Rating: 
Summary: Geiko of Gion
Review: Most people outside of Japan do not realize just how exclusive and secret the world of the Geishas is. Connections and wealth buy a seat in an Ochaya, and on the streets of Gion in Kyoto catching a glimpse of a Geiko (Geisha in the Kyoto dialect) is as rare as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Geiko move fast down the streets and alleyways, and a sighting is something to tell your friends about. With "Geisha : A Life," Mineko Iwasaki lifts some of the veils of this fantasy world and shows that, underneath the make-up and fancy hairstyles, Geiko are just women, with the same thoughts and feelings and pride and emotion as everyone else. In some ways, this destroys the fantasy, being able to see "behind-the-scenes." The life of a Geiko is very difficult and somewhat...boring. Like a dedicated ballet dancer, the bulk of their life is training and practice, trying to achieve a near-impossible idea of body and movement. "Geisha: A Life" is not compellingly written, nor as fascinating as the sexualized and fictional account "Memoirs of a Geisha." It is not as academically insightful and full of details as Liza Dalby's "Geisha." But it is honest and real. Mineko's account of her life is straightforward, without much decoration. After reading it, you will know what it is like to be a Geiko. Woven into this account, perhaps unintentionally, is the loss of Japan's disappearing past. Mineko doesn't bat an eye when telling the story of how she leveled their 100-year old Geisha residence, in order to build a modern night club and hair salon because she thought it would make more money. She talks with hope of her artist husband someday becoming one of Japan's legendary Living Treasures, but doesn't see how she should belong in the same category. She feels loss for the fading world of the traditional Japanese arts, but keeps destroying them along with everyone else.
Rating: 
Summary: frank and powerful
Review: This is a great bit of light reading for it describes in the most straightforward manner the geisha society and Japanese culture. I liked the fact that this book feeds and feeds you information on those aspects and it keeps intriguing you with every new bit of information. It is not too abstract, for it doesn't have to be. After what seemed like a lifetime of being asked to analyze "critically" everything you read in school, to dig miles deep to conjecture what the author might possibly mean by saying something ambivalent, "Geisha, A Life" struck me as a refreshing breeze. You don't have to write something that no one understands to sound smart, and Mineko Iwasaki has done just that.
Rating:
Summary: Much information of an old Japanese tradition
Review: When I bought the book I wanted to learn more of the Geisha tradition and by that of Japanese culture in general.
I never had believed that such a restricted life is still possible today. Mineko Iwasaki was taken away from her family when she was a small child. With much discipline she learnt traditional dancing, singing, playing instruments and roles in theatre, always being observed by elderly ladies, who wanted to educate her, eg by humiliation via wrong accusations. The meaning of such is explained clearly, as all the other details of the life of a geisha.
A very interesting recommendatory book.
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