A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel tells with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan’s most celebrated geisha.Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story … immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men’s solicitude and the money that goes with it.
In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl’s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction—at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and completely unforgettable.
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This is one of the books I keep on my top bookshelf. It’s not to be missed. Usually, I can tell if a writer is male or female, just based on a love scene alone (men’s–two paragraphs; women’s–two pages, LOL!). However, this book actually surprised me, as it’s written by a man. I would never have guessed. It was a wonderful adventure and look into a culture I knew nothing about. I would highly recommend to anyone that’s a serious reader.
I picked up this paperback at the L.A. book fair because I have always been curious about the Geishas. The book was entertaining and informative, but also dashed all my romantic notions about these women who are basically young girls sold into slavery and prostitution. Yes, they train for years and are accomplished dancers, artists, musicians, and hostesses, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are forced into this way of life by the mothers of the okiya they belong to-the alternative would be worse, to become a maid/slave for the rest of their lives. The story of Sayuri is a sad one although the book is humorous at times and insightful into the Japanese way of life. I have read reviews that say the Japanese culture is not authentically portrayed in it (being written by an American man) but it certainly doesn’t read that way. The author has definitely managed to capture the essence of life as a Geisha with all the joys and sorrows of a glorified prostitute.
This offering may be a pure unadulterated form of literary genius and magic. Enough said.
Amazing
One of my favorites that could easily be read again. I didn’t want the book to end.
One of my Top 3 books of all time.
Reading about a culture so different from mine was fascinating!
Loved this story.
I read this book way back when I was still in school. We could chose one book that wasn’t on the recommended reading list and I chose this book. My first dip into a genre I was unfamiliar with and I have to say, I loved every word of it. I still recommend this book to every one who can’t decide what to read.
One of my top 10 all time favorite books. Learned a lot about the culture.
While reading this book I suddenly realized I was crying without noticing the tears starting. A very emotional read.
One of my favourite books of all time.
Some things to know before I begin my review: I’m often slow to pick up books that become pop culture legends, in part, out of resistance to feeling I am one of the herd, and in part, because I doubt whether the gushing rave reviews are sincere, instead of a byproduct of our innate human nature to be part of the group, rather than disagree with it. I’m also stingy with giving out five stars. And finally, if I read and enjoy the book before the movie, I often feel let down by the movie, but the other way around, I have the opportunity to enjoy both for what they are.
I saw the movie years ago and will admit that, while I remember watching and thinking it was an ok movie, it did not drive me to read the book, and I truly recalled only random flashes of the movie, even as I read this book. I’d read a bunch of reviews on “Memoirs of a Geisha” over the years, some favorable, others less so, but I opened this book with the expectation that, while it may be considered something of a modern classic, it would be dull at points, possibly even tedious, and difficult to read. I could not have been more off base. The writing was both simple (in that I had no trouble understanding and following along, despite zero knowledge on the subject matter) and poetic, with its use of colors and descriptive scene setting. I found myself turning page after page, effortlessly, and was disappointed when my lunch break ended or I got too drowsy to keep paying attention in the evening. I got the feeling, throughout the book, that there were large pieces of the characters with whom we spent time that we never fully knew, motives and emotions and personal histories, but we’d get a hint, a peek, like an underskirt peeking out from beneath a gown, if we paid close enough attention. There were times my heart broke for Sayuri, and other times when I was strongly disappointed with her, to the point of not even liking her all that much…but that’s really how her story struck me was that this is how life works. Even the most straightforward and well-intentioned of people are composed of complicated layers and we won’t like all of them, whether because we disagree with them or because we don’t like what they cause us to see in ourselves.
I came away from this book with the underlying lesson that the ways in which we hurt others — in life-altering ways, as well as seemingly insignificant ones, at times, for reasons out of our control and more often, deliberately for our own gain, whether or not these betrayals are followed by sincere regret — certainly affect the injured party, but, more surprisingly, at least to us, alter the courses of our own lives just as much, if not more, and often not in ways we’d ever anticipated. Not always adversely, in the end, again for both parties, but the risk is there, nonetheless, long before we ever know how it will play out. We may, ultimately, get what we desired, but at a price we never imagined, or we might find ourselves in a place we thought we never wanted to be, only to discover it’s all we’d hoped to achieve elsewhere and more.
The book itself was a solid four for me, and one I’m glad I made myself read it, despite any initial misgivings I may have had. I can’t speak for its accuracy, as I know nothing about the geisha history or culture, beyond what I’ve read here, but I do understand this was intended to be a novel, and that with fiction comes some flexibility with reality, in order to tell the story. Hard facts are saved for textbooks and works of non-fiction. What pushes it to a five-star rating, for me, is that it made me think and reflect beyond the boundaries of Gion and geisha and Sayuri, in such a way that it will stay with me, I have no doubt, for a long time.
This is the story of a Geisha named Nitta Sayuri who was taken from her family when she was just a young girl. Her mother was dying and her father elderly. An member of the town takes Sayuri and her sister and turns them over to the world of Geisha in Gion, which is part of Kyoto Japan. She grows up being schooled in dance, tea houses, and wearing kimono all under the hated eye of the geisha in her houshold – Hatsumono. Thankfully another head Geisha came into Sayuri’s life – Memeha – and she trains Sayuri to become one of the most beloved Geisha in the area.
We follow Sayuri’s story from ages 9 to after the age of 30 – watch her grow up in the world of Geisha, entertain, and receive lavish gifts from the men who seek her company. The Geisha are viewed more as a “trophy wife” or mistress more than a prostitute, as it seems to be older men who want their affections.
The book ends when Sayuri is an old woman, living in New York. She looks back on her life as a Geisha and revels in all that has come to pass.
This was a pretty good book. I have never read much about the Geisha before, and I have not seen the movie based on this book as of yet. So I wasn’t very familiar going into the story of what a Geisha was. I am in agreement that they are definitely more a mistress than a prostitute, at least the way this story has spun them, because if they are successful – they latch on to one or two men in their who Geisha career. These men lavish them with money, gifts, places to live and they go through a ceremony that links them together for life. Most of these men – if not all – have wives.
The kimono, the make up, the parites, the ceremoneis – it was more than I have ever realized. This story takes place in the 1930s-1950s for the most part, when Geisha in Gion numbered over 600. That is incredible. It is a life style that I could never even fathom.
I enjoyed the book. It gave a nice insight into the world of Japan’s Geisha. What I found disturbing was the main character – Sayuri’s – constant chase for one man. How she loved him from the minute she met him. It disturbs me that the Geisha chase married men. But then I think – this is all Sayuri knows. She was sold into this life and was given no way out. So I am not sure the chase is entirely her fault.
I would encourage you to read it. I think there is a lot to be learned about customs from countries all around the world.
I feel like it gave me a glimpse of another culture. The characters were well developed.
It took me deep into a real world I had no knowledge of prior to reading it. I was so completely engulfed in the world laid out for me that putting it down for a moment seemed painful. This world of the Geisha, beautiful, painful, exciting, sad, was described in a way that left me feeling as if I had truly peeked into the past, lived there, and loved there. A love story.
This was a really well written solid novel. It was beautifully written and the imagery is so descriptive. You could practically imagine the kimonos that Golden describes. Sayuri’s emotions felt very real and it really felt like a memoir; at times I would forget that this is fiction. It was also incredibly impressive that this book also included a lot of factual elements that really introduces the reader to the world of a geisha. I had studied briefly about geishas in college, but this book really piqued my interest in their way of life. I felt as if every struggle that Sayuri faced was given enough time in the novel to be resolved in a realistic fashion and realism is a very important factor in whether or not I like a book. Golden was able to make you feel for every character in the book–even the worst, Hatsumomo. I never felt bad for her but I could understand why she was the way she was. And I could understand Sayuri’s completely irrational love for the Chairman, a man she barely knew. It reminded me a lot of my own experiences and how you just convince yourself that this someone you’re infatuated with is “the one”. This book touched me in ways I didn’t expect and also sparked an interest in a subject matter I never had much interest in before; in my opinion, this book accomplished everything a book should be.
Having seen the movie based off of this book about a dozen times, I figured it was time for me to read it. This was truly one of the most well-written books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. You feel like you are thrown into the life of Nitta Sayuri right along side her. Full of cultural history and drama, this book was hard to put down. Prepare yourself for heavy content that will make you empathize with Sayuri; her life has no shortage of hardships. I definitely recommend this book!
this is the best book I have ever read. I could NOT put it down!!