![]() ![]() ![]() But I was disappointed and so heartbroken to discover that it was all a work of fiction! Arthur Golden! What on earth were you thinking! Deceiving an innocent reader like □□□. I know! I know I should have been happy for Sayuri, who eventually got her heart desire, and even births a son for Chairman which prompts her relocation to New York where as usual, she begins a new life, this time a supported and successful one. ![]() I was heartbroken at the end of the story. A geisha’s life is that of duty and responsibilities to her okiya, her clients, her society it appears after all that a geisha does not have a life of her own, or if she does, has no say, no power, no control over it, not even when it comes to who she loses her virginity to. Although, in the end one could view one as more ostentatious form of the other(lol). Golden makes a fair and deliberate attempt to distinguish geishas from prostitutes as commonly misunderstood. Memorial rites, reading of the Zodiac, praying in the temple… A celebration of Japanese tourism, arts, food, partying…Ī profound journey into the Japanese traditions of Geisha hood, the book is obviously a product of thorough research and understanding of this aspect of Japanese life. There are religious leanings to the story as well. There is a fine deployment of poetic justice ensuring that evil people like Mother, and Hatsumomo are fazed out of the picture and hapless and benign characters like Aunty and Pumpkin are preserved with minimal good happening to them or at least, minimal evil befalling them. One keeps wondering what will happen next until it actually happens and then one needs an insight into how the moment came to be, what had gone on in the background, unknown to one. Golden makes effective use of the elements of flashback and suspense throughout the story. Sayuri is a classic example of everyman who puts up a fight against unpleasant circumstances and defies adversity, in the end winning and laying a precedence of victory for posterity. It speaks to fate and predestination, loyalty and betrayal, mounts conflicts and resolves them, mirrors a lot of inner turmoil and celebrates the tenacity of man’s spirit. Told in the first person narrative technique, Memoirs of a Geisha is a tale of hope, courage, striving, survival, and triumph. Chiyo takes us through her arduous beginnings, longing for her home, enmity with the only senior and meanest Geisha in the house- Hatsumomo, botched attempt to reunite and escape with her older sister, her meeting the Chairman, a wealthy man who becomes an important figure in her life and her elusive love interest, her eventual emergence as a Geisha(re-christened Sayuri) under the tutelage of one of the most popular geishas in town -Mameha, her emergence as the daughter and heir of the Geisha house, her survival of the World War 2 and her struggles through the years of being mismatched with the wrong Danna (patron), her eventual union with her secret love, the chairman, and their relocation to New York, where she is telling this story to the author–Arthur Golden. It is about Chiyo, and her travails in a Geisha house where she is brought up and trained in the art and trade of being a Geisha.Ī Geisha is a Japanese woman who entertains through performing the ancient traditions of art, dance and singing, and is distinctively characterized by wearing kimonos and peculiar makeup. She ends up in prostitution, the consequence of not being as beautiful and well formed ( by Geisha standards) as her sister. Her sister, Satsu, who was sold off at the same time is not so lucky. We follow her journey from a tipsy house in Yoroido village, to a Geisha house (okiya) where she goes through a potpourri of sweet and sour, mostly sour experiences before eventually emerging as the heir and daughter of the Okiya, and a successful Geisha. Memoirs of a Geisha is a biographical account of the interesting life and times of Chiyo Sakamoto, a Japanese girl sold into Geisha-hood at the age of nine, by her own father. PUBLISHED BY: Vintage Books (Random House) ![]()
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