Memoirs of a Geisha

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."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

Product Description
In this literary tour de force, novelist Arthur Golden enters a remote and shimmeringly exotic world. For the protagonist of this peerlessly observant first novel is Sayuri, one of Japan's most celebrated geisha, a woman who is both performer and courtesan, slave and goddess.

We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha's elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival. Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O'Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work - suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Which brings us to the domain of "experience." Now, I would never argue that authors must rigidly hew to the parameters of their own experience and turn out one autobiographical book after another. When writing a character-filled book in the third person, for example, an author is called upon to imagine other minds, other realities, other lives, and this exercise of the empathetic imagination can be a wonderous thing. The problem comes when an author, like Golden, attempts to write an entire novel in the first person from the vantage of a person who is completely removed from himself in time, space, culture, and gender. This does not spring from a desire for authenticity: it is, in fact, nothing more than literary machismo. "Look!" he's shouting, "look what I can do!" And it simply doesn't ring true, except to people who know even less about the subject than the author does.

I am neither a geisha, nor Japanese, nor a woman, but I have lived in Japan longer than Golden has and I would wager my Japanese is just as good or better. Although Golden gets many of the factual details right, there is so much about the tone and the psychological sketching here that simply "stinks of butter," as the Japanese used to say of Westerners a century ago. As a very serious student of Japanese literature, I can assure you that no Japanese would ever write like this, that is to say, like Dickens in a kimono. The novel is just too busy: too many characters, too much plotting, too much incident, and most damningly, too much naivete about the workings of the human heart. In fact, it should be made publicly known that the woman on whom Golden based this story sued him for misrepresentation and is in fact writing her OWN book to set things straight. She has her own pecuniary motivations, no doubt, but her criticism still stands. It's her life after all.

It's good for Golden that so many people found this novel so ravishing and so interesting. He is a capable entertainer, and he knows the secret of entertainment: pander to your audience. Give them exoticism, but don't challenge their misconceptions. He spotted a market niche, he pulled off his high-wire act, and he's been amply rewarded. But if anybody thinks that this concoction attains the mighty beating heart of literature, let him or her think again.


Fascinating culture - great read   June 3, 2005
Christina B. Erickson (Dallas, TX)
86 out of 102 found this review helpful

I loved this book! From the minute I picked it up I couldn't put it down. It tells the story of a young girl sold into geisha training in Japan. I had no idea how much of an art form geisha was in this pre-WWII setting Gion and it was very interesting to learn so much more about it through the eyes of a young girl caught up in it. Sayuri is a wonderfully drawn character with a wide range of emotions as she endures cruelty, jealousy, misery and a whole new way of life and comes to accept it, excel in it and even embrace it. Particularly intriguing are the questions and conflicts raised by the novel about destiny, love, survival and tradition. The movie is coming out in December so I highly recommend reading it now.


A Novel to Savor!!!   May 9, 2003
M. Allen Greenbaum (California)
78 out of 82 found this review helpful

This is one of the most beautifully written novels of the past 20 or more years, and definitely one of my personal favorites. Arthur Golden, a student of Japanese art and language, paints a remarkably true-sounding account of one woman's training and practice as a geisha. There's not a false note in the writing: The characters, dialogue, and emotional content all ring true. Aside from some slightly plodding descriptions of the protagonist's introduction to the geisha district of Gion, the pacing is excellent.

I kept waiting for Golden to slip, for some implausibility in character or plot development, some anachronism or "artistic license" that would have made me feel cheated-but it never happened. Without further research, it's difficult for me to comment on the book's historical and cultural accuracy, but it always felt true, and Golden's simple but powerful language is absolutely compelling. The book surpassed my already high expectations, and increased my appreciation of--and curiousity about--historical Japanese social structure in general, and geisha culture in particular. Above all, this is a completely satisfying book about perseverance within boundaries. Both the story and the writing are filled with grace, power, and beauty.


Memoirs of a Geisha   December 5, 1999
Janine (Trumbull, CT USA)
64 out of 71 found this review helpful

This book is extraordinary, combining highly literary style with unusual subject matter, the world of the geisha. No, geishas are not high-class prostitutes, nor are they femmes fatales -- there is no comparable class of woman in Western society. In this piece of virtual historical fiction, we follow the life of a highly successful geisha from the time she was taken away from her parents at age 9 before the Depression. . . to her old age in Manhattan in modern times. Most of the story centers on the geisha's coming of age, struggles with other women and search for love (of sorts) during the 1930s and 1940s. Not only do we get inside the head and heart of one deeply sensitive woman in her particular world, but also see reflected the characteristic grace, stoicism and politeness of Japanese culture. We certainly would not wish to be a geisha. Yet,as we read through this gripping account, we couldn'tt help but wonder whether today's Western woman isn't "kept" in other ways. Finally, the author deals eloquently with Japanese spirtuality, and the protaganist's struggle to find meaning in her life and to deal with the loss of her family and other misfortunes in her childhood.This is a one-of-a-kind and beautifully written book.


Enjoyable page turner   February 22, 2002
Zack Davisson (Seattle, WA, USA)
58 out of 91 found this review helpful

There is something addictive about "Memoirs of a Geisha." I zoomed through this book at a record pace. It's like a meal entirely of popcorn. Tasty, fun, but not really filling.

The speed with which this book gets read says something about it's depth. It's key strength is the factual account of the life a Gion Geisha in the 1920's. I feel like I took a quick course on Geishas. The weakness of the book lies in storytelling. I have no real attachments to any of the characters. Suyari pretty much gets life handed to her on a silver platter. She is a very uncompelling heroine with few admirable qualities other than her features. She is a great Geisha because she is beautiful, and because benefactors choose to present her as a great Geisha. She achieves nothing by her own devices, and lives only by the whims of others. The only character that I had empathy for is Nobu, whose story is never adequately told. I was disappointed by the ending, which was a little too "Hollywood."

All this aside, "Memoirs of a Geisha" is a fun book to read. I enjoyed it. I recommend it. It is just not a book that moved me in any way other than entertainment.