Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden

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.

This book was a selection by the BRA (Book Readers Anonymous) Club that I belong to. I wouldn't normally read something like this, but I did enjoy it. The history and nature of geisha have always seemed mysterious and I'm sorry that they are becoming a dying breed, so to speak. I did lose track of time passing in the novel. It was not always clear how old she was and time did not seem a significant issue. It seemed to just float along. I am glad that all that she did in life did lead her to the Charirman - that was all that she seemed to exist for. Though I do question the notion that your life has no value if you do not have the man that you want. I'll be watching the movie. I imagine that it will be visually breath-taking. The novel did present some beautiful pictures that my imagimnation drew for me.