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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
I felt like 60% of this book was before she was 16, %20 of it was after, and the other 20% were random facts I wasn’t interested in.
Very intriguing story of the life of Mineko Iwasaki, the most famous geisha. Glad that this books will be able to teach people the truth about geishas!
informative
slow-paced
Very simply written but so interesting. This book rights many of the widespread misconceptions propagated by Memoirs of a Geisha. But at times I do wish it had gone into more granular detail about day-to-day duties. (I did love all the dragging of the British royal family.)
informative
fast-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
This book was written by the same geisha who granted interviews with the author or Memiors of a Geisha, only for him to focus his book around sex and for him to steal portions of her story. So she wrote the story of her own experience as a top geisha.
I wanted to read Memiors of a Geisha because of the phenomena it was, but knew it was also problematic, so I read both books back to back. You could certainly spot people that Arthur Golden "borrowed" for his book, as well as circumstances. It was like he mixed and matched people he found interested from her life into his own story. And you can also find passages where Iwasaki specifies something with extra emphasis in response to it being portrayed inaccurately in Golden's book.
I enjoyed the writing style. It was a blend of memoir and context, which I think was good since the audience was largely western, and we are unfamiliar with a lot of the culture. Had her audience been primarily Eastern, perhaps she wouldn't have included as much context and it would have been more emotional.
She's not particularly likable, but neither are so many divas that are considered the best in their artistic field. It's like a book by Mariah Carey -- you wouldn't read it expecting her to be down to earth or relatable. And we aren't reading this because she's a great author - she's okay. But very few people can tell this story authentically.
And it's a fascinating story - all the better because you do not have to wonder if it's true or a western romanticized version. As with any autobiographical book, I'm sure parts are written with rose-colored glasses, particularly about how people reacted towards her. But I'd still rather hear the perspective of the person who was there.
I wanted to read Memiors of a Geisha because of the phenomena it was, but knew it was also problematic, so I read both books back to back. You could certainly spot people that Arthur Golden "borrowed" for his book, as well as circumstances. It was like he mixed and matched people he found interested from her life into his own story. And you can also find passages where Iwasaki specifies something with extra emphasis in response to it being portrayed inaccurately in Golden's book.
I enjoyed the writing style. It was a blend of memoir and context, which I think was good since the audience was largely western, and we are unfamiliar with a lot of the culture. Had her audience been primarily Eastern, perhaps she wouldn't have included as much context and it would have been more emotional.
She's not particularly likable, but neither are so many divas that are considered the best in their artistic field. It's like a book by Mariah Carey -- you wouldn't read it expecting her to be down to earth or relatable. And we aren't reading this because she's a great author - she's okay. But very few people can tell this story authentically.
And it's a fascinating story - all the better because you do not have to wonder if it's true or a western romanticized version. As with any autobiographical book, I'm sure parts are written with rose-colored glasses, particularly about how people reacted towards her. But I'd still rather hear the perspective of the person who was there.