This is not a book that you should read for its plot, which is really no more than a sugary love story, completely ruined by its own happy ending. Rather read it for its beautiful prose, teeming with imagery that conjures both the landscape and the culture of Japan in the 1930s and 40s. This detailed account of the life, rituals, and traditions of the geisha was criticised on first publication, but whether for lack of accuracy or for spilling the beans, I don’t remember. It remains a fascinating story of the old east, and is written with charm and the confidence of extensive research in a very interesting subject. I first read it in 1998, and enjoyed the re-read.
Chiyo is sold as a child and brought up to be a geisha, overcoming trials, false starts, and intense rivalry. Her one goal in life is to give herself to a man who was once kind to her, and she preserves this hope against the odds, for a true Hollywood ending. The once-innocent child absorbs the demands of a geisha’s life, to turn into an entirely different person, recognisable only from her determination to get her man.
4/5
I just read this book for the first time and I enjoyed the peek into a world I know nothing about. Plus, I always like to read the book before the movie just to annoy people by saying “it did not happen that way in the book.”