Nitta Sayuri tells us in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate of her life as a geisha. Her story 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
Nitta Sayuri tells us in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate of her life as a geisha. Her story 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 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.
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My favorite book! No, really, it is. I will read this book nearly every year for the rest of my life.The story of Saiyuri is a very detailed one, and how she came to be a geisha. The (fictional) biographical novel of a geisha is definitely a wonderful read. I love all things Japanese, and this book is a great insight into the world, as it is well researched and well written. In some places it is like a story, and in others it is like reading an encyclopedia of Japanese culture, and the two mix so well…
A Classic Unfortunately, I admit I haven’t read this book in twenty or so years and I imagined it reading the same. I couldn’t have been more wrong! It’s so much more heartbreaking, intriguing and entertaining than when I was younger. There was so much I thought I understood back then that now I appreciate.
Poetic but oddly disturbing When this was published a decade ago, it sounded like an account I wouldn’t find compelling. But as a fan of historical fiction, and an admirer of many Asian cultures I decided to wade into the book after hearing how it appealed to both genders, though strangely it was written by a male who was also not Japanese. It is written in a very soft motif with gentle mental imagery. But it also detailed a belief system that was reality but no less perverse in marginalizing women and condoning extreme…