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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Interesting, but not fascinating. She seemed quite removed from her time as a geiko, yet it was obviously a major part of her life.
How are you going to call your book “a life” and then end it when you turn 29
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Rape, Suicidal thoughts
informative
medium-paced
This was a really well done memoir that dispels myths about the art and history of geisha in Kyoto. Mineko does a great job of giving cultural context to better understand her world and also the history of Japan. I read this while visiting Kyoto Japan and experiencing a geisha ceremony in Kanazawa, Japan and this was such a useful backdrop and cultural context.
I really felt a genuine compulsion to continue reading this novel. The topic fascinated me. I only realized later that I meant to read the novel that inspired the movie. Lol. However, I would highly recommend this book.
First, I would like to urge anyone who wants to learn more about geisha - READ THIS BOOK INSTEAD OF MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. The author of that, Arthur Golden, interviewed Mineko Iwasaki and twisted her tales into falsities, making it seem that geisha were high class prostitutes. This is not the case - oiran, a high class courtesan, sold their bodies, not geisha. In fact, Iwasaki was extremely upset when she realized Golden had twisted her facts on the life of being a geisha, and decided to write her factual and realistic account. Her memoir reads as a beautiful balance between her personal recollections and facts on geisha (or the term used specifically in Kyoto, geiko) life in the 60s-70s. I expected a pretty basic factual account, but was pleasantly surprised by Mineko's escapades - hiding in the closet as a kid, working her hardest to embrace her passion for dancing, chasing down the pervy men who harassed her. Put straightforward, Mineko Iwasaki is a bad ass, and I would love to meet her one day if possible. I highly recommend this memoir for anyone interested in personal stories, the lives of geisha or how Japanese society functioned in the 1950s through 1970s. 4.5/5 stars.
I picked this one up because I LOVED Memoirs of a Geisha (which is fictional). This book is a true memoir of a formerly successful geisha in the most famous area in Japan for the geisha tradition, Gion...I found this book really interesting but not as magical as Memoirs of a Geisha. The Golden novel follows quite closely the traditions of the education and lifestyle of a geisha described in this book, partly because Golden interviewed this author when researching his book.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Eh, this was strange for me (a good reminder why I don't do biographies... or nonfiction for that matter). I love learning more about geisha culture and history, but so much of the autobiography felt defensive and like Mineko was solely a victim. There are so many instances where other people pick on her "for no reason" but also accounts where Mineko shows serious physical violence towards people who she thinks deserves it. Almost everyone is portrayed as her enemy but there's often no explanation as to why these things are happening (ex: at one point she calls her mother one of her enemies, when the last time we saw her, Mineko walked out on her after not having seen her for years after *Mineko decided to leave*.)
The suicide attempts, sexual assaults and attempted rape , dissociation and severe perfectionism, lack of education and experience, etc are all glossed over as happenstance when they must have had very real impacts on her life. It's missing any depth or signs of growth, which I was quite disappointed by.
The suicide attempts, sexual assaults and attempted rape , dissociation and severe perfectionism, lack of education and experience, etc are all glossed over as happenstance when they must have had very real impacts on her life. It's missing any depth or signs of growth, which I was quite disappointed by.
informative
reflective
slow-paced