Product Description

A seductive and evocative epic on an intimate scale, that tells the extraordinary story of a geisha girl. Summoning up more than twenty years of Japan's most dramatic history, it uncovers a hidden world of eroticism and enchantment, exploitation and degradation. From a small fishing village in 1929, the tale moves to the glamorous and decadent heart of Kyoto in the 1930s, where a young peasant girl is sold as servant and apprentice to a renowned geisha house. She tells her story many years later from the Waldorf Astoria in New York; it exquisitely evokes another culture, a different time and the details of an extraordinary way of life. It conjures up the perfection and the ugliness of life behind rice-paper screens, where young girls learn the arts of geisha - dancing and singing, how to wind the kimono, how to walk and pour tea, and how to beguile the most powerful men.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4157 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Literary Review
'Exceptional and erotic'

Synopsis
A seductive and evocative epic on an intimate scale, that tells the extraordinary story of a geisha girl. Summoning up more than twenty years of Japan's most dramatic history, it uncovers a hidden world of eroticism and enchantment, exploitation and degradation. From a small fishing village in 1929, the tale moves to the glamorous and decadent heart of Kyoto in the 1930s, where a young peasant girl is sold as servant and apprentice to a renowned geisha house. She tells her story many years later from the Waldorf Astoria in New York; it exquisitely evokes another culture, a different time and the details of an extraordinary way of life. It conjures up the perfection and the ugliness of life behind rice-paper screens, where young girls learn the arts of geisha - dancing and singing, how to wind the kimono, how to walk and pour tea, and how to beguile the most powerful men.

About the Author
Arthur Golden was born and brought up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is a 1978 graduate of Harvard College with a degree in art history, specialising in Japanese art. In 1980 he earned an MA in Japanese history from Columbia where he also learned Mandarin Chinese. In 1988 he received an MA in English from Boston. He has lived and worked in Japan, but now lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife and children.

Customer Reviews

Loved it....
Unfortunately, I saw the film of this first before reading the book. I always think it's better to have read the book first so you can create the characters, settings, etc. with your own imagination instead of having the images from the film in your mind. So, whilst reading this I tried not to think about the film version or compare the two, and I would advise anyone in the same situation to do the same.
So, after putting off reading the book for a while because I didn't want to be influenced by the film, I got round to it and loved it!!! It's brilliantly written, so easy to follow and become practically involved in Chiyo's story.
I love that the fact that a man wrote this in the first person as it seems so personal and real.
Anyone who likes Japanese/Chinese literature, I recommend reading this as it's just wonderful! And anyone who hasn't read much of it...I recommend this as a starter. You'll be hooked after!

The opposite of a 'feel good' book
While it was a good book and I enjoyed it, there was just too much pain and suffering in it. The poor wee soul had it rough and the book just brought me down.

I (think) it's meant to be a happy ending but overall it just left me very sad. Every page I turned I thought "hopefully THIS will be the break she deserves"....but sadly it was usually just more unfairness and sadness.

It's packed with cultural reference which is interesting and if even half of the practices are ture..........they were rough times indeed.

dont be put off
I am very interested in Japanese culture and language but I was put off reading this book because it was written by a male..and non japanese. I had a vague feeling it would be sleazy and superficial. Well I was wrong . It has a powerful storyline which is very believable. Hatsumonno is one of the most vile creatures in fiction. She is horrid and treats the heroine very badly. The book is filled with amazing detail and in the course of enjoying the compelling story one learns an awful lot about the geisha culture. Geisha are NOT prostitutes. Geisha is japanese for "artist" and they entertain by music, dance and good conversation. They do have a "patron" who pays for their needs and they are much like a mistress to him. They are not, however, open for casual sex. Trainee geisha, "meiko" reach an age when they sell their "mizuage" to the highest bidder after which they become full geisha. Mr Golden obviously spent years of research on this book and I think was assisted by Liza Darby who was the only american to have received training as a geisha.

For me a wonderful book.