Review #15: Take me back to old Gion...
Title: Memoirs of a Geisha
Author: Arthur Golden
Number of Pages: 428
Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries
Where I Got It: Used bookstore that used to be in town
Cost: cover- $14. I paid about $3
Rating: 9- This Was Pretty Fracking Fantastic
Back of Book:
A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel presents with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.
In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction- at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful- and completely unforgettable.
The first thing I have to remark on is that this book is beautifully written. It may be a fictional telling of the geisha world but I was sucked right into the setting and feeling. There were parts that made me smile, laugh, sigh, frown and squirm. I should clarify the 'squirm' bit. Golden doesn't shy away from touchy issues but they didn't actually go so far as to disgust me. Also, by the end, I was sobbing at the drop of a hat. This book was VERY sad in different parts the entire way through.
Probably the only thing that kept me from giving this book a FANGIRL rating is that it was fiction (weird, yes, I know. I'm the girl who generally hates reading non-fiction books but all things Japanese are things that I will readily study with enthusiasm). Also, as much as I loved the characters, one persistent thought in my mind was, "All these men are cheating on their wives". I get that it's set in a different country, in a different time and I could never hope to understand what it was like to live in Sayuri's world. Still! That was one thing that kept it form being really spectacular for me. I tried to shut it out as much as possible but I am a product of MY time and how I was brought up so it was virtually impossible to forget completely about it. Yet, sometimes I CAN completely forget things like this. Maybe it's not that I'm a product of my time, but that I am strangely complicated mentally.
I loved following Chiyo/Sayuri through her life. She's not a perfect character. She's very human in the way she acts and feels and I really appreciated that. The reader learns as she learns and so we're spared wondering what's happened to make her the way she is. We experience things with her and then find how it will change her.
The Chairman, Sayuri's love interest is an amiable, kind man and as such was the one I had the hardest time with when I realized he'd be cheating on his wife if he was ever a danna. Just in case it needs clearing up, a danna is what is called a man who keeps a geisha as his mistress. The Chairman is very kind to young Chiyo when he finds her, as a child, on a bridge, crying and, likewise, very kind to Sayuri and the other geisha later in the book. I actually didn't have a problem with the age difference between the Chairman and Sayuri. I generally don't have a problem with age (allowing that all participants are of legal age) and who am I to judge if people are happy? Apparently a lot of people WERE disgusted by the fact that the Chairman is around twenty years older than Sayuri.
Nobu is another character that is firmly human in his actions and decisions. He's rather harsh but is shown to be very caring toward Sayuri in the only way that he's really allowed: gifts. He's hard-headed but I wouldn't say he's hard-hearted. He's very stern but also, indisputably admirable. When it comes to the end of the book, I feel the most for how Nobu is treated.
Mameha, I thought, was the kind of woman I would like to have if I were in Sayuri's situation. Granted, Mameha doesn't actually take little Chiyo in out of the goodness of her heart (for reasons I'll leave unsaid to avoid spoilers), but after she does bring Chiyo in to her life, she's the ultimate teacher and friend for her. Even when she has reason to be jealous of Sayuri, later, she understands that it is not the girls fault.
As for the evil 'stepsister', what a character is Hatsumomo. She's cruel in outright and subtle ways but, ultimately, a sad character. Vanity and pride eventually turn Hatsumomo into a creature to be pitied, in my eyes.
The Mindless Rabble of Others?
Plenty of people and I did occasionally have trouble keeping them all straight... but then again, I have trouble keeping historical figures straight and this is written to be like a history so...
No, I love YOU!!! *kissykissy*
There's a lot of romance but it's presented in a genuine, sweet way and I, even disliking romances, was rooting for Sayuri through the entire book. It's also not rushed, which is a trope I DISPISE. A lot of authors think it's important to have the characters fall in love early so that it can be shown throughout the novel. Other authors think the only point of the book is to show the characters falling in love and ignore other, potentially more interesting, happenings. Golden steered clear from both of this issues by creating an entire world full of rich, interesting characters and settings instead of creating two people who may or may not be properly fleshed out.
Exactly Where Are You From?
It takes place in Japan, obviously. Gion, to be exact.
Leave me alone, I’m Plotting…
Very well thought out. Easy to follow.
”Hey, what does this do?” “NO! DON’T TOUCH THAT!!”
Kimono= EXPENSIVE. No touchy.
Why? WHY? Oh, the AGONY!!!!!
Nothing.
Awesome excerpt:
"Well, perhaps you ought to look at yourself in the mirror sometime, Sayuri. Particularly when your eyes are wet from crying, because they become... I can't explain it. I felt I was seeing right through them. You know, I spend so much of my time seated across from men who are never quite telling me the truth; and here was a girl who'd never laid eyes on me before, and yet was willing to let me see straight into her."
Next Up:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- Sir Aruthur Conan Doyle
The Book of Lost Things- John Connally
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves- P. G. Wodehouse
The Graveyard Book- Neil Gaiman