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Summary: A must read! Stunning!
Review: A beautifully written story which seems to accurately portray the life of Geisha. The book transports you that time and place in Gion and you just can't put it down! Don't miss the PBS special called The Life of Geisha, it really makes it all real!
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Summary: A wonderfully written and captivating peice of art.
Review: In his novel, Golden has captured the essance and misunderstood life of a Geisha. He takes us through a remarkable world of beauty,hardships, freindship, cruelty, and love. Through a former geisha's eyes he tells a tale of a child raised in a small fishing town, torn away from her home and forced to work in an oikya and train to become a geisha, while another cold hearted geisha strives to make her life as difficult as possible. From the first page you will be emersed in the world of japanese culture, by the end you will find you'reself to be almost sad that the book is at it's end. Memoirs of a Geisha is an erotic and gripping novel, about women seducing the most powerful of men and the wonders of a dying tradition. I suggest this book for anybody who wants to read a truely great and mesmerizing novel.
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Summary: Memoirs --
Review: Memoirs of A Geisha, Written by Arthur Golden -- A small girl living in a quiet fishing village discovers her destiny is soon to be delivered to her very doorstep. In this Novel by Arthur Golden, the world as young "Chiyo" knows it transforms and transpires into a world in which she cannot choose for herself -- she succumbs to being taken from her village, her parents, her sister, her Life. From here, Chiyo will learn the hardships, trials and tribulations of what is expected of her at "okiya" and endure many years to follow. It is certainly a turbulent ride, but she refuses to sacrifice her passion for justice. Chiyo's glimmer of hope revolves around this: Perhaps one day, she too will become a geisha. Perhaps this is the only way out of "Gion" or into the life which once remained a mystery to her. My personal site is located at: www.sindushi.com
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Summary: FANTASTIC
Review: A great story to read. This book should be on your shelf. Mr. Golden transports you to a different time, culture and morals. Geisha derserves to be on the bestseller's list.
Rating: 
Summary: Seize the... um... Chairman?
Review: This book gets at least two stars for its educational value as a primer on the life of a geisha (assuming it is accurate). And it gets only two stars for completely failing to portray the geisha as a real person. It's almost as if Arthur Golden mistakes a language barrier for a lack of depth. The book fails for several reasons. I was not salivating over the possibility of sexual content before I started reading, but the attempts at descriptions of sex in the novel are numbingly dry. And the few moments that are supposed to possess a warm sensuality completely fail to express any pleasure. Perhaps because Golden is a man, he was wary of delving too deeply into the mysterious and confusing realm of womanly sexuality. I know I'd be intimidated, but I would try harder than he did. And isn't the main character supposed to be a clever girl? She continually notes her intelligence and her wit as strengths of her personality. Yet we see no evidence of that at all, unless you count the few slightly clever jokes she manages to toss out at geisha parties. Other than that, there is more evidence in the story to suggest that Sayuri lacked any sort of awareness of her situation. She floats along without being an active participant, manipulated by the GOOD geisha (Mameha) and the BAD geisha (Hatsumomo) alike. She never anticipates and only occasionally makes internal judgments of what transpires around her. Her disfigured friend and client urges her on more than one occasion to take control of her life, but she insists to herself that she is unable to match his expectations. And she never does! If I could give away spoilers, I could go into more depth. Her ultimate attempt at taking control of her own destiny is both morally backwards and a complete disaster. And her pursuit of an apparently empty romance is hardly inspiring. I kept hoping Sayuri would realize this Chairman fantasy was a hollow goal and redirect her dreams elsewhere, but she never does. Does Arthur Golden think so little of women that he couldn't imagine a stronger central character, one who really can take control of her life and has some amount of self-reflection? Characters around Sayuri are stronger than she. What's the problem? As I read further and further into the book, the distinct impression gained was that the novel was a high school prom fantasy wrapped up in an interesting aspect of Japanese culture. As someone else wrote, the book is essentially a Harlequin romance novel, and all the detail about the life of a geisha fails to hide it.
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Summary: Fabulous
Review: Totally enthrawling. I was lost in the vivid descriptions of places, things, and emotions. The story takes an epic trip thru the life of a girl stripped from her family, and the enlightenment that follws. Golden has a style similar to Hemmingway, only more poetic. I was sorry it ended...
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Summary: A moving story exquisitely well told!
Review: Chiyo and her older sister Satsu are taken away from from the fishing town of Yoroido and their elderly father when their mother becomes critically ill. Chiyo is hopeful that she and her sister will be adopted by the wealthy Mr. Tanaka, owner of the Japan Coastal Seafood Company. They are surprised when he does not adopt them but rather takes them by train to Kyoto and later horrified when they are cruelly separated from one another. Chiyo finds herself thrust into the position of a maid in an okiya (house of geisha), but she does not know where her sister was taken. Memoirs of a Geisha opens a rich new world of traditional Japanese customs to the Western reader. Although the author is an American man, he transcends the barriers of gender and culture in telling this story. He narrates his story in the first person of the geisha Sayuri while also fully developing the relationships between other predominantly female characters. His tale is so convincing that, at times, it's hard to think of this memoir as a work of fiction. The Japanese theme of geisha is treated by the author with utmost respect and understanding. It's a beautiful story which leaves an indelible mark on the heartstrings of its readers.
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Summary: Good - but could have been better
Review: Spoilers ahead: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, until the end. I felt (and others I have talked with agree with me) that the book was leading up to a completely different ending. I, like others, was completely swept up in this book. I kept having to look at the author's photo to remind myself that it was not an autobiography. And for that reason I was expecting a different ending. As I was reading this book I thought this was going to be one of my all-time favourties, but the ending just left a bad taste in my mouth.
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Summary: Memoirs of a Geisha
Review: This is an incredible book! Written with a poetic style that flows from one page to the next (so that you can't put it down!), this is one of the most lyrical books I have ever read. The reader is caught up in the plights of Sayuri and her struggle between her two destinies. The book is so well written from the point of view of a geisha it is almost difficult that an American man wrote this. A great book!
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Summary: Memoirs of a Geisha Book Review
Review: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA Author: Arthur Golden Review by: Kelly Shaughnessy "It struck me that we - that moth and I - were two opposite extremes. My existence was as unstable as a stream, changing in every way; but the moth was like a piece of stone, changing not at all. While thinking this thought, I reached out a finger to feel the moth's velvety surface; but when I brushed it with my fingertip, it turned all at once into a pile of ash without even a sound, without even a moment in which I could see it crumbling." Page 107. This passage is an example of the beautiful imagery and style of Arthur Golden's writing in Memoirs of a Geisha. In one passage alone, he has made you feel as though you could reach out and touch the moth, and at the same time has conveyed a deep meaning about this girl's life described in this scene. This type of writing is seen throughout the book, independent of the plot, which captures the reader's attention from the beginning to the end. The plot of Memoirs of a Geisha involves the story of a young girl, Chiyo-san, who grew up on the countryside in Japan, and was tragically separated from her sister and her family. She was taken to be a maid in the big city of Kyoto, and although this work was hard, she was promised to be taught how to become a geisha one-day. This hope kept her spirit alive through much torture from the geisha she lived with, Hatsumomo. When she was finally allowed to train to become a geisha, she finds that it was not at all what she hoped it would be. She had to spend endless hours in teahouses entertaining men she didn't care for and pretend she was having the time of her life. In plotting out this story, Golden wove in numerous symbols with different meanings, such as the handkerchief that was given to Chiyo by a chairman. This symbolized hope for her throughout the novel, and no matter what she encountered, she would look at the handkerchief and feel a little stronger. The moth in the above quote symbolized what Chiyo wanted her life to be like - containing stability and not uncertainty. Interpreting these different symbols is another intricate part of this novel, although they make it somewhat less believable that it was written by an old geisha. This novel is written in first person, with Chiyo telling the story of her life. She gives accounts about her life and her place in the world that are vivid and realistic, although it is a little hard to believe that an old geisha is intelligent enough to write this novel. Still, the fact that this novel was, in fact, written by an American man (author Arthur Golden) is hard to swallow. Not only did he have to cross barriers about culture and race, but crossed an even greater barrier of gender so far as going into detail about Chiyo's first time with a man. Like many other geisha, she was auctioned off to the highest bidder for her virginity. There is also description about the large, twenty-foot long Kimono robes that the geisha were required to wear and the hairstyles that were so difficult to create that the women would have to keep them and not wash their hair for weeks at a time. These are just some of the many exciting parts of this novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Being captivated by the story, and yet learning lessons about life and culture at the same time are part of the beauty of Golden's novel. It will remove any ideas one might have about the so-called romantic life of a geisha, or other myths about these mysterious women. Although it could be argued that this novel drags along in some parts with so much detail and observation of every little thing, this is part of what makes it so captivating. All this detail could also have helped make it on the New York Times' "Best Seller's list", and on my personal favorites list.
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