Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

41 reviews

perth_is's review

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

merri217's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, and Blood

courtneykatzmeyer's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, and Abortion

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

mariahmmm's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Trafficking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: War

calli_the_flower's review

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Abortion

ennsez's review against another edition

hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Lovely. Nothing extraordinary in most respects, but a strong voice for the main character/narrator.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Abortion

emily_y's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Blood and War

Minor: Abortion and Death of parent

claudiashelf's review

emotional medium-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

3.5

❝ Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be. ❞

I was very much looking forward to reading this book because it promised to be a classic history about Geishas; I hadn't read anything with this theme before, but it turned out to be just — alright. In some ways, this novel underwhelmed me since it included rather graphic sexual scenes that made me sceptical and uncomfortable. This book kind of emphasises why. Well, I believe this book is well-researched yet also provocative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

cienmari's review

sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abortion, Sexual harassment, and War