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Paperback, 442 pages, Published by Vintage, nice old book, first few pages and cover well thumbed with little dog-ears, age and storage yellowed, some edges seem to have been wet at some stage - not unsightly, a crease down & tiny nicks on front cover, edge-wear from handling and storage, small neat protective tape on bottom of spine, all intact and tight
The Story :
In the poor village of Yoroida, a little girl with startling blue-gray eyes, is plucked from her parents and sold to an okiya, a geisha house, in Gion. Chiyo’s eyes are a rarity in Japan, so her potential as a stunning geisha earns the greedy regard of Mother, the okiya’s proprietress and the spiteful jealousy of the house’s star geisha, Hatsumomo. Together, they bear down on Chiyo’s confusion and homesickness which drive her to escape the okiya’s oppressive life. Her attempt, however, fails with a fall from a roof and a broken arm. For this she becomes a disappointment and a bad investment and so doomed by the okiya to be an abused, overworked maid instead.
Chiyo pours out her misery one day, as life seems to stretch out bleakly before her. A kind, well-dressed stranger, in the company of a geisha, spies her and gives her comfort with his handkerchief and a coin for a snowcone. This innocent encounter marks a turning point in Chiyo’s life. His kindness sparks a childish crush so that Chiyo begins to perceive a clear goal for life – becoming a geisha, this being the only possible way she sees for someone of her station to meet him again.
As luck would have it, another of Gion’s star geishas, Mameha, seems enthralled by Chiyo’s eyes so that she negotiates with Mother to bring Chiyo under her tutelage. With Mameha’s lessons, Chiyo transforms into Sayuri and becomes the most sought- after maiko (apprentice geisha) and inevitably comes into contact with the kind stranger known as the Chairman. Sayuri, by now has fallen in love with him. However, the Chairman’s business partner, Nobu, becomes attracted to her instead.
What follows is a beautiful story of suppressed passion and love that spans time and circumstance.
The Review by a blogger :
Few books have thoroughly captivated me as much as “Memoirs of A Geisha“. The first few chapters hint at serving one with a sumptuous literary feast of exquisite prose, mesmerizing details of the exotic and secretive “flower and willow” world, and an uncommon emotional depth, all of which seem to flow so effortlessly from Golden’s pen.
Golden’s writing has a very lyrical quality to it and the book is rife with creatively crafted descriptions and charming little asides from the main character’s point of view. It is quite astonishing how Arthur Golden, being a man, could write so intimately and convincingly about a young girl’s psyche.
The novel is full of analogies, metaphors, and descriptive phraseologies; yet, strangely, it isn’t burdened by them. On the contrary, words flow so naturally and combine so beautifully to paint a lovely, poignant story that has touched the hearts of readers everywhere; hence, its international bestseller status.
Aside from a romantic, sensitively written story, one experiences the obsequious, community-dependent, perfection-driven, and heavily nuanced geisha culture whose exotically mysterious nature provides the book with a wonderfully different romantic flavor.
