Not a bad book. It was very well written. I was surprised that a male author was able to tell the memoirs of a woman so well. I completely forgot it was written by a male and found myself seeing the author as the geisha herself. This story starts with Chiyo as a young girl and her parents ill health causing her and her sister to be sold. It follows Chiyo's trials and tribulations as she first struggles as a maid and endures a lot of cruelty and then her life of a geisha, which I found to be terribly frivolous and spoiled. Like American women in Hollywood, the geisha (the impression I got from this book anyway) just goes to party after party and sings and dances and entertains men, while dressing in expensive clothes. The only difference being that their virginity is sold to the highest bidder. When war arises in their country, banning the geisha trade as a result, these pampered women feel their lives are over and balk at doing hard physical labor. That attitude alone, made me lose sympathy with the life of the geisha, despite the degradations they face leading to their pampered existence. Again, it was well written but not being very familiar with Japanese customs and such, I would have liked a bit more detail about the architecture and surroundings. There was a lot of kneeling and door rolling and I had a hard time picturing where the characters were, besides on a floor.

This book arrived in perfect condition just when I was told it would. It is so well written and completely mesmerizing. I enjoyed every minute of reading about this woman's story of a culture so steeped in tradition.Amazing book. You'll love it.

Very captivating. I couldn't put it down till I finish it.
Very easy to read, dynamic plot.

The movie was beautiful but it didn't show even half of what is in the book and why.

It has a very interesting ending (unlike the movie).

This is a wonderfully written story about the life of a young Japanese girl that suffers a lot but becomes the best she can be. Everyone I know that has read this loves it as much as I do. The writer captures your interest right away and before you know it, you're living in Japan, during the war. I saw the movie after reading this book and was very disappointed with the movie. There is just too much to try and convey on the big screen. Treat yourself to some "me" time and read this wonderful story.

Just read an excerpt..or the first page and you will see that it pulls you into the story immediately and it never lets you go. I was never bored and fell so deeply into this story and into the imagery and emotion that I wish I could find another book that could take me on a such a journey as this book did. I've been searching but have not found its likeness. I was blown away that this story was written by a man and not by a Japanese Geisha.

Just read an excerpt..or the first page and you will see that it pulls you into the story immediately and it never lets you go. I was never bored and fell so deeply into this story and into the imagery and emotion that I wish I could find another book that could take me on a such a journey as this book did. I've been searching but have not found its likeness. I was blown away that this story was written by a man and not by a Japanese Geisha.

I find it very hard to believe that in the 30s and 40s the Japanese culture, one of the most esteemed cultures in the world, would train young girls for the exclusive pleasure of men.

The author does an incredible job at keeping the reader "hooked." i could not bring myself to put it down....when i finished the book, i wanted to learn more about geishas and their cultures.....this is a must read.

Memoirs of a Geisha / 0-679-78158-7

This artful, veiled look into the hidden life of the geisha is incredibly captivating. The realism grips the reader instantly, as we read of a young girl's coming of age in a world where she must compete with her beauty, skill, art, and conversation in order to be a worthwhile companion to men. Our geisha correctly reminds us that her art is really no different from what many women practice, this careful battle to be a man's companion and mistress is just applied to the rigid rules and careful beauty of the society of which she is a member.

Realistically, Sayuri guides us through her training, shows us her fears and hopes. Her hopes are the simple hopes of the poor - she hopes to have enough food, money, and shelter to be comfortable. She does not dare to hope to buy her freedom, nor does she know what she would accomplish with this freedom. After a chance meeting with the only man who ever treated her kindly without hoping for something in return, her hopes expand to include being a geisha for this man - the only interaction she can imagine with him. Her fears are more complex - she fears the tyranny of the people who own her and live with her, she fears that she will be a failure as a geisha and will be forced to become a prostitute, she fears that she has no worth or value.

How much of this is real and how much is fiction? It is difficult to say. Certainly, the glimpses inside Sayuri's world ring true. It is hardly a stretch of the imagination that upper-class mistresses would be frequented by rich gentleman - certainly, this phenomenon has been a normal part of many societies and there is no reason to assume that the practice could not be generalized into a rigid business. I think that it misses the point, however, to belabor the "truth" of the story, though, for such a question posits that there is only one truth to be had. I think that this story is true for Sayuri, and that there are other stories, just as true to their tellers, which would show a different image to us.

This book was thrilling and quite detailed. While it may not be considered an accurate depiction in the views of a true geisha it is still quite entertaining and very well written. Hard to put down once you start reading it. The movie did not do it justice.

I read this book on a business trip and almost missed all my meetings because I didn't want to put it down. Forget the movie...or at the very least...READ THIS BOOK before you see the movie. It was amazing and I'd say a good read for both men and women.

This is not the kind of book that I really thought that I would enjoy. I picked it up at the airport for a long trip. I could not put this book down. It was fantastic!!! Highly recommended

I don't think I knew enough about Japanese culture, and this well-written, beautifully depictive novel certainly paints a picture that fills that void very well.

Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha is an artful, sensitively written novel, depicting how innocent little Chiyo from a poor Japanese fishing village overcomes multiple adversities--unexpected betrayal by her aging father, death of her ill mother, separation from her sister (who is sold to a house of prostitution but has the strength to escape), cruel and spiteful treatment by veteran geisha Hatsumomo, loss of friendship with her peer Pumpkin, the emotional anguish of a forced undressing of her kimono by the Baron, sale of her virginity (mizuage) for financial gain by the "mother" of the household (okiya) which bought her from her father years earlier--all en route to becoming first-class geisha Sayuri in the Gion district of Kyoto. Though the term "romance" is never used in the story itself, the intricate sequence of events richly unfolds into an eventual realization of Chiyo's youthful dream to be loved by the Chairman, a successful Osaka entrepreneur and businessman, who first notices her strikingly attractive blue-gray eyes (rare eye color for a Japanese) one afternoon during a stroll and takes the time to show kindness when she is sad and lonely. Due to their age difference, personal circumstances, the impact of World War II, and, most importantly, the Chairman's obligation to his business partner Nobu, not until almost two decades later does the Chairman permit himself to express his feelings for Sayuri.

Despite the personal triumph of protagonist Sayuri and the novel's Cinderella-like happy ending, the work also can be construed as a controversial rendering (by an outside foreigner) of the values and mores of early-to-mid-20th century Japanese society, at least with regard to the geisha world. However pleasurable and commonly accepted in Japan the entertaining, drinking, dancing and carousing at geisha teahouses may be, we cannot overlook the moral and ethical underpinnings of the story: the Chairman is a married man with a wife and family and, since Sayuri knows this, aren't their intimate encounters ("we drank each other up with so much yearning and need that afterward I felt myself drained of all the things the Chairman had taken from me, and yet filled with all that I had taken from him") considered adultery?; the Baron manages to restrain his physical desires but isn't luring a 15-year-old girl to one's estate and stripping off her kimono "just to have a peek" considered sexual harassment and molestation?; when a father knowingly and willingly enters into a contract through a businessman in the neighboring village to sell one daughter to a geisha house and another to a jorouya (house of prostitution), isn't this a form of child slavery and exploitation?; when the "mother" of the okiya takes a leadership role in auctioning off Sayuri's virginity, under the tutelage of geisha Mameha, whose virginity had been sold in the same manner a few years back for a record price, isn't personal choice being blatantly violated?; when geisha are expected to sell their entertainment services, including after-hours sexual favors to wealthy businessmen (danna-san), to pay off apprenticeship debts and thereafter to support the okiya, shouldn't we begin to question the ethical fabric of the broader society that supports the geisha world?

Indeed, the historical basis and authenticity of the work have been questioned, by none other than Mineko Iwasaki, the former geisha to whom the author gives foremost credit in his acknowledgements. Following publication of the book, Iwasaki disputed aspects the author's treatment of information she conveyed to him through a candid "insider's tour of Gion" while he was researching the book. According to news reports, Iwasaki sued the author for breach of contract and defamation, but the parties later reached settlement outside of court.

So, how much of the foundation of the story can we believe, what is the professional and personal life of a geisha really like, and what role does the geisha world actually play in Japanese society? Like a first-class geisha spinning tales during "big liar" drinking games with her customers, Memoirs of a Geisha is a very entertaining and enjoyable read but, unfortunately, historical fact and sociological truth are, I would guess, better sought from a more sober source.

Honestly, this is one of my favorite books. I read it my senior year of college and neglected all of my academic work for a week because I could not put it down!

This is not a bad book. Arthur Golden knows his stuff, and the Japanese culture jumps out from the pages. The book starts out well -- little Chiyo is sold by her father to the Nitta okiya, where she struggles to live with a sadistic housemate named Hatsumomo, and also to become reunited with her sister, who's been sent somewhere else in the district. This first part of the book is filled with a good forward plot and plenty of emotion.

But after that, things settle down. From then on, the only things that push the book forward have to do with selling her virginity, becoming adopted by the Mother of the okiya, and basically earning approval among men. Golden gets caught up in describing everything single about geisha life, and it's TOO MUCH! Descriptions down to the color of thread of the different kimono every night. After first trying to visualize these kimono, I gave up and skipped over the descriptions. Too tiring. I want a story. Also, the entire book is based around conversation; so much so that I found Sayuri (Chiyo) to be overcome by dialogue and appear 1-dimesional. It's also peppered with meaningless metaphors, such as "I could no more have stopped myself from feeling sadness than you could stop yourself from smelling an apple that has been cut open on the table." What the heck?

I struggled to finish this. The only thing that kept me going was Sayuri's odd attraction to the Chairman. Golden's writing is great if you want a history lesson, but I wanted to learn and then get on with the plot!

This is hands down one of the best books ever written. The details, clarity, and insight into this secret world of geisha's (completely misunderstood by the West's need to categorize everything) is written as this is truly the memoirs of Sayuri. However, she does not exists, she is a compilation of the author's many interviews.

The way that he embodied her life, her fears, her hopes, and her sorrows was masterful. If you are looking for a good read this summer, I would put this on the top of the list.

On a side note: bypass the movie, once you have read the book it will only anger you.

At 500+ pages, this book starts to wear out its welcome at about page 285. It's very nice, well-written. But it's like taking a six-week vacation all in one spot: you'd better be DARN sure you like the place. I liked it, but was ready to leave after a few weeks (285 pages), and I still had so many more weeks of vacation (pages to read) to go.

this book was very detailed. i read it after watching the movie, and learned more in the first few pages than i did from the entire film. i won't summarize as others have done that, suffice it to say this is a story about the life of a geisha. i thought that though the author was very descriptive, i wasn't compelled to immerse myself in the book. sometimes i felt the author's writing style to be uncomfortably detailed. i do enjoy detailed writing, but... i don't know what it was but at some points i just felt uncomfortable. maybe that was the author doing his job well as i know if i lived in japan at that time i'd be pretty uncomfortable, but people can write about uncomfortable subjects and not make it uncomfortable to the reader, so i guess i didn't enjoy his writing style. in fact if i remember correctly i put this down for a while somewhere in the middle of it and then convinced myself to finish it. of course it didn't help that i knew the basic story line, even if i didn't enjoy the writing style i'll stick it our for a good story, but that part was kind of spoiled for me.

the story itself was fascinating though. it covers a very interesting subject and is very much worth the read.