Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Everything that girl had to endure all to be a geisha. It is a very interesting story and you learn a lot about history during that time.

I liked it very much.

Good book. Sad story...

I liked it a lot but I can't help but shudder over the mizuega part which is completely fictitious. Real geisha never sell there virginity as a right of passage or for any other reason.

I loved the history of Geisha. In their time to be a Geisha is just like going to college, difficult and just need dearly. It's not only about how to attract man...
Really loved this book!

Amazing book! The world of Japan through the eyes of a beautiful and complex girl - see it, smell it and live it!

I completely agree with you, Dimitra. If you are interested in Japanese and Geisha culture I recommend reading the true story in which Memoirs of a Geisha is based: Geisha: A Life

I absolutely loved that book, even some parts of it are completely fictitious

loved it :)

I really liked this novel ^-^ I'll be sure to look out for Geisha: A Life.

I loved this book. When I was reading it I forgot that it was written by a man. But of course the movie was a huge disappointment.

I'm just the opposite Dana. I didn't like this book. I could sense the male writer peeping through. Just my opinion. Then I saw the movie, which I loved, so I decided I like the book. While I was reading it though, I thought it lacked substance. I liked Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki before this so that may be why.

Am I the only one that search the web for a picture of a bound foot? It was really quite the sight, yes?

I am almost done with this book and don't want to put it down. I haven't seen the movie yet but I am going to wait until I finish the book.

Alie: I saw about 2 years ago on PBS a great documentary on foot bounding. You might find it very interesting. I bet netflix would have it because they have most of the documentaries shown on PBS. thanks for the recommendation for Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki. I think I will read it!

Alie, I think you'd like "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan".
http://www.goodreads.com/search/searc...

I agree with Alie, I too felt the male writer's presence. It also didn't really feel like a memoir. It felt too much like a novel. As if she were telling an unemotional tale, as if she weren't really present. I have not seen the movie, since I didn't love the book,only liked it. Perhaps I should give it a try.

And you know this why, Dimitra? Perchance, have you been a Geisha, or know someone who was/is? If so, let us in on the real life of a Geisha in the making - please.

Oops, lesson learned - ALWAYS read the following messages!

Thank you, Masanobu - I have put "Geisha : A Life by Mineko" Iwasaki and Rande Brown on reserve at my library.

Forgive me, Dimitra, for possibly coming across a bit harsh ...

Excellant book. Very captivating and hard to put down. Golden did a great job writing the book.

Clearly, written by a man, but did fairly well writing in first person as a woman. Very sad. It seems though that a lot of books are sad that are on the list.

Great book!

Just watched the movie. It was great! I was a little disappointed that they cut out a lot of the relationship Nubo. But I liked the movie a lot.

i'd rather read a true non-fiction on geishas.
this book became so boring after the lead character become an apprentice. i hate the love story also.
the movie is horrible, especially the dancing part. it's just too much. zhang zi yi looked diabolical.


or maybe it's just not my type of book/movie *shrugs*

It's been a few years since I read the book, but I remember loving it. I actually enjoyed the movie a lot, too. I think I might give the true story a try. It is such a fascinating topic, so far from anything I could imagine happening in my life.

I loved both the book and the movie. I was prepared for the movie to be different, aren't they always?

It's not included in the new edition of 1001 books :(

Masanobu, I read them. But also "Gheisha - The Secret History" by Lesley Downer, that I found informative and written, let's say, objective. If you know it, what's your opinion related to its veridicity?

I absolutely loved this book! it was a perfect mix of fiction and non-fiction!! the movie was very disappointing to me. i thought that a lot of necessary parts were omitted. :( GREAT BOOK though!! :)

It was very much a page-turner. But most of it struck me as depressing, like I was reading someone's account of life during wartime (indeed, some of it was during the war, but only a small section). I was completely shocked that it managed to have a happy ending of sorts...not a fairy-tale ending, but an uplifting one!

I've been wanting to read Geisha: A Life

Since Memoirs of a Geisha sort of exposed the author as taking someone's story without permission, I have tried to find true Geisha stories (in English), and 'Madame Sadayako' by Lesley Downer is it. This is about the first japanese Geisha/actress who took the west by storm (especially France) during the turn of the 20th century. Photographs and everything. And yes, her life was also tragic - but true.

This is one book on tape that was very well done. I recommend listening to it.

Mirela, I haven't read "Geisha: The Secret History", but I'll try to get my hands on it as soon as possible :) . Anyway, from my experience reading Downer, I think you can trust what's written.

i think this book was/is way over-hyped. it held my attention (of course, i was on an airplane and couldn't sleep), but wasn't great. i was disappointed.

I really enjoyed this book as well as some follow-up books that I read on geishas including Geisha: A Life, and Geisha. I think I have the Downer book in my TBR pile as well. I found the completely different culture fascinating, so that may have caused me to overlook flaws in the book...I don't know. I was definitely glad that it ended on a happy note, because I did find the depressing interlude of the war, well, depressing. I also enjoyed the movie because I thought it was very good visually.

I read this book earlier in the year and posted this as a review here in GR:

"As I read the last sentence of this book I felt so much sadness it was over. I wanted to know of course how it would all end, but I didn’t want to part with the characters which I had come to know so well. Memoirs of a Geisha was like a trip to a different place and time, like having a window to a culture so rich and a place so full of tradition. At times I felt quite like a voyeur because the accounts were so intimate and personal, and her pain and sorrows where translated so well into the pages that I found myself cheering her on during her journey, I was mad too when she made bad choices and through it all I felt honored to have the chance to learn so much about the Japanese people.

I liked the fact that even though you could argue this is a book about women and their relationships in a specific culture, the fact that so much attention was given to the historical time frame and the events of the time made the book much more about the change in society in a culture based in tradition than just the woman alone. The story is not about the man in her life but through her accounts I felt as if I knew what they were going through as well.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn about different cultures through fiction, although I am not an expert in Japanese culture by any stretch, I find the author to have put excellent attention to detail and the power to submerge an overactive imagination, such as mine, in a spell that commanded all of my attention from beginning to end."

I also watched the movie and found it visually incredible, the colors, the costumes, the make up were all great, what dissapointed me was the lack of development in the relationships she encountered through out her life, specially with the two man that helped her shape her life. I understand that because of time many things get sacrificed in a movie version but I think in this case it kind of stole part of the soul of the book ... at least for me.

Alie wrote: "I'm just the opposite Dana. I didn't like this book. I could sense the male writer peeping through. Just my opinion. Then I saw the movie, which I loved, so I decided I like the book. While I ..."
No Alie you are not the only one, I actually searched when reading another book on Japan. I couldn't believe what I saw!!!

This was a very awesome book in the vein of descriptive cultural education and the suffering of/rooting for the main character.

Jennifer wrote: "Alie wrote: "I'm just the opposite Dana. I didn't like this book. I could sense the male writer peeping through. Just my opinion. Then I saw the movie, which I loved, so I decided I like the bo..."

I'm not the only one then :) Yes, I could also sense Golden's little intrusions. There were parts where he really felt like he was lost, the perspective became clinical and formal.

Dimitra wrote: "I liked it a lot but I can't help but shudder over the mizuega part which is completely fictitious. Real geisha never sell there virginity as a right of passage or for any other reason. "

Here´s an entry to Wikipedia concernig mizuage, Dimitra-
Mizuage (水揚げ?, lit. "hoisting from water") was a ceremony undergone by a Japanese maiko (apprentice geisha) to signify her coming of age. When the older geisha training her deemed the maiko ready to come of age, the topknot of her hair was symbolically cut. Afterward, a party would be held for the maiko.

During the Edo period, courtesans undergoing mizuage were sponsored by a patron who had the right of taking their virginity[1:]. Mizuage has also historically been connected with loss of virginity of maiko[2:][3:], but this practice became illegal in 1959[4:].

According to research by anthropologist Liza Dalby, mizuage was an important initiation to womanhood and the geisha world. Mizuage gave way to the next ritual often referred to as ‘turning the collar’ or ‘Erikae’: where a maiko exchanges her red collar (maiko) for a white collar (geisha). Previously to the mid twentieth century, all maiko had to go through this ceremony in order to become a full fledged geisha. Once the mizuage patron's function served (of deflowering the young maiko) he was to have no further relations with the girl.[5:] Mizuage was not considered by geisha to be an act of prostitution. The money acquired for a maiko’s mizuage was a great sum and it was used to promote her debut as a geisha.[6:]

Since 1959, mizuage has become the equivalent of a sweet sixteen party. Mineko Iwasaki, one of the geishas that Golden met while writing "Memoirs of a Geisha" described mizuage in her autobiography as being an initiation party. Mizuage was demonstrated on the to-be geisha by a change in hairstyle.[7:] It is a celebration of the passage of girl (maiko) to woman (geisha).

Really enjoyed this book and learning about their culture. I would definitely recommend this book, it was a very quick read.

I am planning on buying Memoirs of a Geisha this weekend. It has been on my to read list for a while and I cannot wait to start it especially after reading these "reviews".

Lupatrian wrote: "Alie, I think you'd like "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan".
http://www.goodreads.com/search/searc..."

Just wanted to second this - I've never read Memoirs but Snow Flower haunted me for a long time after I finished it, especially the foot-binding scenes. Great read.

Tenijha wrote: "Lupatrian wrote: "Alie, I think you'd like "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan".
http://www.goodreads.com/search/searc......"

So you know the author of Snow Flower I was trying to look it up but there are alot of books by that name

So you know the author of Snow Flower I was trying to look it up but there are alot of books by that name

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Thanks Charity.

Thanks Charity. Is that a list book?

Thanks Charity. Is that a list book?

Nope, but I do see it recommended frequently to people who enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha.

Have you read it?

Have you read it?

Not yet, but it is on my want-so-bad list.

I bought Memoirs of a Geisha for my nook and am in the process of reading it now. I am only about 10% through it thus far, but it is good.

I finished the book and I really liked it. Quite an interesting book! I especially liked the story being told through the eyes of the girl who would become a woman....you could see her grown and learn throughout the book.

I just read this book after seeing the film again. What an amazing story. Love the movie as well, although there are more historical aspects to the book.

one word for the book and the movie... GREAT!!!!