Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

28 reviews

perth_is's review against another edition

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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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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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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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ruby_mae_read's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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mariahmmm's review against another edition

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

1.0

A Geisha looks back on her life and recounts the struggles she faces on her journey to becoming a renowned Geisha. 

Given the books apparent success, I was expecting a detailed journey on what being a Geisha involved. Instead, this poorly written historical fiction infantilizes the main character and breezes past mountains of abuse while trying to insert an uncomfortable romance subplot. The book felt half finished with unexplainable time jumps and large gaps in the story.

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rochelleisreading's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0


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emily_y's review against another edition

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

3.0


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greenan26's review against another edition

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

4.0


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lycheeteareads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.5


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kirstar's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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emmaeleone's review against another edition

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I will edit when I get the book to see how far I read. I ended up not finishing this novel due to after conducting research on the author and the subject, discovered that the novel was based on a real life geisha who was to remain nameless. The author, supposedly, still revealed the name of the woman despite assuring that she would remain anonymous. I plan on reading her account on her life rather than this fictive one! That information ruined the book for me, but without knowing this it was an interesting read.

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