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Lyn's Reviews > Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha
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A pleasing mix of Great Expectations and Little Orphan Annie but all mixed up in Japanese Geisha society.
Full disclosure: I, like many westerners, believed that geisha were a high end version of prostitutes. Sophisticated, talented and very excessively priced � but prostitutes all the same.
Golden’s book has afforded me some erudition and I now know that is not the full story � except, well � there are still some elements of prostitution in the story. The fictional geisha first person narrator describes her own role as akin to a mistress rather than a wife, with formal rules that for the most part established that a geisha was connected to her “danna� or patron. It’s all very complicated and I never fully understood what was going on. To be fair, looks like the intricate etiquette rules confuse many Japanese as well.
My usual genre is science fiction / fantasy so this was something of a departure for me, but honestly, the description of Japanese culture, particularly Geisha culture, might as well have been something dreamed up by Jack Vance or Robert Silverberg it was so alien to me.
Golden describes the “memoirs� of a fictional geisha, Sayuri, and her ascent to the role of geisha in a bildungsroman style. We also share in Sayuri’s animosity with rival geisha Hatsumomo and her complicated relationships with patrons and sponsors.
Entertaining and provocative, this also sheds light on a time and place, Japan before, during and after WWII.
Full disclosure: I, like many westerners, believed that geisha were a high end version of prostitutes. Sophisticated, talented and very excessively priced � but prostitutes all the same.
Golden’s book has afforded me some erudition and I now know that is not the full story � except, well � there are still some elements of prostitution in the story. The fictional geisha first person narrator describes her own role as akin to a mistress rather than a wife, with formal rules that for the most part established that a geisha was connected to her “danna� or patron. It’s all very complicated and I never fully understood what was going on. To be fair, looks like the intricate etiquette rules confuse many Japanese as well.
My usual genre is science fiction / fantasy so this was something of a departure for me, but honestly, the description of Japanese culture, particularly Geisha culture, might as well have been something dreamed up by Jack Vance or Robert Silverberg it was so alien to me.
Golden describes the “memoirs� of a fictional geisha, Sayuri, and her ascent to the role of geisha in a bildungsroman style. We also share in Sayuri’s animosity with rival geisha Hatsumomo and her complicated relationships with patrons and sponsors.
Entertaining and provocative, this also sheds light on a time and place, Japan before, during and after WWII.
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Reading Progress
December 25, 2018
–
Started Reading
December 25, 2018
– Shelved
December 30, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Loretta
(new)
Dec 27, 2018 07:39AM
This is one I keep telling myself that I want to read. Can't wait for your review Lyn. 😊
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Thanks I'm liking it so far
Lyn wrote: "Thanks I'm liking it so far"Thank you Lyn!! Good to know!!! 😊
I feel like I want to read this again. It's been ten years.
" ... description of Japanese culture, particularly Geisha culture, might as well have been something dreamed up by Jack Vance or Robert Silverberg" yep
Matthee comes to mind/book/show/1...
"The Knysna Forest: a primal world of strange beauty and hidden dangers, of secrets shrouded beneath the canopy of towering trees, where, for centuries, the only sounds were the songs of birds and the trumpeting of the magnificent elephants.... until man arrived to claim for himself the rare wood of the trees, and the rarer ivory of the elephants' tusks."
An oldie but goodie.
Really great review, Lyn!
I found your comments exploring what a geisha is very helpful. (It's a book I vaguely mean to read, but never have.)
Thank you for the review! I'm normally fantasy only, but I think I will give this a try!
Great review, Lyn. I think I'm in the minority on GRs; I found this beloved book to be as dull as hell, but I appreciate what you've pointed out here--that there's a bit of a "science fiction" quality to something so bizarre as painting, decorating and training women to entertain men (whatever that entertaining involved--I was as in the dark as you were). Conceptually, it's right up there with The Handmaid's Tale.
This is a beautiful review, Lyn! : ) I REALLY loved this line--> "To be fair, looks like the intricate etiquette rules confuse many Japanese as well." It made me smile. I couldn't agree more.
Lyn, reading that you love science fiction/ fantasy, I have to say that you are once again tailor-made for author Kevin Ansbro's novel, "In the Shadow of Time." It is intriguing to see how beautifully matched you are to his type of novels!
Take care, friend : )
