Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Memoirs of a Geisha

I honestly went into this book hesitant because it follows the plot of a young Japanese woman in WWII but is written by a white man. Because of this, the book has no real narrative for Sayuri. And this is a shame because the book is written in the first person and could have been used to portray a powerful story about the transition from girlhood to womanhood, how concepts and the idea of what a woman changes when this geisha role is assigned to her. As for the war, this was only really added at the end and just sped past it-- which again is a shame because it had the potential to cover grief, rage, imperialism, violence, and all the other big things that come with the war in such a powerful way. All this to say, I would not recommend this book to anyone.

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temporaryhouseplant's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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corruptednatz's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

First things first, the reader has to tolerate young girls entertaining older men. It is a different time period and it was kind of hard for me to get past but I digress. I have a huge problem with the main character Chiyo or Sayuri later on, she was relatable in the beginning with her family situation and her move from a small fishing village to the big city to become a geisha and how she didn’t want that lifestyle. I felt her emotions but afterwards she’s become unlikable. Shes rather boring and is uncomfortably obsessed with this older man. Shes brainless and only thinks of him like a stalker and she said she has no purpose without him, which struck me as weird. Also similes EVERYWHERE. I almost starting counting them. So overused to the point the simile lost its meaning or became confusing, it didn’t help chiyo would talk to people like she’s reciting a poem. And the ending was not what I expected just like the author ran out of steam and quickly made an ending.

The ending is dumb. She works so hard to become a geisha and win the affections of this man just to become his mistress and kicked out of her home basically.

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