Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

...have heard of the book, Memoirs of a Geisha, just as I have. I've never really had much of an interest in the book, probably because my usual novel of choice would be crime fiction and also due to my lack of understanding of the Geisha and Japanese culture. However, I found a slightly tatty copy of this book in a local book sale for 25p and decided to broaden my horizons! The story begins in 1929 during the great depression. Yoroido, a small peasant ...
...specialising in Japanese art. Memoirs of a Geisha was first published in 1997, the paperback copy I have is published by Vintage in 1998 and has 434 pages. The cover is grey showing the brightly painted red lips of a geisha. The RRP is £6.99 but obviously, given its age, I recommend searching for a very cheap second hand copy! It was also made into a film in 2005, if anyone has seen it please let me know if it's worth watching! (The criteria is ...

watkins11 09.10.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

A few days before I was due to fly to the Maldives, for a week of reading and relaxation, I stumbled across this book in a charity shop. For the ludicrously low price of £1 and the shop assistants pleas that I really ought to read the book before even considering watching the film, I felt that I should give it a go. So I bought it, and made it my priority to read it whilst I was away. Prior to this, you realise, I had had absolutely no knowledge ...
...in which it is set, so I opened the book knowing nothing and full of curiosity. The book begins in the early 1930's, set in the small fishing town of Yoroido, and spans decades until it's end somewhere in the 1980's. During this period we encounter a number of incredibly different settings, such as the much larger city of Kyoto, and Gion. The focus, however, remains with the same main character - Chiyo, or Sayuri, as she becomes known. As the title ...

beckmeh 28.07.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

I purchased this book on a whim and it has sat in my bookcase for quite some time, I finally came around to reading it because I was having a spring clean and thought 'well, why not' I think maybe the whim why I purchased it is because it has a lovely cover, I am referring to the paperback version of the book, and on the cover is the painted red lips of a Geisha girl in full white make-up, I found the image quite transfixing and nicely erotic too. ...
...it had sat on my bookcase for so long without my even looking at it, and when reading it, once I had got past the first couple of chapters I could hardly put it down at all. The book begins in a very small village named Yoroido, a fishing village, the narrator of the story, the daughter of a fisherman begins to recount her tale here, telling of her family, her sister Satsu, father and ailing mother. She and her sister are transported rather suddenly ...

kitty17 19.03.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha has recently been released at the cinema and reminded me of a book I had never quite got round to reading yet. I went out and purchased the book with every intention of reading it before seeing the film, however things didn't quite go to plan. My mother came to visit and we wanted to go to the cinema and this was the only film we could agree on so we went, the book still sitting unread on the bookshelf. I really enjoyed the film ...
...definitly attractive and inviting. Memoirs of a Geisha is the debut novel of Aurthur Golden, he studied Japanese Art at Harvard and lived for ten years in Tokyo before moving back to the States. The story starts with a little girl by the name of Chiyo, she is nine years old and lives in a fishing village with her mother, father and sister Satsu. Her mother becomes ill and when it seems certain that she is going to die, their father sells Chiyo ...

maz2909 09.02.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden is an enchanting story which follows the life of a beautiful, young Japanese girl named Chiyo in her quest to become a geisha. The story begins in 1929 in Chiyo's birth town of Yoroido, a small fishing village on the Sea of Japan. Chiyo lives here until the age of nine, with her mother, father and sister Satsu in a little 'tipsy house' on the cliffs. Everything is normal is Chiyo's life, until one day she and ...
...train to Kyoto. Once in Kyoto, Chiyo is sold to a renowned geisha house in Gion and is separated from her sister, who is later to be found working as a prostitute. To begin with Chiyo hates the idea of becoming a geisha and is tormented by Hatsumomo, the other geisha in the house. Chiyo rebels and tries to escape Gion with her sister but is unsuccessful, and as punishment she is told she can never be a geisha and must work as a maid instead. During ...

helenmayclark 22.06.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

I had never read Arthur Golden before, although I was tempted to read this book through recommendation. Thus I had no pre-conceptions of the writing style of the author. Neither had I seen the film, and although I bought the film, was glad that I decided to read the book first, since the film pales in comparison. The story tells of Chiyo, a young girl (aged 8), living in the fishing village of Yoroido in 1929, with her mother, father and sister, ...
...life she is leading to being a successful Geisha. From the moment I started to read the book, I was captivated by the writing style, though more than this the picture that it wove. Many authors succeed in describing characters, though few that I have read can conjure up the atmosphere to the extent that this book did. Whereas with other books, you are tempted sometimes to miss the odd paragraph and jump ahead of yourself, what I found was that I ...

thingywhatsit 08.02.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

"Memoirs of a Geisha" is set in Japan, beginning in 1929 and spanning a quarter of a century. It tells the story of a young girl named Chiyo-Chan, who lives in the small fishing village of Yoroido - a happy life with her father, mother and elder sister. However, Chiyo's mother becomes very ill indeed, and her father cannot cope with the upbringing of the two children on his own, so they are sent away - both believing that they are to be adopted by ...
...seems: the girls are driven to Kyoto where they are separated and each taken to a different "okiya" - an establishment where geisha live. A geisha, for those who don't know, was a Japanese girl who was, to put it bluntly, a high-class prostitute. They would learn the traditional Japanese skills of dancing, singing and tea-pouring, and would be paid to entertain men at the local teahouses. Some of these geisha would sell their bodies in an attempt ...

emmorticia 09.05.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

As the final week of my first year at uni was drawing to an end, during a shopping trip to Newcastle with my boyfriend I decided to treat myself to some new books to keep my mind occupied when I was at home. For me, Waterstone’s is an Aladdin’s cave and the books are its jewels. With the offer of 3 for 2 on ‘Summer reads’ amongst others, I couldn’t resist. I bought ‘1984’ by George Orwell, ‘The Rice Mother’ by Rani Manicka and this, ‘Memoirs of a ...
...£6.99 and the ISBN no. is 0-09-977151-9. So, now that you know where to find it, why would you want to? As soon as you open this book, it grabs you and pulls you deep into a story that is so exotic and intoxicating that you cannot imagine the places and happenings that it describes. The essential story could be the plotline to the generic ‘chick-lit’ genre; young girl falls in love with a man, only for him to seemingly reject her and his best friend ...

emmaclaire 05.07.2003 (05.08.2003) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

...chunks of dairy milk and Memoirs of a Geisha. I cracked the spine of the book for the first time and stepped out of my living room in the Birmingham suburbs and into a Japanese fishing village in the early twentieth century. The book recounts the story of Chiyo, born to a fishermen in a little peasant village the future of Chiyo and her sister Sastu is changed dramatically upon Chiyo’s chance meeting with Mr Tanaka, a wealthy businessman. With their ...
...Chiyo’s father is persuaded to secure their future by selling his daughters to an Okiya in Kyoto. The Okiya is the place where geisha live and are trained, many from a very young age. Nine year old Chiyo, with her beauty and unusual blue-grey eyes seems set to become a successful geisha while her much less attractive sister is sold into a very different sort of life. From these humble beginnings Chiyo tells us the story of her life, her hopes and ...

michaird 12.12.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

...precision. Because of this, Memoirs as a Geisha could not be described as a thrilling read. Where some have criticised this aspect of the book, I personally loved it. Such attention to detail swept me into the world of Gion and held me there enthralled. Every time I put the book down I felt jolted, as if I had truly been in Japan with Sayuri. Having said that, however, we do not get to know Sayuri as completely as we do her surroundings. We know ...
...with the way in which Memoirs of a Geisha is written is that it more or less tricks the reader into thinking they are reading the memoirs of an actual geisha as dictated to the author, and then at the end declares that the book is entirely a work of fiction. Eagle-eyed readers will not fall for this, but I and everyone else I know who read it, did fall for it and was heartily disappointed to discover the truth. The Author I must say hats off to ...

sandrabarber 28.07.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

I think one reason for reading is an interst in those who are different from us, and often the more different and exotic, the more interesting. Orriental cultures tend to have an aura of mystery about them, and none more so than the very secretive and strange world of the Geisha. While this book is a work of fiction (although at the outset it will try to convince you otherwise) it is well researched and does offer genuine insight into a culture and ...
...used to. Geishas are not, as you might have thought, simply high class prositutes - they are artists (musucians, singers, dancers) and their whole way of life could be viewed as a sort of art form in itself. They are professional mistresses, with a formal system allowing important men to buy their favour for periods of time. Theirs is a complex way of life, filled with rules of ettiquette alien to our own society. Sayuri was born in a fishing village ...

Bryn_Pearson 16.10.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Memoirs Of A Geisha is abook telling the tale of Sayuri, a geisha's life. It is loosely based on one anonymous geisha's story, but other than that, it is fiction, written by Arthur Golden. A geisha is probably seen to a lot of people as a jumped-up prostitute, and this isn't true at all, but I can see why people would think that. They're first and foremost, entertainers. They sing, dance, act and accompany men to social occasions. Men pay for their ...
...more money. Men can 'buy' geisha - the geisha moves in with them, then their 'patrons' will provide them with money, buy them kimonos, basically act like their wife, the only difference being men can have many geisha, as long as they have the money. That's a very basic description and there are a lot of other things involved, but you can research that yourself or buy the book! ---- Chiyo is an attractive young girl, born to an elderly fisherman ...

jeszikca 20.04.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

...experience second time around. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden is a fictional book written in the form of a memoir as the name suggests, by the former geisha in Kyoto, Japan. And strangely enough it was written by a man! Well, I guess some men are able to successfuly " enter" a woman's soul as it it was their own as once you will read this book you will be dissapointed this was not a true story. Memoirs of a Geisha starts with a little introduction ...
...to him by the heroine of the story and how he came about to write it down. Later we move on to the actual story as told by Chiyo who was later called Sayuri - her adopted geisha name. As you noticed, I titled this review a Parallel World and it is for a reason as while reading the book , you feel as it's impossible that in the 20th century, there could be a world somewhere out there where women lived like that and it was an accepted or rather not ...

dswhite 03.09.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

WHAT IS IT ABOUT: This fictional biography tells the story of Sayuri, from her impoverished childhood in early 20th Century Japan, to her rise as a famous Geisha. Written by Arthur Golden, the book was a critical success, and offers a great deal of depth in its 500 pages. Much of it focuses on the training and rituals of geisha life, and there is a love story intertwined through the whole thing too. IS IT ANY GOOD: At 500 pages, reading this book ...
...just come to the end of. I'd heard a lot about this book, and the subsequent film, and decided to give it a go. I have a few key observations. First off, it's most alluring strength is the insights it gives into the world of the geisha. Part hostess, part 'posh prostitute' geishas are one of the most compelling groups I've come across, and this book captures brilliantly the lives they led. So, on that level, the book is a success, serving as an educational ...

bruffyboy 08.04.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

...of a friend I purchased Memoirs of a Geisha. At first glances at the book, I did think that someone like my mum would read this book (in other words it looked too intellectual for little old me). Memoirs of a Geisha is based in Japan in 1929. We start out meeting a little girl by the name of Chiyo who is living in her Tipsy family home with her elderly fisherman father, Sick mother and older sister. She comes across a man in the village who helps ...
...leads to her believing she will be adopted by the man. But the stark reality is her being removed with her older sister to Kyoto to a district called Gion. She becomes a maid in the Oikyo where she is living with a view to her possibly becoming a Geisha. The book then follows Sayuri(her new name) as she travels through life. It was a couple of weeks before I started to read the book after buying. The first few chapters took me a fair while to get ...

Groovee 23.08.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden