Synopsis
In 1929, a poor fisherman sells his nine-year-old daughter to an elite geisha house in Kyoto. So begins the remarkable first-person account of how the lovely child, Chiyo, became the accomplished and much sought-after geisha Sayuri, with the help of a kindly mentor and despite the malice of a rival; and of how Sayuri struggled to balance professional success as a courtesan with the demands of her heart. Adapted into a 2005 movie starring Zhang Yiyi as the protagonist, this bestselling debut novel opened up a world hitherto unknown to most Westerners and sparked new interest in Japan and its culture.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1997-10-01 | | Narrated by: | Elaina Erika Davis | | Edition Description: | Abridged |
| Size | | Height: | 7.3 in | | Width: | 4.5 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 4.8 oz |
Publisher's Note
Sayuri's story begins in 1929, when, as a little girl with unusual, blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home in a fishing village and sold into slavery, becoming servant and apprentice to a renowned geisha house. We see the decadent heart of 1930s Kyoto, where Sayuri must learn the arts of the geisha: dancing and music; wearing a kimono and elaborate makeup; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; beguiling powerful men--at whatever cost. But as World War II erupts and the geisha houses are forced to close, Sayuri, with little money and even less food, must reinvent herself again. Simultaneous Knopf hardcover.
Industry Reviews
"There is a particular pleasure to be found in reading a novel that is sui generis and yet is imbued with subtle shadings of its literary predecessors: this is a high-wire act....Rarely has a world so closed and foreign been evoked with such natural assurance....If Golden had done no more than elucidate these details in fine prose, 'Memoirs of a Geisha' would still be of enormous interest....But in the unforgettable Sayuri...Golden has found the heart and matter of a truth that lies beyond detail."
New Yorker - John Burnham Schwartz (09/29/1997)
"A scholar of Japanese art and history, Golden is intimate with his material, and it shows in his reconstruction of Gion in the 1930s and '40s....Sayuri's voice never falters--it is, to the end, utterly consistent. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA is a breathtaking performance twice over, once by its bewitching central figure, and once by the masterful puppeteer who has given her life."
Washington Post Book World - Janice Nimura (09/21/1997)
"'Write what you know': in MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, the first-time novelist Arthur Golden not only defies that old piece of creative-writing class advice, but does so with impunity and panache as well. The outcome: a remarkable piece of sleight of hand, a novel disguised as a memoir, told in the voice of a geisha who grew up in pre-World War II Japan....In recounting her story, Golden gives us not only a richly sympathetic portrait of a woman, but also a finely observed picture of an anomalous and largely vanished world. He has made an impressive and unusual debut."
New York Times - Michiko Kakutani (10/14/1997)
"MEMOIRS tells a captivating second story between the exquisitely crafted lines of the central tale. Themes of survival and ambition, of exploitation and renewal filter through this parallel narrative into the reader's consciousness....If Golden had 'only' told Sayuri's life story, [it] would have been a beautifully detailed but time-locked novel. By creating a subtext with larger themes..., Golden endows the book with powerful resonance for any time or culture."
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review - David Wiegand (09/28/2000)
"Arthur Golden's MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA is as exotic as a moonscape and as accessible and old-shoe comfortable as PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The ritual culture of the geisha seems utterly alien, as remote from contemporary experience as foot-binding or arranged marriages, yet Golden pegs his first novel to such a recognizable set of dilemmas that its initially foreign landscape is made utterly familiar....Golden's storytelling is rich and slow-paced. Like Austen, he lavishes attention on the minute details that regulate and define social distinctions. In the raising of a teacup or an eyebrow there are worlds of implication. The prose style is simple and strangely satisfying, perfectly attuned to its time and place....MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA is an intelligent entertainment."
Salon - Dan Cryer (10/29/2000)
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