Book Review (written by oldwin)
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
A NOVEL BY
ARTHUR GOLDEN
This book answered a question that I have been asking myself for years.
What exactly is a geisha?
A geisha is an entertainer for parties of men.
Not what I had believed all my life.
The time frame of the book is 1930s to the 1950s.
This was a terrible time for the world with the Great Depression and The Second World War.
The author did a lot of research before writing this novel. It is all fiction, but is based on facts.
I found it very interesting to hear a story about Japan from a Japanese perspective.
The Depression Years were very difficult.
The war years caused even more hardships.
There was a passage that was very peculiar and striking. Sayuri found herself on a plane
with Americans that her country fought so bitterly with and they went to an island in
the south of Japan for some entertainment and relaxation. How different a few months
had made after the occupation of Japan.
I will not give away any more of the story.
The life in Gion and Kyoto in the time frame of the book seems so real to the reader.
I do not know if the streets names given really existed or not, but they really
add to the story.
This was one of those books that you plan on reading a chapter a night but the
book turns out to be a page turner and you can't put the book down.
I really enjoyed this book.
I wish I had of read it before I saw the movie.
The movie will make a whole lot more sense the next time I see it.
I recommend it to anyone who wants to know what a geisha really is and
what it was like in Japan during those years.
( I believe the movie will be released in Asia as "Sayuri" )
Feb. 15 2006