Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Review)

Date Finished: October 25, 2017

Page Count: 427

Genre: Historical Fiction

            How refreshing, a novel not written by Danielle Paige or a young adult fantasy novel. It’s not that I don’t love Paige’s work, I just really need some air after that suffocating series finale, and I’m happy to say Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden was just the glass of ice cold water with a tiny umbrella and lemon slice of refreshing I was looking for. The life story of Chiyo’s, better known by her geisha name, Sayuri, life was immersive, delightful and a wonderful way to learn more about Japanese culture. Her story was so good, that on multiple occasions I had to physically separate myself from the book (with miles) so that I would spend the afternoon doing homework instead of reading. Let me take a few steps back though, there were many great elements in this story and by far the one you should know I love to highlight by now is the fabulous characters that carried the story! Just a few quick note though, I almost interchangeable use Chiyo and Sayuri to refer to the protagonist though I’m trying to only use Chiyo before she becomes a geisha. They are indeed the same person. Also much of the cultural elements are unexplained as well as things that happen in the plot as that would take way to many words and I’m sure by the third or so paragraph some of you people reading this must be bored.

Though Sayuri herself is a fictional character, her story is based on the real life of geisha from the 1920s to the 1950s and is told from her perspective as she reflects on her experience as an old woman. Having been born the year of the monkey under the element of water, many people saw Chiyo with having the potential to be very clever and resourceful. This alone is not what catches of Mr. Tanaka, the head of the fisherman company who sells her into the okiya (geisha house), but rather it’s her eyes that are described as translucent gray rather than the dark brown that’s common among Japanese people. I’d call out Golden for using the cliché of, super unique characteristic that makes the main character stand out, but this is a historical fiction novel and not a reboot of Yu-Gi-Oh!, so it’s understandable that Chiyo has some physical trait about her that makes her stand out (and at the very least, it’s not as extreme as over the top spiky hair).

Any who, Chiyo is taken away from her home at the age of eight along with her fifteen year old sister to be sold in Gion, the geisha district in Kyoto. Here she finds herself in the midst of a life separated from her sister that she has no choice but to accept and is immediately targeted by the head Geisha Hatsumomo, due to being possibly competition in future. This is the part where things start to get really good for me as Hatsumomo’s character is exactly like Dorothy form the Dorothy Must Die series by Danielle Paige, just a bit less extreme in her torture (or more extreme if you think death is a sweet release compared to making someone’s life a living hell) and she’s not invincible. Her beautiful yet vicious nature was something for Chiyo to beware, as being the source of income for the okiya everyone tried to please her so Chiyo had no choice but to allow Hatsumomo to bully her into breaking the rules. Hatsumomo’s presence also gave me a reason to root for Chiyo as she was the underdog, and quite possibly the only one who could put an end to Hatsumomo’s tyranny. Her presence is what allowed us to see just how desperate Chiyo is to escape her fate as a geisha in training by attempting to run away only to fall and break her arm. Even after that when Chiyo was taken under the wing of renowned geisha, Mameha as her little sister we got to see patience in Sayuri when she was dealing with trouble and her water like qualities in how she would easily adapt to different situations. As a matter of fact, when Hatsumomo was tormenting Chiyo/Sayuri I found Chiyo/Sayuri’s character most enjoyable to read about.

Chiyo/Sayuri’s, kindness was another thing I enjoyed about this novel as she wasn’t afraid to make friends with the rival apprentice, Pumpkin, and she didn’t behave as Hatsumomo did to the new geisha apprentice when returning to the okiya after world war II. Perhaps this came from her clever nature, or maybe even the fact the she was so flexible that she never felt the need to push others away. I’m not saying Chiyo/Sayuri was Disney princess kind, but she was kind and honest enough to get the attention of Nobu and the Chairman to both want to be her danna. Her kindness wasn’t without it’s repercussions however, as when she tried to discourage Nobu from being her danna near the end of the novel and asked Pumpkin to discover her and the Minister (nothing important about him except he likes Sayuri and Nobu owed him a favor late in the story), Pumpkin betrayed her and brought the Chairman (the man she liked) instead. Sayuri didn’t understand the actions of her friend but Pumpkin was upset over the fact that Sayuri stole the position of the daughter of Mother back in their girlhood days’ despite them being friends. In a way this give makes Sayuri out to be naïve and at the same time over trustworthy, a flaw most appreciated and despised at the same time.

Yeah, I’m going to be honest with you, sometimes it was annoying even repulsive to listen to Chiyo/Sayuri, though it was only a few times in the beginning and a lot of times at the last few chapters. The thing that bothered me the most about her character had to be when she was around Nobu. So Nobu Toshikazu was the president of Iwamura Electric that had meet the founder and Chairman, Iwamura Ken after being in a horrific bombing of Seoul in 1910, which caused numerous burns on his body and the loss of his left arm. Since Sayuri fell in love with the Chairman as a maid years prior to meeting Nobu when he showed kindness to amidst her depression, she far less emotion ties to him compared to the Chairman. This causes her mind to often point out the negative things about Nobu like his short temper and tendency to be rude and she would ignore the fact that he shows great favoritism towards her and even would like to be her danna. Heck, like I said before, she even goes as far as having intercourse with the Minister to try to halt his attempts of trying to become her danna. What the heck man?! Nobu was so kind to you and just because some stranger showed you kindness so many years ago you’re going to try to be with him and stay true to him mostly, and deny this other guy who obviously likes you just because of that (and the fact the he’s unsightly)? How awful! Though I must admit, I originally wanted Sayuri to end up with the Chairman at first because that would have made her happy, but Nobu was the one that actually made a move (since the Chairman was backing off because he owed Nobu so much) and that made me want him to be Sayuri’s danna even though I knew it wasn’t meant to be, _{because I was an idiot and red the Wikipedia summary four months ago}! I kid you not, near the end of the book it so band due to Nobu was preparing to seal the deal, and Sayuri stated to think herself sick trying coming up with way to avoid Nobu and I couldn’t help but think,

“Godd*mn Sayuri, shut the hell up about that Chairman. He doesn’t even really love you, he just loves your beauty!!” And then she’d keep talking about the Chairman. “JESUS CHRIST WOMAN, SHUT THE HELL UP!” but the misery wouldn’t end till the book ended. She was just so freaking ungrateful about her friendship with Nobu and all the fun they had together it reminded me of my generation and how ungrateful and rude we tend to be. That enough can make my stomach hurl and I’m surprised I was so dedicated to the story to finish reading it despite those really low point. What can I say though, Memoirs of a Geisha is one fine book and I already knew how the story would end so might as well stick it through for the happy ending.

I’m not going to say I was happy the Sayuri successfully obliterated her friendship with Nobu forever and almost ended up living happily ever after with the Chairman, but it was quite a satisfying ending and by the final chapter I was back onboard the Sayuri-Chairman ship. See, at the end she was able to retire from being a geisha due to the Chairman becoming her danna rather than Nobu (which would be rather awkward around Nobu) and the two often spent some good times together. She even got to go to America a couple times with him and had an illegitimate son with him, eventually moving permantly residing in New York with said son because of inheritance issues with Iwamura Electric. Something about reading old Sayuri reflect on her life with the Chairman as her danna was very pleasant for me, and I love how she (technically Golden) wove her words together to summaries everything but still provide enough detail at the most important parts. Still upset about her selfishness though, but not so upset that I don’t plan on not forgiving her for having that happen, or letting it ruin my whole reading experience. Something else was are real enjoyment killer and slightly disturbing too.

First off, I am a virgin and have been raised to have abstinence towards the sex until I’m married, so you can imagine how awkward it felt for me when Mameha started to talk about eels wanting to find caves to explore. I thought that would be then end of it but nope, the Baron, Mameha’s danna might I add, undressed Sayuri a bit after that and Sayuri described in detail when it was like to have her striped down and how afraid she was when the Baron leaned in close. Thankfully, he didn’t lay on her then so I hoped that would be then end of that, except then Sayuri’s mizuage (deflowering ceremony) came up and she totally describe how that went too!! There were a couple more instances after that, but yeah I was holding my breath every time a scene like that came up and hoping that I wasn’t breaking the law or anything by reading such content then again, I read Push by Sapphire last year, but that experience was way more horrific *shudders*. So fair warning reader, there is intimacy in this novel and other stuff like it, but that’s to be expected when the main character is a prostitute (something I didn’t know about geishas before reading this). This can really kill the fun of the novel if you aren’t okay with that sort of thing.

 

Sayuri (center) as an apprentice in a kimono inspired from one in the movie surrounded by Mr. Tanaka (bottom left), the Minister (middle left), Nobu (top left), Dr. Crab (bottom right), the Baron (middle right), and the Chairman (top right). I went for a shōjo style due to the romantic nature of this book and apologize for any inaccuracies.

 

Any who, I overall enjoyed this book greatly. The story started out at just the right place in Chiyo’s life and had smooth transition between each phase, plus that fact the she was narrating this as an adult gave an old-timey, metacognitive feel to the story that suited it well that I enjoyed. Despite the flaws in Sayuri’s character I truly wanted her to succeed in her quest for winning the Chairman’s acknowledgement and affection. While I didn’t talk about many of the other characters in this review, some of the strongest supporting cast members were Hatsumomo and Nobu, as the savage yet venerable Hatsumomo provided an obstacle for Sayuri to overcome and helped to progress the plot along for the majority of the book, and Nobu provided a very down-to-earth perspective and seemed to be one of the few sensible yet kind characters in the book (actually remind me of myself a bit). Sayuri truly carried this story the whole way through however, her narrating being phenomenal and engaging for me and I found myself connecting with her and rooting for her happiness most of the time in the story. Heck, I even learned some stuff about Japanese culture (though some might be exaggerated by Golden) and the affect WWII had on Japan. This is why I highly recommend the book to those interested in historical fiction or those who are Japanophile or okatus/weaboos as those who are interested in one aspect of the culture might be interested in another.

One last thing worth noting, the book was made into a movie and that’s what pops up when you Google, “Memoirs of a Geisha”. So if you’re one of those people who hate it when books are made into movies or love it when books are turned into movies that’s something to look out for. I heard that the movie was enjoyable as the book from my English teacher last year so it can’t be too much of a horrid disgrace to the source material. I myself have actually never seen the movie, but after watching the preview I have the sudden urge to spend my weekend trying to watch that rather than season 2 of Stranger Things.