Reviews

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

tatyanavogt's review

5.0

One of my all time favorite books over the years. Definitely a great read, and an interesting look into the life of a Geisha.

sst723's review against another edition

4.0

I gave Memoirs of a Geisha 4/5 Stars. I loved the writing and the mix of plot and literature. Golden does a great job evoking the emotions of his reader. I am not very familiar with Japanese culture and enjoyed googling many of the terms throughout the book. I have not seen the movie, but plan to watch to see if how I imagined everything was accurate or not. I would love to learn more about Japanese culture after reading this book and specifically Geisha culture. Some of my critiques - The beginning of the novel dragged a bit before Chiyo became a Geisha and I thought the book could have a been a little shorter. Some of the mishaps with the Baron and Nobu and Hatsumomo were a bit too comedy of errors for me and had me cringing. I really did love the book and took away the message that nothing lasts forever.

qjbrown96's review against another edition

4.0

I choose to give a rating based off how I felt before doing research…This book is written very well with an almost poetic flow and I was astonished to find out how cruel eastern civilization is, until I did research and found out that the author fabricated the woman’s story to the point where she sued him for defamation. Now I don’t know what’s the truth and what’s fake. Sounds like a Mel Gibson movie.

kandi_of_the_future's review

5.0

really enjoyed how descriptive this book was, and an interesting look into what it means to be a geisha

joyciemarie's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

ferronolia's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

cheri875's review against another edition

5.0

If you liked the movie, you must read the book. So much more detail about the characters and the culture which I found fascinating!

mxshining's review

4.0

I saw the movie first, and the movie was really good. So when I started reading the book, my expectations were really high. I think the book was quite good, but not as good as I expected. Sometimes, the book was a bit slow and to be honest, I didn't really like the ending (but that's personal).

persiphone's review

5.0

I absolutely loved feeling like I was a part of a completely different culture.

sarahfrance0_0's review against another edition

5.0

If a book is over 500 pages long and you desperately don’t want it to end, you know it’s a damn good book.
Beautifully written and absolutely captivating. What a masterpiece.