Memoirs of a Geisha

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Summary: My Memoirs
Review: The characters in this book are vivid and alive and the main character is such an inspiration. She is a master of the proverbial turning lemons into lemonade. She takes devestation and conqueres it with beauty and grace and eventualy aligns herself with people who love and appreciate her. I know that the characters are fictional, but I still keep my eyes open for a kimono clad woman on Fifth Avenue with blue eyes on a tranquil face to tell her thank you for her story.

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Summary: Memorable
Review: I read a review that said Memoirs of a Geisha is an epic on an intimate scale. That is exactly true. This is a very intimate book, and Golden has done an excellent job of creating a very memorable and lively character in Chiyo. This is the only piece of modern literature I have read that is actually literature - yet it is also a true page-turner. There are faults in the book - the ending seems a bit rushed, and the way the book comes to its climax is so muck like a Dickens novel its almost laughable. But this is the only book I have read in a very long time that truly absorbed me, and I still think about it weeks after i finished it. There are so many things to love about this book, I dare not try and list them for surely i would forget some. Just buy the book and read it, you won't be disapointed.

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Summary: The unveiling of the ineffable Japanese culture
Review: Upon reading this book for the first time, my dormant interest in Japan soared. Wonderful sweeping vocabulary coupled with an astonishing grasp of human emotion (suprising that the heroine is poignantly described by a man). The story tells the rather typical tale of a Japanese girl unprovided for in a backwater fishing village. Sold as a geisha and telling of a lifetime. Beautiful.

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Summary: One of the best....
Review: This was one of the best books ever written. Arthur Golden's sentences are like water flowing down a quiet stream. Recommended reading...

Rating:
Summary: One of the best ......
Review: This was one of the best books I have ever read. It was difficult to put down. The author, Arthur Golden, is a great writer. His sentences seemed to flow like a gentle stream. I highly recommend this book and think it would make an excellent movie.

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Summary: unknown life of Geishas
Review: This book is well written and easy going... I like it,recommend it everyone who wants to learn about the japaniese culture ... This book is not written by a japaniese author and I wonder does the story close to the real life of a Geisha ...

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Summary: A beautiful story that will capture anyone from page one!
Review: I have read lots of books that were said to be great but "Memoirs of a Geisha" is the first that has lived up to all of its lovely reviews. The story begins with a young girl Chiyo-Chan, growing up in a poor town until being taken away from her family to a new town where the core of the story is. Chiyo-Chan now seperated from her family goes into training to become a geisha but it is not a smooth or easy road getting there. I strongly encourage anyone to read this book who would love to wrapped in a wonderful story!

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Summary: absorbent!
Review: Considering I am not English-speaking born, this is one of the best books I've read, and for me was really a joy to pick it everytime I could. Its easy-to-follow language, detailed descriptions of the most tiny things, and the chapter-after-chapter surprises, left me very happy for my choice.It's a must-read!

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Summary: Strong until the end, but then it falters
Review: This is an extremely readable and detail-filled fictionalization of the life of a geisha in both pre- and post-war Japan. I found it to be a very sensitive portrayal of a young woman's quest for peace in the face of great adversity. Unfortunately, the novel, for me anyway, begins to fall apart once the central villain, a rival geisha, is defeated. You quickly realize that the drama is gone, and the next 100-150 pages drag on without the dynamism of that conflict.

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Summary: Memoirs of a Geisha
Review: This book is extraordinary, combining highly literary style with unusual subject matter, the world of the geisha. No, geishas are not high-class prostitutes, nor are they femmes fatales -- there is no comparable class of woman in Western society. In this piece of virtual historical fiction, we follow the life of a highly successful geisha from the time she was taken away from her parents at age 9 before the Depression. . . to her old age in Manhattan in modern times. Most of the story centers on the geisha's coming of age, struggles with other women and search for love (of sorts) during the 1930s and 1940s. Not only do we get inside the head and heart of one deeply sensitive woman in her particular world, but also see reflected the characteristic grace, stoicism and politeness of Japanese culture. We certainly would not wish to be a geisha. Yet,as we read through this gripping account, we couldn'tt help but wonder whether today's Western woman isn't "kept" in other ways. Finally, the author deals eloquently with Japanese spirtuality, and the protaganist's struggle to find meaning in her life and to deal with the loss of her family and other misfortunes in her childhood.This is a one-of-a-kind and beautifully written book.