Rating: 
Summary: Enchanting!
Review: An absolute must for holiday traveling. Sayuri's story unfolds gently, affording the reader an evolving awareness of a lost cultural heritage. The pace is far from slow, however, with an engaging story-telling style and unique characters that keep pages turning. Although the story spans a lifetime, Golden has captured the essence of his character as she develops from a child, to a young woman and through adulthood. While some subplots and characters leave you aching for more development, the total work is engaging. A definite must read!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Beautiful writing, fabulous story! I was lost in this book & did not want to find my way out! I still have not found a book that matches the beauty of Memoirs.
Rating: 
Summary: memoirs of another world
Review: Am I missing something? Review upon review praises this book. It's been a best seller for forever. So my expectations were high, but I felt a bit let down. I don't feel comfortable commenting on how accurate the historical aspect of this story is, because I know very little about Japanese culture. Instead I'll focus on the storytelling.The story certainly is an interesting one. Told in the first person, it is a fictitious geisha's account of her beginnings as an impoverished, orphaned child and traces her route to fame and fortune. There are despair-filled pitfalls, fateful coincidences, evil villains, mysterious benefactors, generous heroes. The story has all the ingredients of a rip-roaring success. The author's painstaking attention to detail tells me that he put considerable effort into researching this piece. His writing is seamless and beautiful. With all this, I should have adored the book. But I simply didn't. My main problem was the characters and their relationships with one another. The characters seemed underdrawn and hollow. I wonder how the main character became such a success.Her personality, as drawn, does nothing to help me figure that out. I do not understand her love affair with the chairman. Her love for him reeks of teenage infatuation. Is that the way things were back then? In fact, alot of the characters' behaviors seemed a little, well, juvenile I guess. I felt very detached from the action. This piece was beautifully written. But I felt that passion was sacrificed. This did not seem to me like a real woman telling the story. I was also disappointed that the story referred very little to the historic setting in which most of it took place. We learn about shortages and working in factories during WWII, but we learn very little about the psychological toll the war took on the Japanese. I guess I was hoping for more. While this was a superbly written piece, I've read better stories.
Rating: 
Summary: I wanted to like it
Review: This book had it's up and downs, but was ultimately very slow-paced. It is OK if you don't mind reading 5 pages about walking down a dirt road or observing a rock on a sidewalk, to put it one way. The writing is good and even humorous. The author is impressive in his ability to relate events from a woman's perspective. I could not get pulled in and would never have finished it, were I not required to read it for a bookclub. I, too, was disappointed that there was not more emphasis on the "art" of being a geisha. Also, the back of the book mentioned that she had to find a new life after the war and the geisha houses closed, but she just took up being a geisha again ultimately. That didn't seem like any great new freedom or beginning. I can see why people found it interesting, but if it doesn't grip you after the beginning, don't look for it to improve.
Rating:
Summary: Frightenly Brilliant!
Review: Memoirs Of A Geisha is frightenly brilliant! This has got to be one of the best books written this century!
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book!
Review: This is the best book I've read in a long time. I read it in a matter of days, neglecting some responsibilities in favor of reading. If you're up for a good story, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Memoirs of a Geisha
Review: I was skeptical of this book and almost didn't buy it. Once I got to page 2, I couldn't put it down. I read it while walking to work, while waiting in lines, on my lunch break, and every other moment I could carve out some time. I couldn't put it down. I thought Arthur Golden did an amazing job of bringing the reader into this exotic and little known world. Even though he lives 5 minutes from where I do, you'd think he were a Geisha girl himself! This is the best book I've read in a long time. I bought several copies to give as holiday gifts to friends.
Rating:
Summary: Magical
Review: Totally fascinating, I felt every emotion Sayuri described. As I read more of the book I was drawn into the depth of the the true feelings of someone who had lived through these experiences. The way in which the book was written made it easy to imagine the life of the Geisha, the good times and the hardships of a young orphaned girl whose life is transformed in a totally unimaginable way. I couldn't put this book down, but I didn't want it to end, not just tears and laughs but real life.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic reading!
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. Very well written. The characters come alive for you and you find yourself not wanting to ever put the book down.
Rating:
Summary: Hooked from the moment I picked it up.
Review: I tend to be very weary of books that EVERYBODY love. Call me a snob. This book was different. From the second I read the first paragraph I could not put it down. Literally. I read it in one afternoon. I believe Golden captured the very essence of being a woman and being a Geisha. Not only did I feel like I was a part of the lives of the characters, I felt like she was telling her story only to me. I was her confidant. I would reccomend this book to absolutely everyone. You will love it.
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