Welcome to Gaia! ::

No one is participating yet? Have you guys managed to read Memoirs of a Geisha? I'll go ahead and tell you what I thought, starting with this: if you skipped it, I definitely recommend picking it up someday when you have more time.

I'm a pretty easily moved reader, but I still think it's a good point that the booked managed to move me so much. I loved the tiny bits of poetry in the narrator's descriptions of the world around her. While they were not very surprising or awe-inspiring, they still made me smile. Some scenes were truly disturbing, and when the war started to affect Gion, even though I knew it was going on at the time, it still felt sudden and unsettling. All the way through the book, I yearned for the narrator to find some kind of happiness, and I was completely fascinated by the universe the author described. It's an easy, smooth, pleasing read overall. I loved it.

Oh no! I didn't want it to feel like an assignment! gonk Well, so long as you enjoyed the read. ^_^

I haven't heard about that story. I didn't even know Sayuri was based on an actual person. What happened to that woman?

oh, yeah, I can see how that could become problematic. And the fact that he even mentions that rule of silence in the prologue... That wasn't a very smart move on his side.

I kind of have a different feeling about this book, and about the main character. Let me just break this down a bit. Also, it's best if i add now that this is a re-read for me as I read it about five years ago and liked it well enough back then.

First off. The setting. I adore the setting, the richness of the traditions and the way Gion is described as this almost otherworldly realm of its own with its own traditions is just stunning, and with this being from an American author I was rather impressed by it, and indeed found myself immersed i it more often than not. It didn't really pack that emotional a punch for me, but I will explain my reasons why later.

Second, the language. I understand, with it being about a Geisha which is about beauty and grace that poetic language would be used a lot throughout the book, but to me it seemed that nearly every paragraph has some form of metaphor in it, to the point where I was skipping sentences. That got boring fast. It also seemed to me that you could tell it was written by an american, but thats my opinion. The descriptions of the traditions gripped me far more.

The final point has to be the characters for me, ad here is were my memory, in a sense, misled me. I had the impression that Sayuri became involved with the chairman when she had said goodbye to being a geisha, not that she basically ******** over then man who literaly SAVED HER LIFE to be with a man who was, at best, lukewarm to her, And yes, the revelation that Mameha had been sent to her by the chairman could also mean he saved her life aswell, but I think she would have survived had she not been a geisha, which would have made the story null and void, i realise that, but it just seemed so cold. I felt that she had far more chemistry with Nobu, and infact I thought he was far more interesting than the chairman, Here is this man who is treated with reverence and respect to his face, and yet jeered at behind his back. He only comes to Gion because of his status and idolises Sumo wrestlers to the point that he can recognise moves before the even happen. He comes across a apprentice Geisha who doesn't grimace whn she looks at him, who listens when he speaks, and he comes back for the young girl who see's passed his scars and treats him like a human being. Years later, when she is in trouble, he waits til she comes to him as he felt betrayed by something he doesn't understand she had no power over, and despite this he sends her to a place he knows will be safe for her, then when Gion is back he not only asks for her help, but wants to be a part of her life again. and she sees this as something akin to a death sentence because a man who spoke to her fifteen years before is his business partner and she cant bear not to be with him. So what does she do to this smart, scarred man who has helped her in her darkest moments? Who will make sure she is well kept and surely will provide her with many legitimate children. She ******** BREAKS HIM!She decides to betray him in the worst way and, in return, is basically secluded from her previous life forever. That destroyed her character for me, and it basically also kinda ruined the book for me as it destroyed such potential for, what seemed to me, a phoned in ending.

Final verdict, enjoyable in part, but overall a little disappointing,