Review of 'Memoirs of a Geisha'

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

A fascinating story of a woman ripped from her life as a child in a fishing village to be sold to a geisha house in Kyoto. We follow her life as she is initiated into becoming a geisha – Her ongoing infatuation with a man she meets only briefly early in her young life; her virginity auctioned off to the highest bidder; her association with her “big sister” (a geisha of some popularity who takes the young future-Sayori to be learn from her). We are taken through the various stages of how a young woman is chosen to train to be a geisha and how she eventually becomes one. A fascinating glimpse into a mysterious world told from the standpoint of the geisha and yet authored by an american man (albeit one that has a tremendous amount of knowledge of Japan and geishas gleamed from prodigious research). A great story of hope, tragedy, and love.

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Genre: General Fiction