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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual assault
Minor: Child death, Death of parent
Absolutely loved this book! Simply & eloquently written & translated. Cleared up a lot of Western-world confusion about geisha and gives an intimate look into this aspect of Japanese culture.
I read this book years ago, and I enjoyed Mineko Iwasaki's frank recounting of her training and career as a geisha. I felt a very easy honesty in her words, and enjoyed the more fleshed-out, non-Orientalized journey into a frequently misunderstood world.
Highly recommend for anyone with an interest in Japan, biographies, history, or women's studies.
Highly recommend for anyone with an interest in Japan, biographies, history, or women's studies.
This book is a wonderful, autobiographical account of the life of a Geisha who lived in Kyoto during the 1950-1970s. It is not fiction so it is more accurate than Memoirs of a Geisha.
If you've ever watched or read Memoirs of a Geisha (whose author exploited Iwasaki's life for his own financial gain & majorly misrepresented geisha) this is an absolute must read
This was an interesting book especially after finishing Women of the Pleasure Quarters. It was a look at some of tge5 things discussed in that book in more detail. My main complaint with this book is that the author states she left the geisha life because she'd been trying to make changes and it wasn't successful. I would have liked to know a little more about that; what kind of change was she trying to bring about? Other than that an interesting read though sad at times.
This is the true story version of Memoirs of a Geisha. I can see the uncanny parallels between the two, and recently found out that Arthur Golden actually was partly inspired by Mineko Iwasaki. Her life is chronicled beautifully in this autobiography, as is the stunning culture of a nation that is not widely understood here in the west. I found it surprising that Geisha still were relatively mainstream even thirty years ago.
Interesting book. The book 'Memoirs of a Geisha' is based on her life.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced