Rating: 
Summary: Tribute to Geisha
Review: Very good. Expertly written with wonderful insight into the life of a Japanese Geisha. The classic romance aspects of the novel had fairly predictable twists, turns and outcomes. In addition, Golden's philosophical messages were restricted to bits of Haiku. However, I felt the purpose of the novel was to form a biography representative of a class of women who no longer exist as they once did. Golden's work is a tribute to Japanese Geisha. What a fascinating topic he selected to develop. The account of Sayuri's emotions, as well as the attention to detail were incredible. I would recommend this novel to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent read.
Review: I worked in a bookstore during the height of "geisha fever" inspired by this book, and my gut reaction was to avoid the bandwagon. Eventually, however, I succumbed. And I don't regret it.Golden's research is formidable, and it is his fine resolution of realistic detail that makes this novel such a compelling read. The author's education serves him well in his capacity as myth-buster of erroneous American notions about geisha. Golden succeeds in revealing the seamy backside of the tapestry that is a geisha girl's life, where "love" is business and little more. Amazingly, this Western man can write as the voice of an Eastern woman without falling victim to patronization or oversentimentality. Memoirs of a Geisha's deflated conclusion leaves the reader wanting, but that might be the point: a geisha's life is not what the common myths of glamour and excitement would have one believe. High drama, in the highly regulated life of a geisha, comes at a price. In Golden's novel, it is the heroine's nemesis who is toppled and whose fate is sealed with a sense of drama and tragedy. The main character, Chiyo/Sayuri, is fortunate enough to age and retire rather quietly. This doesn't make for a flashy ending.
Rating: 
Summary: What I must say to my American readers
Review: I am Japanese. I have a gradfather who often played with geisha. I have to tell my loving American frineds that this story is only a fairy tale, much of which is not the truth. We, Japanese people, can tell this is written by someone who only knows the surface of Japanese culture. Please read other Japanese novels that are written by Japanese writers. I feel as if this book is manupulating innocent American people who simply like to know about our culture.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Memoirs of a Geisha is truly a masterpiece, reading more like an autobiography than a work of historical fiction. I honestly could not put the book down, even while bathing. This was a good eye-opener into Japanese culture and to what the word "geisha" truly means: I always thought a geisha was a prostitute. Now I know that there are several women I am now acquainted with who would probably qualify as geisha. ^_^ The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because of the romance aspect: I felt the Chairman was left sort of hollow. I genuinely felt sorry for his friend Nobu, who deserved much better. Overall, a work of art! I would recommend this book to ANYONE, especially those interested in Asian culture.
Rating: 
Summary: don't miss this opportunity
Review: After giving up on finding a worthwhile book to read from being to end, I became completely enthralled with Mr. Golden's ability to capture my attention. The book put me in Japan as a geisha and I felt as if I had experienced all of her encounters. I could not put down the book ! This is one book that must be read by all !
Rating:
Summary: Too American
Review: I am Japanese and I do not like Memories of Geisha much. Golden portrays our culture well, but this story really is a fairy tale and I hate its ending. He knows (studied)about Japan, but he does not really know how Japanese people really are. Considering the fact that this, after all, is an American novel, it perhaps does not matter how Japanese people think of this story. Yet, I do not accept his story, and I don't want Americans to consider it to be the truth about Geisha. My grandmother and her mother were geisha and I know the fact more than Golden does. As a fairy tale, this story is well done.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: This books was wonderfully written and more importantly a great story. I was very impressed with the history and culture of the times. The heroine, Sayuri, is such a spirtually strong women who champions through being sold as a geisha to being driven to live by her one true love. It is a story about the human spirit. It was a throughly engaging and impressive book. I recommend it to anyone as a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Glad I read it, but not a huge favorite
Review: This was a book-club choice and thus was not a book that I probably would have read on my own. Although I am glad I read it, it can't say it will be listed as one of my favorites. I agree that the writing style is repetitious and very slow at times. I tried to go with it and absorb the culture of the place and time, but found myself getting annoyed with the main character. I tend to be the type who gets annoyed with female protagonists who are reactive instead of proactive and I know, considering the culture that Sayuri lived in, she had little choice, but I still was annoyed. I was more interested in what happened to her sister, who apparently manages to escape a life of prostitution. I also felt the author made two mistakes with his writing. First of all, in the prologue he takes on a different persona and writes about interviewing the fictional Sayuri as an older woman in New York and the story grows from there. Then, in the acknowledgements at the end, he talks about the actual former geisha that he, as an author, interviewed for the story. Why not acknowledge that meeting first and then begin her story? Why the fictional meeting with both his name and Sayuri's changed, when there was an real meeting to write about? Secondly, in the first half I could've sworn I was reading a Japanese Charles Dickens. I kept waiting for Sayuri to go up to her owner and ask pitifully, "More gruel, please." The second half (post-WWI) was definitley Margaret Mitchell with a Japanese Scarlett O'Hara vowing never to go hungry again, complete with her Rhett Butler-esque hero. Agian, I would never recommend against reading Geisha, but it's not one I will keep in my bookcase and read over & over. In fact, I've already donated my copy to the library for it's monthly booksale.
Rating: 
Summary: A smooth read, predictable plot
Review: I don't understand the hype about this book. Yes, it's well written, but, as many of its critics have pointed out, the turns of plot and characterization are weak and uneventful. For the first two-thirds of the book we follow the plight of poor Sayuri up until her twenties; the last third wraps up her life, racing through WWII and the American occupation. A pleasant read, but I won't be pushing it on anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put it Down
Review: An amazing cross-cultural autobiographical piece of fiction told in the first person by the Geisha heroine. The novel opens when our heroine is only 9 yrs old, in 1929 Japan. Her mother is dying of bone cancer, and her and her older sister are sold by her father. Her sister is taken to a house of common prostitution, but Chiyo, the heroine who is narrating the book, is taken by a Okija (Geisha house). Geisha, I learned, are entertainers--they sing, dance, tell stories, make jokes, and carry on interesting conversations with the patrons of tea houses. They also become the mistresses of very wealthy Japanese men. I always thought the Geisha got to choose who would be her dannae (her wealthy patron) but as it turns out, they have very little sayso over it at all. The deflowering of their virginity, which occurs at around age 14 or 15, goes not to a man they might like, but to the highest bidder. There is, however, a love story in the book as well as the many other trials and misadventures of Chiyo, whose Geisha name is Sayuri. There are quite a number of twists and turns and plots & counterplots, and I couldn't put the book down--I found myself rooting for this young woman in her battles against a very cruel, but very beautiful Geisha named Hatsumomo, and for her to find happiness with the man that she fell in love with when she met him on the street as a child and he was kind to her. But will she ever meet him again? Or will she be forced into becoming the mistress of the brusque, horribly disfigured Nobu--who is the business partner of the man she truly loves? The detail in the book is exquisite, Mr. Golden certainly did his research. And we learn about the actual daily rituals of Geisha, what it is really like, from the inside.
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