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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
I enjoyed hearing the real story… the life style isn’t nearly as dramatic as it seems in media portrayals, and I like the real story better!
The autobiography of Mineko Iwasaki, the most famous geisha in Japan until her sudden retirement at the height of her career. This is written partially in response to Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha (although it never says so directly); as such, it's made accessible to a foreign audience and does much to explain the controversy surrounding Memoirs, particularly the liberties that book takes with Iwasaki's life story, as well as the way it elides geisha and prostitution. This is also a memoir in its own right. Iwasaki relies heavily on anecdotes; her memory is precise, her language evocative, her personality changeable and occasionally smug. She simultaneously loves and criticizes the hierarchical social structure, restrictiveness, skill, artistry, and effort that contribute to a geisha's craft, particularly as interacts with gender and as it has failed to change with the times; her experience and opinions are fervent and complex. This throughline isn't as solid as it could be--in particular, it wants for a stronger conclusion, perhaps an argument about what she believes the future of geisha should look like. But it's a compelling effort, and especially valuable in a world where Memoirs of a Geisha is such a problematic and popular text.
The subject of the book was super interesting and kept me reading, but I wish the story and characters had a little more depth
I found the author somewhat obnoxious. The overall subject of the book is super interesting and would've been an interesting story but the voice the author lends is one of spoiled entitlement. I suspect there's also a degree of fictionalizing/editorializing (the author expecting the audience to believe that, at the age of three, she fully understood her parent's financial woes and decided on her own to solve them. Yet chapters later she tells us how, at the age of 21, she didn't understand the basic concepts of money and how a grocery store transaction works) that feels out of place in a book framed as "the real story" behind memoirs of a geisha
Part memoir, part history of Geisha but all interesting! ... brb lowering my rating on Memoirs of a Geisha. I definitely found the parts he "stole" for his book to inaccurately portray. grrr!
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I really like this book. I found it to be engaging and heartwarming that she got away from some toxic people in her life. I didn’t know she was the base of Memoirs of a Geisha and I didn’t know anything about the Geisha lifestyle until I read this.
Because of that some of it was hard to follow. My cultural ignorance on Japanese culture was working against me.
There were relationships that Mineko was just taken advantaged of. I especially disliked her mom.
On the whole though I was engaged the whole time. I felt sad reading it and was glad she escaped such a toxic environment and it’s sad at the time they didn’t provide these girls with education to leave the Geisha lifestyle.
The grooming and sexual abuse was hard to read and sad to experience. But it wasn’t overly graphic where I couldn’t continue.
Because of that some of it was hard to follow. My cultural ignorance on Japanese culture was working against me.
There were relationships that Mineko was just taken advantaged of. I especially disliked her mom.
On the whole though I was engaged the whole time. I felt sad reading it and was glad she escaped such a toxic environment and it’s sad at the time they didn’t provide these girls with education to leave the Geisha lifestyle.
The grooming and sexual abuse was hard to read and sad to experience. But it wasn’t overly graphic where I couldn’t continue.
This book intrigued me because it is written by (or rather, told to someone else by) a woman who actually was a top-ranked geisha. Having read Memoirs of a Geisha, I wanted to get a more realistic perspective on things, and Geisha: A Life did not disappoint. Iwasaki Mineko seems willing to admit to her foibles as well as her strengths, and it makes for an engaging history.
Fairly quick, insightful read into this woman's life as a Geisha. Culture commentary was interesting, the writing style a bit immature and self-serving.
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced