*Memoirs of a Geisha

bc memoirs of a geshia

 

            The art of slowly manipulating a fan wearing 50 pounds of clothing, covering almost every inch of your body, with your hair pulled tightly and intricately into a twist held only by a hair pin, framing a white powdered face and red lips, while your eyes seek and seductively seduce all the men in a room – just a day in the life of a geisha.  Arthur Golden’s novel is a work of art – beautiful in prose and enchanting.  He brought the geisha and her world to us in a way that we can understand it through our symbols and language. 

 

            Golden knows about Japanese culture.  He received his bachelor’s from Harvard College in art history specializing in Japanese art and his MA in Japanese history at Columbia.  He also spent a summer at Peking University where he mastered the Mandarin language.  Golden earned another MA in English at Boston University.  His fascination with Japanese culture has clearly been an advantage to the novel.

 

            Golden interviewed Mineko Iwasaki (a geisha living in New York) at length and was later sued by her for defamation.  The novel became a runaway success (released in hardcover in 1997) and there was plenty of hard feelings on both sides.  The novel is a work of fiction, but was based on the life of Iwasaki and other geishas – bringing hard facts and historical accuracy to the novel.

 

            Strong Pacific winds blowing across the cliffs of the fishing village of Yoroido in the Sea of Japan create a “tipsy house.”  The story begins in this house bent away from the wind. Golden’s descriptions are so enthralling that you will be sad when the story ends.  Sayuri begins her life as Chiyo, the daughter of a fisherman.  After her mother dies, her father sells her and her sister into slavery and she ends up at a geisha house. 

 

            Sayuri is strikingly beautiful with “translucent gray” eyes.  Her eye color is inherited from her mother and it sets them apart from everyone else.   Although, the movie depicts Sayuri with blue eyes and even the jacket cover of my novel has her eyes as blue-gray, the novel is clear that her eyes are a pale gray.  A fortune teller comments that the eyes are pale because of “too much water in her personality.”     This unique color gives her an advantage later on when she is trying to become a great geisha. 

 

            Hatsumomo is the main geisha living in the house that young Sayuri is sold to, and Hatsumomo’s cruelly to Sayuri is central to the story.  It will eventually be the catalyst that pushes Sayuri to overcome her station.  Hatsumomo’s cruel rivalry is countered by Sayuri’s mentor, Mameha, who is kind and passionate.

 

            Sayuri’s youthful crush on the “Chairman” turns into a craving in her adult life.  Her unbridled love for him drives her almost as much as Hatsumomo’s cruelty.  The love story between Sayuri and the Chairman has been criticized for its lack of sincerity, especially on the part of the Chairman.  However, the reader does feel her emotion towards him, and that carries the reader through the story.

 

            To go to a place forgotten and almost be able to feel the silk of the kimono was amazing.  Golden triumphed with this novel and it is a superb read for book clubs.     In this inhospitable world where women were regarded merely as secondary citizens, geishas thrived and found a way to better themselves by their wits and beauty. 

 

            Book clubs will be able to discuss how the geisha’s life was actually a step up from regular women, which contradicts Westerners’ beliefs that a geisha is a prostitute.  Discussion at our book club also centered on the lives of the Japanese in the novel’s time period.   We talked about why a father would sell his girls into slavery.   We discussed this book till the wee hours of the morning. 

 

            Great read and great book club read.  

 

            Rating: 9

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