jabitt1's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
tmousa3's review against another edition
5.0
Very insightful about the wars in Asia!
There is a summary about it in my blog - https://www.tamarayousefmousa.com/
There is a summary about it in my blog - https://www.tamarayousefmousa.com/
efrancis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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? No
4.0
lunazura's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.0
radiojen's review against another edition
4.0
My friend Robin sent this book to me shortly after I moved to Tokyo. It was hard to find English-language books at first, so she sent me a couple to keep me reading. I probably would not have been interested in Memoirs of a Geisha had I not just moved to Japan. But I found it to be one of the best books I've ever read.
When I first started reading the book, I wanted to see what Sayuri looked like, so I did a Google search. It was then that I realized the book I was reading was not a biography, but fiction. Had me fooled! Still, it's easy to imagine that it is a true story. Even though I've only lived in Tokyo for about two months, I see how all of this story could be completely true.
I love Golden's characters! Pumpkin is so funny. Some of the lines he gives her crack me up! And Sayuri, of course, is an incredible character. Through her stories I laughed and even cried a couple of times. The stories themselves were so plain, just as Japanese people truly speak. The fact that an American man wrote this (and I believe it was his first novel) still amazes me. You'd swear it was really the memoir of a geisha.
Several nights in a row I stayed up reading until 5am. I just couldn't get enough of this book. I guess partly because of the story, but also in part because there's a little bit of Sayuri in each of us.
When I first started reading the book, I wanted to see what Sayuri looked like, so I did a Google search. It was then that I realized the book I was reading was not a biography, but fiction. Had me fooled! Still, it's easy to imagine that it is a true story. Even though I've only lived in Tokyo for about two months, I see how all of this story could be completely true.
I love Golden's characters! Pumpkin is so funny. Some of the lines he gives her crack me up! And Sayuri, of course, is an incredible character. Through her stories I laughed and even cried a couple of times. The stories themselves were so plain, just as Japanese people truly speak. The fact that an American man wrote this (and I believe it was his first novel) still amazes me. You'd swear it was really the memoir of a geisha.
Several nights in a row I stayed up reading until 5am. I just couldn't get enough of this book. I guess partly because of the story, but also in part because there's a little bit of Sayuri in each of us.
ayxsha's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.5
dorothy_gale's review against another edition
5.0
THIS BOOK IS A LIBELOUS BETRAYAL, and for me personally, the most difficult 5 stars I've ever given. The story is fascinating. The writing, of a lyricist. The author, a skilled researcher... and treacherous swindler. He was sued (and paid) for what he did to Mineko Iwasaki, the retired geisha whose life 90% of the novel portrays. However, the damage he did to Japanese culture with the other 10% should be criminal. Even though this book is fiction, most people who read it will believe it is how geisha life really is. Arthur Golden exploited a beautiful, exotic mystery and twisted it into a sensationalized tabloid for the almighty dollar. 23 years later, he is a one-hit wonder and I hope it stays that way.
How did the world not condemn Golden's betrayal? It was 1997. The Internet was still AOL, and dial-up speeds of 56k had just become available. Google didn't launch until a year later and even then was still in beta. The first smart phone didn't arrive until 3 years after Memoirs was published. TMZ didn't exist until 8 years later. The west already had preconceived notions that geisha were just glorified prostitutes. So when a Harvard/Columbia grad who specializes in Japanese art and history and whose family publishes the New York Times comes along with a book written so convincingly in the first person (and "Memoirs" in the title), how could readers not regard it as fact? Most of the world didn't know any better.
Unfortunately, Mineko settled two years into her lawsuit (February 2003), so there is no public record of Golden's wrongdoing. But it was far too late anyway. The film rights to the movie were purchased years earlier, and when the settlement happened, the U.S. was in post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, and the tragic deaths of space shuttle Columbia's seven astronauts had just happened. Mineko Iwasaki's belated, principled, detail-less win wasn't newsworthy in comparison. Golden's betrayal snowballed into Hollywood, where the atrocious misrepresentation of geisha history and culture were magnified on the big screen and cemented with Academy Awards.
For the non-fiction story of brown-eyed Mineko Iwasaki's life as a geisha, see her actual memoir, here: [b:Geisha, a Life|522534|Geisha, a Life|Mineko Iwasaki|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1359402937l/522534._SY75_.jpg|18133]. For the complex history of geisha traditions, and clarifications on prostitution, see here: Wikipedia.
How did the world not condemn Golden's betrayal? It was 1997. The Internet was still AOL, and dial-up speeds of 56k had just become available. Google didn't launch until a year later and even then was still in beta. The first smart phone didn't arrive until 3 years after Memoirs was published. TMZ didn't exist until 8 years later. The west already had preconceived notions that geisha were just glorified prostitutes. So when a Harvard/Columbia grad who specializes in Japanese art and history and whose family publishes the New York Times comes along with a book written so convincingly in the first person (and "Memoirs" in the title), how could readers not regard it as fact? Most of the world didn't know any better.
Unfortunately, Mineko settled two years into her lawsuit (February 2003), so there is no public record of Golden's wrongdoing. But it was far too late anyway. The film rights to the movie were purchased years earlier, and when the settlement happened, the U.S. was in post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, and the tragic deaths of space shuttle Columbia's seven astronauts had just happened. Mineko Iwasaki's belated, principled, detail-less win wasn't newsworthy in comparison. Golden's betrayal snowballed into Hollywood, where the atrocious misrepresentation of geisha history and culture were magnified on the big screen and cemented with Academy Awards.
For the non-fiction story of brown-eyed Mineko Iwasaki's life as a geisha, see her actual memoir, here: [b:Geisha, a Life|522534|Geisha, a Life|Mineko Iwasaki|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1359402937l/522534._SY75_.jpg|18133]. For the complex history of geisha traditions, and clarifications on prostitution, see here: Wikipedia.
evaelyn's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
lana_denise's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5