Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

6 reviews

perth_is's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I acquired a copy of this book at a library book sale.
"Memoirs of a Geisha" follows the fictious life of Sayuri. When Sayuri was a young girl, she was sold by her father and taken from home to become a maid. Through some hard work and befriending of the right people, Sayuri is able to work her way up to become a Geisha. But the Geisha's world is tainted by greedy mothers and even greedier men. Sayuri quickly learns that her life is always going to be rife with difficulty, but she has some power to fight back.
This story was harrowing and beautiful, and I found it difficult to believe that it was not a true story. Sayuri felt so authentic, and it really highlights Arthur Golden's talents as an author that he was able to take a fictious character and root her so much in historical reality that I wanted to do research to uncover what ultimately happened to Sayuri.
This novel is difficult to read at times because of how poorly the women are treated, and how graphic the novel gets in its depictions of this abuse. My heart just goes out to all of real women who were inevitably abused in similar ways to Sayuri and the other Geishas of this story.
I think the novel overall keeps a pretty great pace, especially because we are following the main character for over a decade. However, I do think the story does drag a little bit around the 300-page mark. I felt like my attention wanned and I had to force myself a little bit to stay engaged in the story.
I do think it odd how America is depicted in this novel. Sayuri seems to think the American soldiers are "very friendly", but I do not know if I really believe that is how the Japanese would have felt about Americans at this time? Especially because America and Japan were on opposite sides of the war.
This was an intensely beautiful story that I recommend to those looking to expand their historical fiction TBR. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

kshertz's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Enough time has passed that I forgot the movie. It is super interesting that a dude wrote this book. At times it is super obvious. Especially with talking about losing virginity and women’s bodies. But I was still intrigued and really enjoyed reading the book. I couldn’t put it down. Now I have to go watch the movie again.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

hanniquinn's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Physical abuse, Grief, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Child death, Death, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

junothan's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Abortion, and Pregnancy

liab's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Empezando el libro noté que bien diferente a la película, así que voy a tomar la historia del libro como si fuera una historia diferente. La autobiografía de la geisha que el autor basó la historia también se puede encontrar. Este libro da más información y una imagen completa de la chica. Ando notando que la protagonista da comentarios crudos de la gente, pero es más notable los comentarios del peso de la gente. Me gusta mucho cuando llegas al capítulo 9 vemos con más detalles cuando decidió en ser Geisha. Ya siguiendo en el libro el autor exagera muchos detalles, pero lo que es más cansado es la obsesión que la protagonista tiene con el presidente. En realidad yo no tengo mucha información sobre las geisha’s pero me roba de mala manera de que la protagonista tiene que darse a si misma sexualmente. Tengo un problema con el autor cuando viene con Nobu, el trabaja en la compañía del El Presidente con que la protagonista no puede parar de pensar, Nobu se describe como una persona con una personalidad fuerte pero el es buena persona pero en el libro vemos más la buena persona que es Nobu. Ya para el capítulo veintiséis esperaba que la protagonista aprendiera que su obsesión con el presidente no va a llegar a nada y que ella es muy mala por usar a Nobu pero no, ella es el mismo tono.

El libro termino en aburriéndome y como sea cuando la protagonista tuvo lo que quizo desde el principio ella se tuvo que ir de su comunidad y no estaba completamente feliz, pero ella como sea le da la idea de ir a NY y abrir una tienda de té para mantener al presidente… que final más anticlamatico 


Nota- busque sobre la información de mizuage, como el libro lo explica es medio incompleto.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury