Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book traces the life of a geisha, Chiyo from the time she is sold off by her impoverished father to a geisha house. Her beauty makes the main geisha in the geisha house jealous and this geisha tries everything to keep Chiyo from becoming a geisha. Chiyo happens to meet the chairman of a big industry and is smitten by him. She hopes that she becomes a geisha just so that she can be with the chairman.
Soon her fortune changes and a rival geisha takes on her as her sister. She gets in touch with the chairman and his right hand man. She has to pay attention to the chairman's right hand man, who is ugly, to avoid the jealousy of the main geisha of her house. The main geisha tries every trick to keep her from becoming a geisha. But fortune favours Chiyo and she becomes Sayuri the geisha.
Her fortune turns further and the main geisha is driven out of the geisha house and she becomes the main geisha. Soon the world war II comes to Japan and she has to suffer a few years of rough life. But after the war the chairman and his right hand man ensure that Sayuri comes back to become a geisha again and to help them get them a favour from a Minister in the finance ministry.
Circumstances lead her to realize that the chairman is actually like her very much as much as she likes him. Circumstances she moves to the US with her chairman and lived the rest of her life there. Here she meets the author again and the result of this meeting is the book.
A good read to understand the lives of the geisha in Japan.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment