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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Actual rating 3.5, but leaning more toward 4 stars.
First off, I want to say that I did enjoy reading this book. I loved reading the first hand accounts of the actual daily life of a Geisha. Reading this book, I can pinpoint certain areas where Arthur Golden took both liberties and inspiration from Mineko’s life.
While Memoirs of a Geisha was a work of fiction and read like pure poetry, this book had a textbook feel to it, like I could’ve definitely read this in history class at some point. At first, it was hard to get into, but about halfway through the book, it really started to pick up.
I had hoped she would talk about her time with Arthur Golden and her thoughts on Memoirs, but she never did. I know from research she did not appreciate the liberties that Golden took when writing Memoirs. Maybe she didn’t want to give that book any more time and thought than it already had.
The world may never know.
First off, I want to say that I did enjoy reading this book. I loved reading the first hand accounts of the actual daily life of a Geisha. Reading this book, I can pinpoint certain areas where Arthur Golden took both liberties and inspiration from Mineko’s life.
While Memoirs of a Geisha was a work of fiction and read like pure poetry, this book had a textbook feel to it, like I could’ve definitely read this in history class at some point. At first, it was hard to get into, but about halfway through the book, it really started to pick up.
I had hoped she would talk about her time with Arthur Golden and her thoughts on Memoirs, but she never did. I know from research she did not appreciate the liberties that Golden took when writing Memoirs. Maybe she didn’t want to give that book any more time and thought than it already had.
The world may never know.
Better than Memoirs of A Geisha. While the book initially interested me in Geisha, A Life - I prefer the version written be her. It is less sensational but way more interesting and from a different perspective.
I normally do not prefer nonfictional books, but I couldn't put this one down! It was interesting, factual and an overall great novel!
I normally do not prefer nonfictional books, but I couldn't put this one down! It was interesting, factual and an overall great novel!
Interesting if the reader is curious about traditional geisha life and habits in Japan. Reading it as a novel, it has some drawbacks: the writing is quite sterile, the plot does not grow or twist or accompany the main character through her development as a person - this is more alike a piece of journalism, a news report about how one becomes a geisha, the perks and problems to encounter.
Therefore, would recommend this for someone interested in Japanese traditions, not to a fiction lover.
Therefore, would recommend this for someone interested in Japanese traditions, not to a fiction lover.
Geisha, A Life is an interesting story. Mineko had a very vivid memory of being a young child and relayed her motions wonderfully. She expressed the overwhelming fear and anxiety that was ever present in her youth. Part of becoming a geiko for her included overcoming her fear of people and being in social situations. She talked about the effect that being a geiko had on her older sister Yaeko, who fostered resentment and anger against her parents from the moment she was sent to the okiya. Mineko described in detail the exhaustion she felt and how success ultimately forced her to make due with an average of three hours of sleep a night. She revealed the life of a geiko and what that truly meant to the people of Japan.
I’m torn with this book. On one hand I really enjoyed reading about this different and highly mysterious aspect of Japanese culture. My interest had been sparked after reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden years ago, so I was very interested in reading this true account by the geisha that inspired what I considered to be a great novel. Reading Mineko’s account of the life of a geiko was extremely intriguing. She provided so much detail about her schedule, traditions, clothing and the culture that I could visualize and appreciate the true beauty and the art of being a geiko. On the other hand, this autobiography became repetitive and somewhat boastful. The tone would change in parts of the book from informative to, in my opinion, cocky and irritating. I got tired of reading about how successful she was and how she knew she was successful but had no true concept of how much money she was making or how much money was being spent. She just knew that she was the best geiko because she was the busiest. Mineko knew she was making money but only partially aware of the scope. I don’t know, I just got bored whenever Mineko would talk about her success. I found myself much more intrigued when hearing her speak about her relationships with other people and the dynamics between geikos. I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was enjoyable but it had its faults.
Full review available at The Next Book On My List
I’m torn with this book. On one hand I really enjoyed reading about this different and highly mysterious aspect of Japanese culture. My interest had been sparked after reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden years ago, so I was very interested in reading this true account by the geisha that inspired what I considered to be a great novel. Reading Mineko’s account of the life of a geiko was extremely intriguing. She provided so much detail about her schedule, traditions, clothing and the culture that I could visualize and appreciate the true beauty and the art of being a geiko. On the other hand, this autobiography became repetitive and somewhat boastful. The tone would change in parts of the book from informative to, in my opinion, cocky and irritating. I got tired of reading about how successful she was and how she knew she was successful but had no true concept of how much money she was making or how much money was being spent. She just knew that she was the best geiko because she was the busiest. Mineko knew she was making money but only partially aware of the scope. I don’t know, I just got bored whenever Mineko would talk about her success. I found myself much more intrigued when hearing her speak about her relationships with other people and the dynamics between geikos. I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was enjoyable but it had its faults.
Full review available at The Next Book On My List
3.5
I really enjoyed learning about the life of geisha and the traditional Japanese culture. I even started doing Japanese on Duoling because of this book. In the future I want to read more books set in Japan, and Asia in general, because I realize how much my reading is centered around the Western world, and I want to expand my horison, as they say. Even though I liked many parts of this story, some parts were quite tedious to get through and sometimes overly descriptive. She also complains about people without really trying to understand their point of view. However, this might be a result of her very unusual upbringing as an atotori in Gion Kobu. Overall, I would recommend this book if you are interested in Japanese culture and an insider's perspective on the world of geisha.
I really enjoyed learning about the life of geisha and the traditional Japanese culture. I even started doing Japanese on Duoling because of this book. In the future I want to read more books set in Japan, and Asia in general, because I realize how much my reading is centered around the Western world, and I want to expand my horison, as they say. Even though I liked many parts of this story, some parts were quite tedious to get through and sometimes overly descriptive. She also complains about people without really trying to understand their point of view. However, this might be a result of her very unusual upbringing as an atotori in Gion Kobu. Overall, I would recommend this book if you are interested in Japanese culture and an insider's perspective on the world of geisha.
A good friend of mine is acting as a bit of a personal library for me at the moment, but recently also gifted me a number of books and this one was amongst them. I knew I had on my "to read" list a few books about the life of a Geisha but it wasn't until now that I realised this was one of them (granted under a slightly different title - Geisha, a Life). I added it as "to read" in April 2012 and it only took me 4 years 3 months to get to it!!
I wasn't actually intending to read this book for a while - I was reading one that my friend lent to me instead (Geisha by Liza Dalby) but as that book is a tad... dry, I wanted to read this as a bit of a cleanser. I'll admit there were times in this book that I felt the writing was dry but you cannot really fault the author for being detailed.
I found this book to be really rather interesting though, the explanation of Japanese life and the reasons behind becoming a Geisha resonated more here than in the other book - probably because the reasons behind becoming a Geisha are more honest here. I am sure many people reading this will also have read Memoirs of a Geisha - when I read that book I was glad to realise it was fictional but here the author appears to go through similar, if not worse, situations - that actually happened... I found that quite astounding.
Whilst on the subject of Memoirs I must also say I found there to be a *lot* of differences between what I can only believe is 'reality' as shown here and what Golden fictionalised. That said he clearly drew upon a number of real life occurrences to create his book. (Oh, and just from quickly reading others reviews of this it is apparently Mineko's life that Memoirs is somewhat based on! And having written the rest of this review and now proof-reading it, having had that time to reflect you can see a hell of a lot of this story in his book really...)
There are however, a number of elements that... don't seem as believable (at least to me). Mineko seems to pick up a lot of things incredibly easily from her descriptions - now, perhaps one or two I could understand but to master so many? Also, some of her actions just seemed... impossible - for example her interactions with Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Charles.
That aside I really enjoyed this book and read it in about 3.5 hours... Would I read it again? Possible, I'm not sure it would have a good re-read value but I might return to it in a few years with hopefully more knowledge and read it from another standpoint.
I wasn't actually intending to read this book for a while - I was reading one that my friend lent to me instead (Geisha by Liza Dalby) but as that book is a tad... dry, I wanted to read this as a bit of a cleanser. I'll admit there were times in this book that I felt the writing was dry but you cannot really fault the author for being detailed.
I found this book to be really rather interesting though, the explanation of Japanese life and the reasons behind becoming a Geisha resonated more here than in the other book - probably because the reasons behind becoming a Geisha are more honest here. I am sure many people reading this will also have read Memoirs of a Geisha - when I read that book I was glad to realise it was fictional but here the author appears to go through similar, if not worse, situations - that actually happened... I found that quite astounding.
Whilst on the subject of Memoirs I must also say I found there to be a *lot* of differences between what I can only believe is 'reality' as shown here and what Golden fictionalised. That said he clearly drew upon a number of real life occurrences to create his book. (Oh, and just from quickly reading others reviews of this it is apparently Mineko's life that Memoirs is somewhat based on! And having written the rest of this review and now proof-reading it, having had that time to reflect you can see a hell of a lot of this story in his book really...)
There are however, a number of elements that... don't seem as believable (at least to me). Mineko seems to pick up a lot of things incredibly easily from her descriptions - now, perhaps one or two I could understand but to master so many? Also, some of her actions just seemed... impossible - for example her interactions with Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Charles.
That aside I really enjoyed this book and read it in about 3.5 hours... Would I read it again? Possible, I'm not sure it would have a good re-read value but I might return to it in a few years with hopefully more knowledge and read it from another standpoint.
"I believed that self-discipline was the key to beauty."
Mineko Iwasaki successfully sued Arthur Golden for modelling his novel Memoirs of a Geisha on her life. I can't really blame him. This memoir gets three stars solely due to how fascinating it is to see what it takes to become the most successful Geiko* of a generation.**
Geisha of Gion is far from a perfect read. My gripes, in no particular order:
1) Other reviewers suggest that Iwasaki had a ghost writer. If she did, she was robbed. There was no natural flow between her anecdotes. One sensational incident after another, with little insight to how in made her feel or how it affected her life.
2) I don't believe all of her stories. She claims to have slept only three hours a night for years on end. She claims to of had a premonition of a friend's death. (She has a lot of foreboding premonitions that turn out to be spot on.) This memoir begins when she is three years old. She claims to have an acute memory but it's a bit too much to swallow. I can't remember what happened last week as clearly as she recounts the events of her early childhood.
3) Her eldest sister (literally and symbolically) Yaeko is a cartoon villain. She must of been seriously unhinged. Why did the mother of the household hand her such an important responsibility over Mineko? It is never explained.
4) Mineko Iwasaki is easy to dislike. Being groomed from a young age to be a heiress must warp your personality somewhat, I'll admit. She was such a precocious child (and precocious adult) and she can't understand why she has no friends. She is often self-important and sanctimonious. When she is sitting next to Queen Elizabeth II at a dinner Iwasaki notices that she doesn't touch her dinner:
"I always try to eat whatever my host has been kind enough to serve me. To refuse would be discourteous and, if I were a visitor of state, it could even be construed as an affront to the nation, to say nothing of all the people who have worked so hard to prepare the meal."
Iwasaki avenges her nation (and the chef) by flirting with the Duke of Edinburgh. Cut her some slack, Mineko. She's just flown half way around the world to be at some boring state dinner. Japanese cuisine is an acquired taste. Especially in the 1970's when even sushi was completely exotic to the British palette.
5) Iwasaki always happens to be the best at everything and will tell you so herself. She takes up golf:
"I took private lessons for a few weeks and was soon scoring in the 80s and 90s. No one could believe it"
Whenever she visits Gion: "When I tell them my name is Mineko, they invariably fly into a tizzy and ask, 'Are you the real Mineko? The legend? It is wonderful to spend time with them."
No wonder all her peers had tall poppy syndrome.
6) While she goes into some detail about her dancing and the importance of kimono, sometimes she just throws a piece of info at you without context. For instance, once she was adopted she suckled her elder sister's breast to go to sleep... she continued to do this until she was over 10 years old... excuse me? Was this normal in Japan at that time? Or was it unique to Mineko? Why did everyone in your adopted family just go with it? Some elaboration would have been fantastic. At another point, she goes to get her face shaved which she has done regularly since she was a child. Is this still done in Japan? To what end?
Mineko Iwasaki is a formidable woman and her achievements are extraordinary. I just wish her tale was in the hands of an experienced biographer who could breathe some life into her story.
*Geisha can refer to men or women and simply means artist. In Kyoto, the term Geiko is used to describe what those in the West would describe as a Geisha.
** It also gets three stars because boo the patriarchy. Yay! for women telling their own stories.
Mineko Iwasaki successfully sued Arthur Golden for modelling his novel Memoirs of a Geisha on her life. I can't really blame him. This memoir gets three stars solely due to how fascinating it is to see what it takes to become the most successful Geiko* of a generation.**
Geisha of Gion is far from a perfect read. My gripes, in no particular order:
1) Other reviewers suggest that Iwasaki had a ghost writer. If she did, she was robbed. There was no natural flow between her anecdotes. One sensational incident after another, with little insight to how in made her feel or how it affected her life.
2) I don't believe all of her stories. She claims to have slept only three hours a night for years on end. She claims to of had a premonition of a friend's death. (She has a lot of foreboding premonitions that turn out to be spot on.) This memoir begins when she is three years old. She claims to have an acute memory but it's a bit too much to swallow. I can't remember what happened last week as clearly as she recounts the events of her early childhood.
3) Her eldest sister (literally and symbolically) Yaeko is a cartoon villain. She must of been seriously unhinged. Why did the mother of the household hand her such an important responsibility over Mineko? It is never explained.
4) Mineko Iwasaki is easy to dislike. Being groomed from a young age to be a heiress must warp your personality somewhat, I'll admit. She was such a precocious child (and precocious adult) and she can't understand why she has no friends. She is often self-important and sanctimonious. When she is sitting next to Queen Elizabeth II at a dinner Iwasaki notices that she doesn't touch her dinner:
"I always try to eat whatever my host has been kind enough to serve me. To refuse would be discourteous and, if I were a visitor of state, it could even be construed as an affront to the nation, to say nothing of all the people who have worked so hard to prepare the meal."
Iwasaki avenges her nation (and the chef) by flirting with the Duke of Edinburgh. Cut her some slack, Mineko. She's just flown half way around the world to be at some boring state dinner. Japanese cuisine is an acquired taste. Especially in the 1970's when even sushi was completely exotic to the British palette.
5) Iwasaki always happens to be the best at everything and will tell you so herself. She takes up golf:
"I took private lessons for a few weeks and was soon scoring in the 80s and 90s. No one could believe it"
Whenever she visits Gion: "When I tell them my name is Mineko, they invariably fly into a tizzy and ask, 'Are you the real Mineko? The legend? It is wonderful to spend time with them."
No wonder all her peers had tall poppy syndrome.
6) While she goes into some detail about her dancing and the importance of kimono, sometimes she just throws a piece of info at you without context. For instance, once she was adopted she suckled her elder sister's breast to go to sleep... she continued to do this until she was over 10 years old... excuse me? Was this normal in Japan at that time? Or was it unique to Mineko? Why did everyone in your adopted family just go with it? Some elaboration would have been fantastic. At another point, she goes to get her face shaved which she has done regularly since she was a child. Is this still done in Japan? To what end?
Mineko Iwasaki is a formidable woman and her achievements are extraordinary. I just wish her tale was in the hands of an experienced biographer who could breathe some life into her story.
*Geisha can refer to men or women and simply means artist. In Kyoto, the term Geiko is used to describe what those in the West would describe as a Geisha.
** It also gets three stars because boo the patriarchy. Yay! for women telling their own stories.
I remember liking this book a bit more the first time I read it. Reading this for a second time, and after several other books about geisha, this biography felt kind of lifeless. I'm not sure if that's due to the translation, the way it was written, or if it really had no luster, but it fell a little flat. Parts of it were still interesting, but I didn't feel as connected to the author as I should have been.
Funny, sad, intersting and so much more. The live of this woman is very fascinating and I had so much fun to read about it. I have learned more about Japan and especially Kyoto, through her memories.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Japan or just wants to know what a geisha is.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Japan or just wants to know what a geisha is.