Memoirs of a Geisha in 100 books to read before you die

Apr 07, 2013 Sophie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: real-people, favourite, cultural, historic, 2012-2013, first-person-narrative

FTW: The day that I finished this book cannot be remembered precisely, but it was sometime around the 14th of May.

Memoirs of a Geisha was written by Arthur Golden, an American novelist who travelled to Japan in order to uncover more about the cloaked Geisha culture and life, their routines and rituals, as well as truths history books weren't able to offer. This narrative was the result of his encounter with Mineko Iwasaki, who sued Golden later for a lawsuit (much of the novel was 'loosely' bas FTW: The day that I finished this book cannot be remembered precisely, but it was sometime around the 14th of May.

Memoirs of a Geisha was written by Arthur Golden, an American novelist who travelled to Japan in order to uncover more about the cloaked Geisha culture and life, their routines and rituals, as well as truths history books weren't able to offer. This narrative was the result of his encounter with Mineko Iwasaki, who sued Golden later for a lawsuit (much of the novel was 'loosely' based upon her tellings to him). I found this piece of information out halfway through the novel - I wasn't nearly as into it as I probably hoped I'd be, since from that moment on I couldn't stop picturing those scenes not as fictitious material, but as me intruding on a private affair, which made me feel like a pre-pubescent loved up boy caught red-handed in the middle of a thrill-a-thon. Unfortunately (hah) the reading affair I held with the book was a tad less eventful, but still an as startlingly eye-opening experience as redtube or whatnot would have been for a blooming young chap.

Though the book wasn't fast-paced, full of red-herrings or superfluous in lush detail and imagery, it felt as if its contents were being poured straight into my soul, as a waterfall flows unremittingly into its plunge pool. Sayuri/Chiro's story was very gracefully told. It's detailed in humble introspections that bring sentimentality and substance to the novel. I am in complete awe of Arthur Golden, and at his feat of completing such an effeminate piece of work. There are a wonderful collection of analogies that the protagonist shares with the readers throughout the novel - these I'll try to locate later... - and to me really gave it the believable quality of unprecedented innocence.

Sure, some parts of the book screamed 'Lolita' in a shrill wail that did more than imprint my brain's walls, but it was Sayuri's, as oxymoronic as this sounds, unbreakable fragility, that pushed me, and I think her through some toxic events which to me, must have been exclusive to only 1920s geisha of the time. Were it have been written 50 years ago, some fragile china might not have lived to emulate opulence, but Golden sat down and wrote this memoir in attempt to convey to readers everywhere what life would have been like for these living dolls.
His characters sprang out of the page like those from 'Arrested Development' - lucid, powerful, and memorable from the first minute of reading. The evocative power of Golden's memoir reels you in like the earth coaxing a leaf to idle down from its spindly branch (analogy inspiration a la Golden), and you're literally left hungry for more (so much technical vocabulary about tea ceremonies.. where are my moshi balls mum!?).

I am touched by the story of Sayuri, the protagonist with striking grey eyes (set in japan, so this was weird and uncommon), a girl strengthened by life's events and unable to give up on (ultimately) the destiny of love (a key theme of the novel). Now that I write it out so, it sounds surprisingly simple, but isn't life, if summed up in one sentence, always misleadingly empty of struggle? It's not cheap to invest in education or travel to another country in search of a cultural catharsis, nor is it fair to judge a place and its beliefs by a single experience of either. But my journey with this book (It was drawn out over several months.. oh the unerring joy that being a worldly woman brings ^^) is what decentered an egocentric belief about geisha, and how in fact, New York City really does remain the place of dreams, for everybody. (no just kidding. maybe). ...more

Like · see review