Memoirs of a Geisha Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha

    • 4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
    • $12.99
    • $12.99

Publisher Description

A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel tells with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it.

In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction—at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and completely unforgettable.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
1997
September 23
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
448
Pages
PUBLISHER
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
1.3
MB

Customer Reviews

bbricecake ,

Stunning

I've read this book and it's absolutely amazing. I highly recommend this. A book about sensation, love, hurt and decisions.

BLh109 ,

Unrealistic. Great for fantasy.

I read this book as a teenager. And I was fascinated by it until I heard about the lawsuit that entailed after, in which Arthur Golden violated the confidentiality agreement he’d held with Mineko Iwasaki, and other geisha he’d interviewed. The worst lie though is probably the perpetuation of the stereotype that deep down, geisha are prostitutes, by bringing in the mizuage as a sexual ceremony. Fact check: that isn’t a sex ceremony, it’s actually a referral within the geisha community for their annual earnings, which are public record. Ridiculous. It’s certainly a somewhat entertaining read if you like incorrect facts about the culture.

K'Ehleyr87 ,

I cried at the end of the book.

Simple, complex, beautiful, human.

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