Reviews - Vida de una geisha

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516 reviews for:

About halfway through I started skimming for a few chapters before I remembered I can just. Dnf it.

This book drags on incredibly considering how short it is. It's a lot of "I did this. And then this. And then this happened and I was happy. And then this" and I'm not going to force myself to read another single sentence.

tourthebookshelf's review against another edition

4.5

hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Content Warnings

karawhipple's review against another edition

4.0

Me, a year ago: “Memoirs of a Geisha was really good but all it did was make me want to read the same story but….. written by a Japanese woman.”
Me, a month ago: “Ooooh Libby has an audiobook of exactly what I was looking for!! I shall add this to my list.”
Me, yesterday: *starts book*
Me, 10 mins ago: “Okay so that straight up was the same story I swear???”
Google: *a million links about Iwasaki suing Golden for defamation*
Me, 5 mins ago: “Well daaaaamn….”

dajna's review against another edition

4.0

First of all: I loan the book on openlibrary.org and the digital version is not very well made. Whole sentences are missing, especially on the second half. Still, is free and I thank you openlibrary.org for its great work.

When I added this book to my to-read list I got some negative feedback. "Boring" summarizes them.
I disagree.

This is a great reading to understand Japan's tradition and culture. As far as I understand the author has been interviewed by Golden while writing [b:Memoirs of a Geisha|930|Memoirs of a Geisha|Arthur Golden|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388367666s/930.jpg|1558965], but she was shocked to see how her words have been misanderstood (to say the list) and twisted to fit the fictional plot. So she decided to set the matter straight and retell her whole life for us.

I pity her, in a way. She's 3 years old, the youngest of a bunch of children and the pet of the house, when everything starts. She reminds me of the Nun of Monza as described in [b:The Betrothed|566328|The Betrothed|Alessandro Manzoni|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1442939437s/566328.jpg|553434]: a child raised for a purpose. She will be the heir of a famous establishment and she will be a great performer in the highly formalized and ritualized Japanese culture.
The only thing that sounds less believable to my ears is the statement that she choose her career.

leweylibrary's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

I'm really glad that I read this book instead of reading Memoirs of a Geisha. I think the biggest benefit of reading this book is that it really drives home. The point that geisha's are a cultural thing, not a sexual thing, and that's really important because of the way that guy shows were portrayed in that book and movie.

I also think it's important to keep in mind that this is just one person's experience. She portrayed herself as very aloof very above it all, especially when it came to matters of sex and love, although a lot of that is also because of her negative sexual experience young in life, so that's worth taking into consideration as well. I thought it was really funny the little snippets of stories that she would tell about interactions with famous people like Prince Charles and the Queen of England and other celebrities.

Like many memoirs, I am a little frustrated that she didn't go into more detail about her later life, particularly her thoughts and feelings and actions around retiring from being a geisha and her plans and life after that decision.

Content Warnings