The words outstanding, amazing, divine and delirious would not even begin to describe the great reading experience of Arthur Golden's masterpiece: "Memoirs of a Geisha." Published in 1997, the novel portrays the dramatic life of young girls trained to become geishas in famous city of Gion. In this fictional history novel, Golden strives to provide to its readers the basic knowledge of the Japanese history in the years between 1930 and 1940. .
From page one of the book till the very last sentence, the novel projects a constant interest in the story of Nitta Sayuri and of her memoirs. The story gives us an insight of the different culture and mentality of the Far East, which many people lack knowledge of. Furthermore, the reader is introduced to different terms in the Japanese language such as kimono, which is the clothing worn by the Japanese or danna, who is the man that covers the expenses of a geisha to advance her career. In addition, the author provides to its readers a full description of the okiya, in which Nitta Sayuri has lived since the beginning of her training as a geisha. He describes the streets of Gion, and the teahouse in which Sayuri has entertained in most of her career, in great detail. The description is written so well that the readers can close their eyes and have an exact image of the streets of Gion, or the okiya where Sayuri lived. "One sunny October afternoon we set out from Mameha's apartment and headed downstream along the banks of the Shirakawa, watching the leaves of the cherry trees flutter down onto the water.".
One of the things that amazes the reader the most, is the fact that the book is written by a man yet, portrays the woman's point of view. Throughout the novel, Golden describes Sayuri's feelings in a way that makes the reader believe that the book is really written by the successful geisha. Golden seems to possess incredible insight into the woman's soul.
INTRODUCTION What is a geisha? ... WHAT ARE GEISHA? ... HOW DOES ONE BECOME A GEISHA? ... An o-chaya is the place in which many geishas and geishas in training live. ... Wives generally know who their husbands" geisha are and look to the geishas for support in times of need and celebration, acknowledging the geishas with open arms WILL THE ART OF GEISHA SURVIVE? ...
Memories of a Geisha By Arthur Golden 1929 after Chiyo's mother die; her father sells her to the Geisha house in Kyoto. Chiyo works as a maid and learns to be a geisha at the same time. ... Chiyo determined to be a geisha after that, because this is the only way to meet the chairman again. ... Mameha helps Sayuri to make two important decisions, which pushes Sayuri to be a successful tops geisha. ... After that Sayuri becomes the daughter of the geisha house, a place that Hatsumomo cannot hector anymore. ...
The setting of the novel was in a popular geisha district of Gion in Kyoto, and we are given in great detail throughout the story of what a geisha's life was like. ... She wasn't born to be a Kyoto geisha. ... Sayuri continued working hard to become a geisha. ... Mameha had once said, "We don't become geisha because we want our lives to be happy; we become geisha because we have no choice" (294). ... Before coming across this book, I had no idea what a geisha was. ...
Memoirs of a Geisha By Arthur Golden Vintage Books, New York 434 pages Memoirs of a Geisha is a captivating look into the world of geisha that was so popular among Japanese so many years ago. ... Memoirs of a Geisha is Golden's first novel. ... At the okiya, she meets Hatsumomo, who is a very popular geisha in the Gion district, and the only geisha living at the Nitta Okiya. ... Memoirs of a Geisha a excellent novel, but more excellent is the way Arthur Golden is able to portray the emotions of Sayuri as she struggles to become the successful geisha she is destined to be. ......
Sayuri was one of Kyoto, Japan's most renowned geisha. ... A geisha could be considered a high-class prostitute in some cases. ... The second, is her family at the okiya (household where geisha are trained), more than two decades later. ... Nevertheless, Memoirs of a Geisha has a very real, very majestic and exceptionally captivating poetic feel. ... The author of Memoirs of a Geisha, Jakob Haarhuis, said this of Sayuri's terminology: "Sayuri did hide the identities of certain men even from me rather common among geisha, of referring to customers by means of an epithet" (G...
I'm sure most geisha would call it a bad omen that I?... Pg. 420 Preceding, is THE crucial clause of Arthur Golden's entire novel Memoirs of a Geisha as included in the single passage are Chiyo's turning points in life which are important stages of her development as a character for the audience. ... One is compelled to observe that Chiyo's childhood and development as a Geisha consisted of the principles of Yin; earth = creation, dark = dismal, passive = patient/ influenced, absorbing = fascinating, and female is obvious. ...
Memoirs of a Geisha By Arthur Golden Many people come about numerous crossroads in their life and deciding whether to follow sentiment or reason creates many battles between their best interests. ... Since she had broken her arm, she had been taken back into the Gion and made a servant to pay off her medical bills and therefore was taken in by Mameha, who was a well respected geisha, to become her apprentice. ... If she had been successful she would have never gained the knowledge and the training to become a successful geisha. ... It was he who had arranged Mameha to take in Sayuri as...
Memoirs of a Geisha By Arthur Golden Many people come about numerous crossroads in their life and deciding whether to follow sentiment or reason creates many battles between their best interests. ... Since she had broken her arm, she had been taken back into the Gion and made a servant to pay off her medical bills and therefore was taken in by Mameha, who was a well respected geisha, to become her apprentice. ... If she had been successful she would have never gained the knowledge and the training to become a successful geisha. ... It was he who had arranged Mameha to take in Sayuri as...
Geishas are also and interesting sight to see. Geishas are Japanese women dressed in kimonos with faces painted white and blood-red lip stick who are basically entertainers for Japanese men. ... Geishas usually wear hand made wigs that usually range from $2,000 to $5,000 each! ...
