Memoirs of a Geisha By: Arthur Golden

source

• Title: Memoirs of a Geisha
• Author: Arthur Golden
• Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries
• Publication Date: December 1, 2005 (1997)
• Pages: 497
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Recommended Age: 13+
• First Read: 2012
• Source: Purchase
• Rating: 4.5 / 5.0 stars

Well, I have to confess that I haven't read this book in a while, but after re-reading it a second time, I realized just what made me love this book in the first place. It a sensual, eye-opening, and a pretty dang great piece of literature.

The first thing that I want to clear up a about this book is that it is fictional, and though it does say that it is a novel on the cover (or at least it does on my edition) some people still get confused about that because the novel does function as a frame story in the aspect that it opens with a fictional "author's note." The actual author does such a great job of introducing us to Chiyo's world that it seems (or at least it did to me) that I couldn't tell the difference between the book and reality. I will also refer to her as Chiyo for the entirety of this review, even though she goes through multiple name changes.

My favorite aspect of this novel was the use of first person as Chiyo's relayed her story to us so that we went along on the journey at the same pace as she did, but also got to have an insight to the enigmatic world that the geishas inhabited. I'm a sucker for a well written historical novel (who isn't?) so I enjoyed all the facts that went into this work, especially considering the fact that the author did extensive research on the world of the geisha. 

Did I like Chiyo? Well yes, and not really. I admired her spirit and her will to survive even in the most dire of circumstances and make the most of the life that she had given. I was annoyed, however, at Chiyo for giving so much of her time and effort into torturing herself, pining for a man that was her forbidden fruit. I know that being with the Chairman is what kept her going, and that it was not unusual at the time for something like this to happen, but I just wish she had other motivation, other than a guy (who was at least thirty years older!) than her to strive for. But what can I really do? The world of the geisha relied on intrigue, even in the most intimate levels of their lives, and love, or rather the lack thereof, was the number one motivation for all of this.

And yes, there is a movie that was released in the early 2000s about this novel. Was the movie accurate to the book? Well, no movie truly is, and of course read the novel first of course, but I can definitely recommend the movie as well because it brings all these wonderful characters to life. Interestingly, my favorite character in the movie version is Hatsumomo because the actress portrays her so well-just like how I imagined her.

You know a novel is truly special when you can't wait to re-read it again, and that's exactly how I feel about Memoirs of a Geisha.