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Book Reviews Title Memoirs
Of A Geisha Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story Summoning up more
than 20 years of Japan's most dramatic history, the
geisha's story uncovers a hidden world of eroticism
and enchantment, exploitation and degradation. It
moves from a small fishing village in 1929 to the
glamorous and decadent Kyoto of the 30's and on to
postwar New York. We
Say Whenever a novel
about a particular culture is written by an author
who is not a member of that culture, I hesitate to
read it. I have been terribly disappointed by the
various attempts to glamorize, patronize or bash
various cultures through what many consider a great
piece of literature. Seldom is an author able to
just tell the story. I was completely prepared to
dislike Arthur Golden's novel, Memoirs of a Geisha.
As a second-generation Japanese-American, I was
determined to find fault with this novel. No such
luck. Golden's novel, Memoirs of a Geisha is a
novel written with incredible insight and honesty.
It is apparent
that Golden has done his homework. Certain sights,
or smells or images can cause me to remember an
event in my childhood. Golden's novel conjured
images of my trips to Japan to visit my
grandparents. The descriptions of the food eaten,
the houses and the daily life brought back memories
that I had long forgotten. The main character,
Sayuri is created so skillfully that she was able
to explain certain aspects of Japanese culture with
an ease I envy. While Golden was honest about his
character's life, I was not offended by the way her
life story was told. Most 'foreigners'
cannot understand how the wives of prominent
Japanese men could stand having their husbands
visit the Geisha, and the common belief is that a
Geisha is just a high class prostitute. For those
that want to keep believing that a Geisha is a
prostitute, this novel will not really change their
mind. However, for those who really want to
understand the world of a Geisha, this book will
enlighten and educate. Most Americans do not
remember that marriages born of love were the
exception in Japan. I imagine that in an arranged
marriage, many women welcomed the relief a Geisha
could provide and for a poor peasant girl, the life
of a Geisha meant a life of comfort versus a life
of poverty and hardship. A woman's life in
Japan during W.W.II compared with women all over
the world was really no different despite the many
attempts to place cultural boundaries on a woman's
experience. It is all a matter of perspective.
Memoirs of a Geisha is not only about the life of a
Geisha, it is also about the experiences of a woman
faced with difficult choices. I could not wait to
finish reading this novel, and I when I was
finished, I didn't want it to end. I would rank
this novel as one of the best I have ever read. It
was well worth the time and I encourage everyone to
read it. Review by: Yumi
Nagasaki-Taylor |
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