Memoirs of a Geisha

[SubKamran]

Has anyone read this book? It's a historical fiction, drama and romance. It's so amazing, I cried at the end... not because it was sad, but because it was ended so beautifully. I'm such a sap. It is probably the greatest book I've ever read (book, not series).

But look at this, Rob Marshall who directed Chicago is directing the movie, and it looks amazing.

http://a.videodetective.com/?PublishedID=191839 (Internet Explorer)

December, 2005. Ungh, I can't wait!

 

[Nat Turner]

Whats a Geisha?

 

[Laivasse]

I read Autobiography of a Geisha, a totally different book, but one which was actually a true story. Never read Memoirs.

 

[SubKamran]

Whats a Geisha?

Japanese women who are sort of like actors/performers/dancers. They mostly entertain men at parties and things.

And Lavaisse... this is like a story, so it's very well-written and it's all based on fact, which is why it is historical fiction. I think the book was written in 1997, it's a huge bestseller and I can understand why.

According to Arthur Golden's absorbing first novel, the word "geisha" does not mean "prostitute," as Westerners ignorantly assume--it means "artisan" or "artist." To capture the geisha experience in the art of fiction, Golden trained as long and hard as any geisha who must master the arts of music, dance, clever conversation, crafty battle with rival beauties, and cunning seduction of wealthy patrons. After earning degrees in Japanese art and history from Harvard and Columbia--and an M.A. in English--he met a man in Tokyo who was the illegitimate offspring of a renowned businessman and a geisha. This meeting inspired Golden to spend 10 years researching every detail of geisha culture, chiefly relying on the geisha Mineko Iwasaki, who spent years charming the very rich and famous.

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."

 

[Nat Turner]

I have not read it, but I will ask some questions (if they are applicable)

1. I presume part of her life was miserable. Why didn't she simply stop being a Geisha?

2. Was she in an economic crisis?

3. If not, why didn't she move?

4. Is this geisha a whiner?

5. Does she stand up for herself, instead of letting other people boss her around?

If I don't like the main character, or it's not believable, I won't like the book.

 

[SubKamran]

I have not read it, but I will ask some questions (if they are applicable)

1. I presume part of her life was miserable. Why didn't she simply stop being a Geisha?

2. Was she in an economic crisis?

3. If not, why didn't she move?

4. Is this geisha a whiner?

5. Does she stand up for herself, instead of letting other people boss her around?

Sorry, but if I don't like the main character, or it's not believable, I won't like the book.

1. Her father and mother both died, her mother right before she was sold off to the okiya (House a geisha stays at). She was very young, 9 years old and in fact she did try to run away. She failed the first time, and the second time she fell off the roof and broke her arm. After that, she was deemed unworthy to be a geisha and was made into a maid of the household. Then something happens, which I won't tell.

2. She was living through the Great Depression but was lucky enough to have a place to live, when it was the worse she was already a successful geisha and when the district closed down she was invited to work at a kimono owner's house instead of the factories helping to make bombs.

3. You have to understand that when one is a geisha, one is ALWAYS a geisha. There is no way out. Even when she was "out of a job" when the district re-opened she had to go back. Though there are more reasons for this when you read the book. It's explained very well.

4. A whiner? Hmmm, well we follow her through 9 years old to past 30 to the end of her life. During that time, I didn't think she whined at all. If you think Harry Potter whined in Order of the Phoenix, this is nothing like it (that was horrible). She tells it from "looking back" on it, so she doesn't whine because it's not direct first person. The book is written in a more prose style and is very well-written.

5. She starts to do so when she actually becomes a full-fledged geisha. See, before one can do that, one must be an Apprentice geisha and have an "Older Sister". She is trained by her older sister and her sister brings her to parties to meet people and show her around the district. Before then, she was a little kid thrust into a new situtation. She tried to get out, but she couldn't. The renowned geisha she was living with, a bitch to put it bluntly, was still something she wished she could become, almost (not bitchy, but beautiful), so there was an element of that. And she also meets someone important one day when she was crying on the street and that becomes the major push force for her geisha training to herself. To answer more directly, in a personal struggle against Hatsumomo (the bitch) she does succeed. Geisha are also very superstitious and will consult their Almanacs to decided pretty much anything. Sayuri (main char) is a bit different in that she does try to take control of her life and wants to do things most geisha are too afraid about.

As for believability, 10 years of research. A few points in the book I actually looked up on the internet some things and I couldn't find them, but it's so believable and said with such conviction that it's automatically assumed it's real. All the facts of life as a geisha are true, the history is true, it's only the main characters (because some geisha mentioned were real) that are fiction. And yet, it just has this aura of believability that makes you double-check your search on Google

 

[Nat Turner]

1. Her father and mother both died, her mother right before she was sold off to the okiya (House a geisha stays at). She was very young, 9 years old and in fact she did try to run away. She failed the first time, and the second time she fell off the roof and broke her arm. After that, she was deemed unworthy to be a geisha and was made into a maid of the household. Then something happens, which I won't tell.

If her father and mother died, why is she bound to this area? Why can't she move and get away from all the misery she experiences(if she does)? Why does she want to be a geisha so badly?

2. She was living through the Great Depression but was lucky enough to have a place to live, when it was the worse she was already a successful geisha and when the district closed down she was invited to work at a kimono owner's house instead of the factories helping to make bombs.

Is she happy being a successful geisha?

3. You have to understand that when one is a geisha, one is ALWAYS a geisha. There is no way out. Even when she was "out of a job" when the district re-opened she had to go back. Though there are more reasons for this when you read the book. It's explained very well.

If you're not bound by slavery, and have money, you can do anything you want. It seems that there is no great reason to stay, because she presumably lives a harsh life there.

4. A whiner? Hmmm, well we follow her through 9 years old to past 30 to the end of her life. During that time, I didn't think she whined at all. If you think Harry Potter whined in Order of the Phoenix, this is nothing like it (that was horrible). She tells it from "looking back" on it, so she doesn't whine because it's not direct first person. The book is written in a more prose style and is very well-written.

This is good.

5. She starts to do so when she actually becomes a full-fledged geisha. See, before one can do that, one must be an Apprentice geisha and have an "Older Sister". She is trained by her older sister and her sister brings her to parties to meet people and show her around the district. Before then, she was a little kid thrust into a new situtation. She tried to get out, but she couldn't. The renowned geisha she was living with, a bitch to put it bluntly, was still something she wished she could become, almost (not bitchy, but beautiful), so there was an element of that. And she also meets someone important one day when she was crying on the street and that becomes the major push force for her geisha training to herself. To answer more directly, in a personal struggle against Hatsumomo (the bitch) she does succeed. Geisha are also very superstitious and will consult their Almanacs to decided pretty much anything. Sayuri (main char) is a bit different in that she does try to take control of her life and wants to do things most geisha are too afraid about.

Again, what makes her care so much about becoming a geisha? Why does she want to struggle against Hatsumomo? Why wasn't she like "go **** yourself" and find something else to do, or somewhere else to live? What's stopping her? Is she stopping herself? Why follow such a linear path in life?

As for believability, 10 years of research. A few points in the book I actually looked up on the internet some things and I couldn't find them, but it's so believable and said with such conviction that it's automatically assumed it's real. All the facts of life as a geisha are true, the history is true, it's only the main characters (because some geisha mentioned were real) that are fiction. And yet, it just has this aura of believability that makes you double-check your search on Google

This is also good.

 

[SubKamran]

If her father and mother died, why is she bound to this area? Why can't she move and get away from all the misery she experiences(if she does)? Why does she want to be a geisha so badly?


Is she happy being a successful geisha?



If you're not bound by slavery, and have money, you can do anything you want. It seems that there is no great reason to stay, because she presumably lives a harsh life there.


This is good.

Again, what makes her care so much about becoming a geisha? Why does she want to struggle against Hatsumomo? Why wasn't she like "go **** yourself" and find something else to do, or somewhere else to live? What's stopping her? Is she stopping herself? Why follow such a linear path in life?


This is also good.

It's complicated to explain here, because it all makes sense when you read the book. Japanese culture back in the 50s is very very different than what we have now.

She didn't think she was ever going to become a geisha; there was a man in her village who talked to a recruiter and talked with her father. She thought she was going to be adopted by him (remember, 9 year old) but she only found out when they were on the train it started to dawn on her she wasn't going to live with him. Her sister also came, but she was turned into a prostitute while Sayuri was going to become a geisha.

See, she sort of knew becoming a geisha was a privilege, and she didn't really want to become one. That's why she tried to escape unsuccessfully. She was trying to meet her sister by the river so they could both runaway. That's when she was deemed unworthy and was just a maid. That only lasted about a year though, and she met an important person to the story (seemingly insignificant) that sort of propelled all these events. It all gets tied up near the end, how she mysteriously was chosen to become a geisha again. Also, because she lives in the okiya she is indebted to it; when she becomes an Apprentice she can pay it all off, but until then she can't leave. When she's around 12 she starts training and she meets a few people that help her out in her life.

Lol, I can't really explain more or it'll spoil the whole book It's just a really good book, Amazon has over 2000 reviews at it's still 4.5 stars.