialogue, I didn’t find the text to be dull or hard to immerse myself in or any of that. Perhaps because of the novelty of the content, I found Memoirs of a Geisha to be an easy, engaging read.

That is not to say, however, that it is faultless. Arthur Golden writes in a very florid style that came off a bit cheesy to me. Sayuri, the geisha who narrates the book, had a propensity to compare everything to water or the ocean, and tended to speak in flowery extended metaphors, even as young as nine years old. At times, the imagery got a bit redundant and cloying, and I had to skim those sections.

Sayuri as a character, though, worries me. I didn’t hate her, but I find that what she represents is a bit disconcerting. Memoirs of a Geisha is, essentially, about a woman who spends 18 years pining after a man who apparently has no interest in her. She daydreams about him constantly, throws herself at his head, and generally sleepwalks through life because she’s “in love” with this man. And when, at the end, it turns out he has actually been in love with her this whole time, Sayuri immediately gives up her job, her friends and patrons, and moves halfway across the world to New York, just so they can be together. And she lives happily ever after.

That is not my idea of a strong, proactive female protagonist. Spending most of your life mooning after a man and feeling that your existence is only worthwhile if he validates you? Not a good message. Giving up everything you’ve worked to attain to make that man happy? Also not a good message. (Yes, Sayuri claims to be very happy in New York, and I believe her; however, she also says that she regrets leaving her friends and life in Japan. And she never would have considered leaving had it not been for her love interest.)

So, I don’t know. I feel like Memoirs of a Geisha is something I shouldn’t have liked; every reason I listed above, plus a hundred more, tells me that. I did like this book, though. It was entertaining, and even though this fails the Bechdel test pretty badly, I don’t care. (Note: the Bechdel test is problematic, but sometimes useful.)

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Feb 10, 2011 Preethi rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook, mcdreamy-or-men-to-die-for, memorable-women-or-about-women, forever-favourites

OH, how I love this book. The plot, the storyline, the characterization of each of the characters, the life of the geishas, their dressing. Everything single thing about this book is magical.

And the movie, though not as good as the book itself because of the film media's forever inability tolive up to the imagination and expectation of the book-lover, is good too. All the main characters including Sayuri, Mameha-san, Hatsumomo, Nobu were played by people who fit the role to the T. Ken Watanabe a ...more

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