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lucydwyer's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
shailydc's review against another edition
3.0
Memoirs of a Geisha has been on my to-read list for 8+ years and it was about time I picked it up. I had high expectations but I thought it was just okay. Sayuri's feud with Hatsumomo is so prominent in the early stages of the book and I was disappointed with how it faded to the background and ended without much happening. The details are endless but quite often unnecessary. Everything working out with the Chairman in the end felt so forced and unrealistic. Overall, I learned a lot but it didn't live up to the hype.
louthefog's review against another edition
0.25
i don’t understand why people like this book so much, he deformed so much about japanese history and what it was to be a geisha and romanticized what shouldn’t be romanticized. it’s just a white man who listened to an actual geisha tell him her life story and then deformed it so much she rejected the book and then published her own. i’d recommend reading instead the book written by a japanese author Yuki Inoue that’s so much deeper and more interesting, accurate and respectful of the experience of being a geisha and living through the events that marked 19th and 20th century japan.
alanascorrea's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
alisonr26's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I think going to Kyoto this past summer definitely bumped up my rating for this. I could picture this so vividly!!
katiescho741's review against another edition
3.0
*some spoilers*
This book is a fantastic one to read for a sense of place and detail. I think it's a great starting off point for looking into Japan's culture and the history of Geisha.
When I read this book first, I was about 15 and I loved it...especially the love story. Now I've read it as an adult, I feel conflicted about it. I find Sayuri's constant pining after the Chairman to be a bit childish. I get that she would feel a little crush when she's ten and first encounters him, but to carry that on into her teens and throughout her 20's and 30's jut seems a bit silly. I feel she treated Nobu really cruelly, especially because there was no guarantee her plan would work and she could have ended up destitute.
It reads a little like a fairy tale too.
While the details in the writing make the book immersive, I did grow weary of the constant metaphors and similes...every time something was described it was "as simple as a rock falling towards the ground" "...like a window that gradually closes" "...like sticks with leather wrapped around them". They are all very lovely and descriptive I'm sure, but I found it a bit tiresome!
The relationships between the women in the novel are interesting.
This book is a fantastic one to read for a sense of place and detail. I think it's a great starting off point for looking into Japan's culture and the history of Geisha.
When I read this book first, I was about 15 and I loved it...especially the love story. Now I've read it as an adult, I feel conflicted about it. I find Sayuri's constant pining after the Chairman to be a bit childish. I get that she would feel a little crush when she's ten and first encounters him, but to carry that on into her teens and throughout her 20's and 30's jut seems a bit silly. I feel she treated Nobu really cruelly, especially because there was no guarantee her plan would work and she could have ended up destitute.
It reads a little like a fairy tale too.
Spoiler
When all is revealed at the end, we learn that she has been saved by her handsome prince and that she never really achieved anything on her own.While the details in the writing make the book immersive, I did grow weary of the constant metaphors and similes...every time something was described it was "as simple as a rock falling towards the ground" "...like a window that gradually closes" "...like sticks with leather wrapped around them". They are all very lovely and descriptive I'm sure, but I found it a bit tiresome!
The relationships between the women in the novel are interesting.
kingkoala's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This if my first historical fiction novel, and it’s my first narrative driven novel that I’ve loved in recent years.
lizpetretti's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5