Memoirs of a Geisha
I had been longing for this book for a long time and, at last, this week I had the chance to read it. I finished it in two or three days, even though the edition I have has 548 pages, mainly because the story is so absorbing that you can't stop reading.
This book tells the story of a young peasant girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, that is sold to an okiya, a house where girls are trained to become geishas, women that entertain men at parties by singing, dancing or playing instruments and have to sell their virginity to the highest bidder. There, she will have to face many difficulties, as the famous and wicked geisha Hatsumono, that will do everything in her hand to ruin her future.
The story is told from the perspective of an old Chiyo (now named Sayuri) that relates her life experiences as a geisha to a young american friend, so you feel closer to the character and you get to know what is her opinion about how she acted when she was younger.
This book is very tough when you read it, because you face all the sacrifices geishas had to make to be famous and respected in the perspective of a person that has lived them. There are scenes that make you feel anxious and distressed when reading them. However, even though the crude reality that it describes, I loved reading it. It is written in a beautiful way, and we share the determination of Chiyo to become a good geisha to reach the only person that has once cared for her.
Another thing that I like about this book is that it reveals the true meaning of geishas, that had been a mistery because of the oath that does not allow geishas to tell anything about their culture. They are not luxury prostitutes. In Japanese culture, they were respected and admired and their job was not having sex with costumers. They became lovers of a client called danna that in exchange of their services, buys them all the items they need (kimonos, make-up, instruments...).
In conclusion, it is a book full of sadness and melancholy, but it will catch your attention unlike any other book has.
For his book, Arthur Golden (the writer) consulted Mineko Iwasaki, a very important geisha during the 60s and 70s. However, after the release of the novel, Mineko reported that Golden had copied a great deal of her personal life for the story, had icluded false facts about geishas (as the ceremony where the new geisha sells her virginity to a costumer) and had not respected her privacy. Indeed, she had received death threats for revealing traditions of geishas. Finally, the writer compensated her with an amount of money and she published a novel called Geisha, a life (in the US) and Geisha of Gion (in the UK), an autobiography where she told her true experiences as a geisha.
This book tells the story of a young peasant girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, that is sold to an okiya, a house where girls are trained to become geishas, women that entertain men at parties by singing, dancing or playing instruments and have to sell their virginity to the highest bidder. There, she will have to face many difficulties, as the famous and wicked geisha Hatsumono, that will do everything in her hand to ruin her future.The story is told from the perspective of an old Chiyo (now named Sayuri) that relates her life experiences as a geisha to a young american friend, so you feel closer to the character and you get to know what is her opinion about how she acted when she was younger.
This book is very tough when you read it, because you face all the sacrifices geishas had to make to be famous and respected in the perspective of a person that has lived them. There are scenes that make you feel anxious and distressed when reading them. However, even though the crude reality that it describes, I loved reading it. It is written in a beautiful way, and we share the determination of Chiyo to become a good geisha to reach the only person that has once cared for her.
Another thing that I like about this book is that it reveals the true meaning of geishas, that had been a mistery because of the oath that does not allow geishas to tell anything about their culture. They are not luxury prostitutes. In Japanese culture, they were respected and admired and their job was not having sex with costumers. They became lovers of a client called danna that in exchange of their services, buys them all the items they need (kimonos, make-up, instruments...).
In conclusion, it is a book full of sadness and melancholy, but it will catch your attention unlike any other book has.
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