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timeywriter 's review for:
Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden
I am unsure why I have been so drawn to novels that take place in 20th century Asia lately, but I am glad for it since I was finally able to read this novel. I swear, it has been sitting on my shelf since the movie came out and it was about time I got to it. For the depression that raged across the world in the 1930's failed to mark the splendor and beauty of Japan that was described by Sayuri, a Kyoto geisha.
Upon being sold into a geisha house shortly before her parent's death, Chiyo enters a world very different than the small fishing village she was born in. It is one filled with honest girls, like Pumpkin who is not much older than Chiyo, and it is also filled with horrid women, like Hatsumomo who attempts to make Chiyo miserable. All live under the house of Mother and Aunt who mold them into proper geisha, as teahouse entertainers and beautiful dancing women. The historical realism in this novel was simply amazing. The details provided so much, I mean just down to the dressing a kimono was so incredible that I had a hard time imagining doing the ceremony every day simply because so much went into it. What I found most interesting though were the interactions between the characters. Obviously, with a character such as she, Hatsumomo created a lot of friction. It was her job, her purpose, simply because she herself did not have much of a purpose in life. Such is the reason why she probably drank, slept around, and made everyone around her miserable. Those who are miserable bring others down, simple as that, but Chiyo needed Hatsumomo to do this in order to be renamed as Sayuri upon becoming a geisha. Sayuri also needed others like Pumpkin to ground her and Aunt to instill reality in her.
What made little sense to me though was what the Chairman provided for her. Or what any man did in fact. It seemed that she kept chasing after the Chairman, falling in love with him when he was nice to her when she was just a child, yet I could not figure out for what purpose. Yes, attraction, but there seemed to be little beyond the Chairman's kindness that offered any explanation of Sayuri wanting to be with him beyond a childish fantasy. It seemed that a great many things about being a geisha were childish though and it was not until WWII that Sayuri actually learned some measure of hardship that went beyond the rumors told in teahouses. Perhaps I will simply never understand the need to revolve my life around a man whom I barely know, for that it all it seemed to be for Sayuri and the Chairman.
Honestly, I greatly enjoyed reading a book set in Japan before and during WWII. Not only was the realm of the geisha entirely fascinating, but so was the tragedy that befell Japan during the war. It was the fall of the geisha during this time and to hear it through the voice of one was charming.
Upon being sold into a geisha house shortly before her parent's death, Chiyo enters a world very different than the small fishing village she was born in. It is one filled with honest girls, like Pumpkin who is not much older than Chiyo, and it is also filled with horrid women, like Hatsumomo who attempts to make Chiyo miserable. All live under the house of Mother and Aunt who mold them into proper geisha, as teahouse entertainers and beautiful dancing women. The historical realism in this novel was simply amazing. The details provided so much, I mean just down to the dressing a kimono was so incredible that I had a hard time imagining doing the ceremony every day simply because so much went into it. What I found most interesting though were the interactions between the characters. Obviously, with a character such as she, Hatsumomo created a lot of friction. It was her job, her purpose, simply because she herself did not have much of a purpose in life. Such is the reason why she probably drank, slept around, and made everyone around her miserable. Those who are miserable bring others down, simple as that, but Chiyo needed Hatsumomo to do this in order to be renamed as Sayuri upon becoming a geisha. Sayuri also needed others like Pumpkin to ground her and Aunt to instill reality in her.
What made little sense to me though was what the Chairman provided for her. Or what any man did in fact. It seemed that she kept chasing after the Chairman, falling in love with him when he was nice to her when she was just a child, yet I could not figure out for what purpose. Yes, attraction, but there seemed to be little beyond the Chairman's kindness that offered any explanation of Sayuri wanting to be with him beyond a childish fantasy. It seemed that a great many things about being a geisha were childish though and it was not until WWII that Sayuri actually learned some measure of hardship that went beyond the rumors told in teahouses. Perhaps I will simply never understand the need to revolve my life around a man whom I barely know, for that it all it seemed to be for Sayuri and the Chairman.
Honestly, I greatly enjoyed reading a book set in Japan before and during WWII. Not only was the realm of the geisha entirely fascinating, but so was the tragedy that befell Japan during the war. It was the fall of the geisha during this time and to hear it through the voice of one was charming.