In short, Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional book about the life of Chiyo, who is sold to an okiya as a child to be raised to become a geisha. The story narrates Chiyo's (who becomes known as Sayuri later) story from the time she was sold to the okiya, and all through her life as a geisha and beyond that.
Memoirs of a Geisha is really well written. Arthur Golden made me believe tha... read more
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Amazon.com Review
The first thing you notice about the audio version of Memoirs of a Geisha is that Arthur Golden's 428-page novel has been reduced to a scant two cassettes. But dismay quickly gives way to mounting pleasure as Elaina Erika Davis (Contact, As the World Turns) begins her delicate rendering of geisha culture inI
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Amazon.com Review
The first thing you notice about the audio version of Memoirs of a Geisha is that Arthur Golden's 428-page novel has been reduced to a scant two cassettes. But dismay quickly gives way to mounting pleasure as Elaina Erika Davis (Contact, As the World Turns) begins her delicate rendering of geisha culture in the years before World War II. Davis reads the abbreviated story of Sayuri with an authentic-sounding Japanese accent--one mixed with a magical combination of Asian reserve and theatrical energy. As Sayuri ages from a 9-year-old peasant girl to a popular geisha in her late 20s, Davis directs her voice gently away from curious youth to a tone that reflects Sayuri's uphill life.
From start to finish, the listener is absorbed in the elegant spirit of Davis's performance, eager to hear the next chapter of Sayuri's transformation into one of the most famous geishas of the century. How unfortunate, then, to learn that book readers not only get the basic story, but a fascinating look at the intricate rules and rituals of geisha culture. Here, for example, is one of the many revelations omitted from the cassette: "Japanese men, as a rule, feel about a woman's neck and throat the same way that men in the West might feel about a woman's legs.... In fact, a geisha leaves a tiny margin of skin bare all around the hairline, causing her makeup to look even more artificial.... When a man sits beside her, he becomes that much more aware of the bare skin beneath."
We're also denied several subplots--the aborted friendship between Sayuri and a geisha named Pumpkin, for example, or much of the story involving the man Sayuri is secretly in love with. But what remains is as precious as a traditional Japanese kimono--at once artistic, suggestive, and moving. --Ann Senechal
"Sayuri is only nine years old when she is sold by her impoverished father to a geisha house, set in pre-WWII Japan, Sayuri is taken from her small fishing village to Kyoto where she will eventually become one of the most famous geisha in Japan. But the road to geisha celebrity isn't easy, when she first comes to the geisha house she is treated little better than a slave, she is abused by the owners of the geisha house, Granny and Mother, and must wait on the houses' top geisha, the vicious Hats"
“In short, Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional book about the life of Chiyo, who is sold to an okiya as a child to be raised to become a geisha. The story narrates Chiyo's (who becomes known as Sayuri later) story from the time she was sold to the okiya, and all through her life as a geisha and beyond that.
Memoirs of a Geisha is really well written. Arthur Golden made me believe that it was "really a memoir" because of the convincing way he wrote out the story. I thought I would perhaps be bored with the traditions that I had to read about so that I could be informed on all the details of the things geisha went through before becoming a geisha, and even after, but I found myself really interested.
It was slow the first 100 pages, but the pace sped up incredibly afterwar” read more
~mangafreak04~ added this to a list 6 years, 2 months ago
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