| Memoirs of a Geisha | 
 enlarge | Author: Arthur Golden
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2477 reviews
Sales Rank: 6312
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400096898
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781400096893
ASIN: 1400096898
Publication Date: November 22, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wonderful... May 7, 2008
What a wonderful book is it! I waited a long time before deciding to read it and I was wrong! It is such a beautiful novel! With a delicate eye in a world so different and so easy to misunderstand! I really loved it and I have already offered to many friends as a gift that never failed.
Enchanting May 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Goodness me, there are plenty of reasons for me to despise this book. But, as it is pretty much a blatant Cinderella and I am a fairy tale freak, I read it and absolutely loved it. Every time I tried to critique I became once again raptured. The writing is beautiful, if it does focus mostly on conversation, but it still manages to greatly capture Sayuri's thoughts and look on the world. Frankly, I despised her as a character as she was utterly silly, but one could not help but be entranced by her story and those of the people she knew. If analyzed from the perspective of Cinderella, this is a Cinderella story that analyzes and tosses into cold reality every detail of the story. But it's all there, in a truly intoxicating story that explores the world of Japan. I don't know enough about the country to know the accuracy, but each detail was enjoyable just the same. Definitely a girly book, but something the hopeless romantic will always appreciate.
Loved it! April 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have to say, that I am impressed with this book. It took me until the end of the book where the author stated that it is purely fiction to realize that what I had just read, in fact, had never happened! I was so sure that this story was an actual memoir, that I read the introduction over, the author's last note over, and then had to look online for anyone to tell me differently. I still can't believe it's not true. It was such a great story.
The story follows Chiyo (or Sayuri, as she later comes to be known) through her life as she strives to become a Geisha after being sold as a child. The emotion in the story is amazingly real, and the events that take place are enthralling. I like that Arthur doesn't take a dramatic turn in the book by having a character do something you wouldn't expect. It seems more like a real memoir that way.
This was an interesting book to read. If you have seen the movie and loved it, you will also love the book, though, I recommend reading the book first. This is a great opportunity to peak into the Japanese culture as it was before WWII. The culture is alive and deep in this book. Arthur Golden did his research pretty well. I loved being able to see life through the eyes of Geisha.
Book Is Always Better April 9, 2008
So, like some other reviewers, I watched the movie first (and I wills ave the accolades for my review of the movie). However, after a watching it, I had an instant craving to read the book to see what was left out (cuz we all know that Hollywood loves to elave out the best parts of a book).
And, what I found within the pages completely led me to believe that I was right for wanting to read the book as well. While I will say that for the first time the film and the book are synonymous in character and detail. I must also add that the beuaty of the book was better as written work than on film. If you thought the movie was amazing, the book will prove breath-taking.
From the narrative voice, which is rich and full of personality and life, to the events themselves, the reader will be hard-pressed to put the book down. The move does an admirable job portraying the emotions and feelings of the narrator, but the book sits you front and center to everything Sayuri feels, thinks, breathes, and does. The reader navigates through every life moment with her like they were there--feeling the anger of her father's decision, the pain of relizing her dream of being a giesha may be crushed, and her determination as she plans how she will see the Chairman again. It's a wonder the reader doesn't set off on their own journey to meet Sayuri and the characters that enter and exit her world--they're that real.
I left the book feeling a better sense of completeness than I did with the movie (no spoilers here). And, I feel that Golden's research and time were well spent and permeate not only the landscape and places in the novel, but also the richness and depth of each character.
If you've seen the movie, please do yourself a favor and read the novel as well. You won't be disaapointed.
 Gateway fiction to better titles about Geisha culture March 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I greatly enjoyed the descriptions of the kimonos.
Also, this is a light, entertaining FICTION. By this, I mean it is Arthur Golden's fictional take on a historical period in Geisha history. I definitely would not consider it a classic by any means. The turns in the plot were actually fairly predictable.
As a person trained in writing, I was taught that one should always take the route people can't bear the characters to take. This creates tension and drama. In Memoirs of a Geisha, the events take the popular route that would make most readers happy, and therein lies the lack of drama.
I think the argument that Golden is not a Japanese female in the early 1900s is not entirely valid, since by definition, fiction involves a large degree of imagination. Salman Rushdie wasn't around in 6th century CE, but that didn't prevent Satanic Verses from being a fantastic work of art.
I definitely noted a lack of transparency in several passages throughout the book. When certain Japanese things and Japanese people were described by the Japanese narrator as smelly or disgusting, and American soldiers (during post-WWII occupation in Japan) were described - without the slightest hint of bitterness, even after her cities have been bombed and loved ones killed - as wonderful happy people whom the Geishas greatly enjoyed laughing & dancing with, abandoning all their formal training and tradition, then it becomes apparent that it is an American white male holding the puppet strings to these characters all along.
I do believe this book will do more good than bad. For those who care to explore further, Memoirs of A Geisha will easily fulfill its duty in introducing readers to both Japanese and Geisha culture. All they have to do is to dig a little further into the works of Liza Dalby, Iwasaki Mineko (whose interviews with Golden formed the basis of Memoirs of A Geisha), Sayo Masuda, and also of interest: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.
For those who are content to read this FICTIONAL account and complacently treat it as truth, well, there's no rescue for them.
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