Relief Reads 8 - Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Charity Shop: Arthur Rank Hospice, Book stall in Michaelhouse Cafe, Cambridge

Charity: Arthur Rank hospice is dedicated to providing specialist palliative care and support to adult patients and their family, friends and carers in Cambridgeshire.

Price: £1 (I think)

Book Blurb: This story is a rare and utterly engaging experience. It tells an extraordinary tale of a geisha - summoning up a quarter century, from 1929 to the post-war years of Japan's dramatic history, and opening a window onto a half-hidden world of eroticism and enchatment, exploitation and degradation. / 'Sayuri tells a story of her life as a geisha with such gentle courtesy and determination that you are quickly brought under the spell of her character. She takes you by the hand and leads you into a world that is both formal and intimate, a world that I had only before glimpsed in the fleeting and beautiful images of traditional Japanese ink painting... Memoirs of a Geisha is a wonderful achievement' Julia Blackburn

Expectation: A story of a Geisha, a good book as it has achieved acclaimed.

Reality: It is indeed a story of the life of a Geisha, although it is quite shocking in that it begins with a young girl being essentially sold into slavery. It was interesting ethically, as it wasn't as clear cut as poor innocent victims and evil slave traders. In some ways her life was very restricted, but ultimately she had a fair bit of choice over her life's direction. Disappointingly, the storyline did boil down to a girl's pursuit of a man, but in that kind of world that is the whole purpose of living. At the end she ends up in New York (not giving anything away, this fact is revealed at the beginning) and the clash of cultures is fascinating. That's not a very eloquent review, but that is due to the complexity of the book. I would highly recommend it, it's the type of book you could write so many essays about.

Overall Rating

It was a struggle           2        3        4        5        6        7        8       9      Gripping page  

to make it                                                                                                        turner

A very good book. It lost a mark as I wasn't a fan of the ending.

Twist Scale:

Knew the beginning,                                                                                 As twisty as the 

middle and end         2       3        4         5       6        7        8        9      bendy wendy road

from the first line 

Spanning a quarter of a century a lot happened, so a fair few twists and turns. The biggest twists comes in the author's note at the end.

Tear-jerker Scale:

 As dry as a house       2        3       4         5         6         7       8        9     Cried an ocean

 throughout

I'm trying to think, but I don't think I shed any tears. Maybe the culture just was too alien..

Moral of the Story: The whole purpose of life to to pursue a man (As I said, not too impressed with the overriding storyline)

***

Coming up: The princess diaries, ten out of ten. From the sublime to the ridiculous

I would give you a life update, but I've run out of time. I've finished the Princess diaries already, so it might not be too long till my next post.