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Summary: Truly Moving
Review: A friend recomended this book to me as a must read. She was completely right. As soon as I picked up the book I couldn't put it down. This isn't just an adults' book, I know teens who have loved it.The mainc character Chiyo is determinded and caring. She has many obstacles to overcome before she can become a geisha. As her spirit changes so does yours. Soon you are captivated in her troubles and triumphs. This book has deserved all the recognition it has received. Golden writes passage after passage of utter beuty. There is nothing you can do but feel with Chiyo. I have not yet finished but can hardly wait to hear the rest of this captivating story.
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Summary: Captivating, Excellent Job Of Evoking Japanese Culture
Review: I have to keep reminding myself that an American white man of the second half of the 20th Century penned this remarkable book about a Japanese woman of the first half of this century. It is a triumph of insight into another culture with its entirely different (or perhaps not so different) mindset and values.
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Summary: My take on Memoirs
Review: I absolutely loved this book. I do a lot of reading and this bestseller surpasses them all. Arthur Golden did a fine job of using intricate detail throughout the book.The way he fully describes the Kimonos they wear and the difficulty of doing the Geisha's hair and trying not to mess it up while sleeping gave me an appreciation for those women who chose that as a profession.If you like Japanese culture this book is definately one you should read.
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Summary: Great Reading!
Review: I found myself transported back in time and across thousands of miles to Gion. Reading this book gave me insight into the life of a geisha, and altered my previous perceptions of the "geisha". I agree that Golden could have explored Hatsumomo's? hatred for Sayuri ( which I think was obvious) and other areas, but we probably would have ended up with a far less interesting read.
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Summary: Captured the Essence of Japanese Story
Review: The story unfolds with the heroine being sold to a geisha house to as a servant girl. She was selected because of her unique grey eyes, while her sister, being more common, was sold to a brothel. Despite her mistakes (like escaping through the toilet window and landing with a thud and injury), her luck takes a change for the better when a rich old Japanese man - referred to as the Chairman (who later becomes her benefactor and lover) is captivated by her beauty and arranges for her to be trained as a geisha. The heroine relates her own story through rose tinted glasses and regales her successes (such as being a great geisha of her time) as well as her failures (such as her search for her true love). She tells of her suffering through the second world war, almost becoming a kept woman of a badly disfigured man (all through which she continues to bear the torch for her true love). However, the story starts to drag and becomes pretentious when she swears that all she ever wanted was to be loved and noticed by the Chairman. She tells of how she eventually is reunited with her true love in a fairytale-like fashion. All in all, it is fun for easy reading on lazy sunday afternoon. Don't expect great literary talent here.
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Summary: Literary Candy for the Senses
Review: This is an exquisite and beautiful book. The characters are charming and real. Golden uses words like a fine chef uses inegredients, mixing them with such care that each one evokes a particular taste or reaction from the reader. A fanatastic work of fictional-history with a story to charm the most devoted romance reader. The characters become friends. Deeply moving; hypnotic; nostalgic.
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Summary: Almost a 5 star book
Review: What an amazing and captavating story. It is tragic and beautiful to learn about the life of a geisha, however I was a bit let down that it was written by a man.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling and deceptive
Review: One of the most compelling pieces of fiction masquerading -- and I mean, *truly* masquerading -- as non-fiction in some time. I admit, this piece was able to break through my cynicism and touch a very tender part of me. Often times, the story seemed so real, so vivid I had to double-check that, yes, indeed it is fiction. Of the work, I will say this: Deceptively rich and layered, this book succeeds in transporting me to another time and place in ways so few can.
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Summary: Amazing, fluid depiction
Review: Yes, I am one of over 1,000 to review this fabulous book! I was so enthralled by every word. The flowing descriptions of the life of a geisha were unbelievable. If only my review could be so eloquent. It was possibly one of the best books I have ever read. I feel a sense of sorrow to have finished it.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I don't think i need to say much more after over a thousand reviews. It's so gorgeous and delicately written that i was sure that it couldn't be fictional.
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