I didn’t come across Arthur Golden’s Memoirs Of Geisha by sheer accident. I was planning to buy the book ever since 2004. However, I mistook the term ‘Geisha’ just as the Westerners took it and always put aside the purchase. Therefore, when the book came to my hands as a gift, I realized that I am destined to read it.
From the very first page, you feel like living in Japan feeling its unexplored lands and a time prior to the World War. The story unfolds through the memories of the successful Geisha Nitta Sayuri who spends her old age in New York. Though Nitta Sayuri is an imaginative character of Arthur Golden, the passion of her for the bygone time reflects in the introductory pages.
“Sayuri chose me as her amanuensis, to be sure, but she may have been waiting for the right candidate to present herself.” (p.vii)
As the reader begins to read, a usual question arises. “Why did Sayuri want her story told?”(P.vii) unlike many other Geishas, she didn’t choose to keep her secrets. Why? Though not explicitly written, the answer comes to the reader’s mind as the book progresses.
The life of Geisha was not the choice of a simple girl ‘Chiyo’ born in the fishermen’s village of Yoroido. But just a pebble fallen into a river, her life takes her away from Yoroido to Kyoto to become one of its successful Geishas named ‘Nitta Sayuri’.
When the novel initiates the reader with the dilemmas of a helpless girl in the beginning pages, it soon takes the reader to the world of Geishas without even being realized of it. As a reader leaf through the pages, they may get so familiar with the lives of Geishas, their customs, manners, competitions, hard works, dilemmas etc.
The novel has its later settings in the backdrop of Second World War. The writer sketches the hardships of Second World War without even pointing at it directly but through the eyes of Sayuri. The earnest mind of the Japanese to hope amidst hardships after the world war has brought out a new realm in Sayuri’s life. She struggles along with the business magnets in Japan to bring forth a new thriving phase into their country.
The course of life eventually takes Sayuri from Japan to New York. She discovers the scope for a business venture in New York through her experiences as a Geisha. As her old age withers day by day, she meets the author whom she confides her life in.
As one finishes the story, the fact on why Sayuri chose to write the novel becomes clear. She wanted to wipe out the wrong notions about a ‘Geisha.’ A Geisha is not a prostitute but an artist. It’s true that she entertains the men but, the relationship is bound with customs. Sayuri also sketches the time of Japan in the backdrop of her life story for those to revive the history. As she speaks the last lines, she not only speaks about herself but on the history of her country itself.
"But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising in the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they blend into a wash, just like watery ink on paper." (P.439)
Author: Arthur Golden
Publishers: Vintage Classics
Price: 232 Rs/-
From the very first page, you feel like living in Japan feeling its unexplored lands and a time prior to the World War. The story unfolds through the memories of the successful Geisha Nitta Sayuri who spends her old age in New York. Though Nitta Sayuri is an imaginative character of Arthur Golden, the passion of her for the bygone time reflects in the introductory pages.
“Sayuri chose me as her amanuensis, to be sure, but she may have been waiting for the right candidate to present herself.” (p.vii)
As the reader begins to read, a usual question arises. “Why did Sayuri want her story told?”(P.vii) unlike many other Geishas, she didn’t choose to keep her secrets. Why? Though not explicitly written, the answer comes to the reader’s mind as the book progresses.
The life of Geisha was not the choice of a simple girl ‘Chiyo’ born in the fishermen’s village of Yoroido. But just a pebble fallen into a river, her life takes her away from Yoroido to Kyoto to become one of its successful Geishas named ‘Nitta Sayuri’.
When the novel initiates the reader with the dilemmas of a helpless girl in the beginning pages, it soon takes the reader to the world of Geishas without even being realized of it. As a reader leaf through the pages, they may get so familiar with the lives of Geishas, their customs, manners, competitions, hard works, dilemmas etc.
The novel has its later settings in the backdrop of Second World War. The writer sketches the hardships of Second World War without even pointing at it directly but through the eyes of Sayuri. The earnest mind of the Japanese to hope amidst hardships after the world war has brought out a new realm in Sayuri’s life. She struggles along with the business magnets in Japan to bring forth a new thriving phase into their country.
The course of life eventually takes Sayuri from Japan to New York. She discovers the scope for a business venture in New York through her experiences as a Geisha. As her old age withers day by day, she meets the author whom she confides her life in.
As one finishes the story, the fact on why Sayuri chose to write the novel becomes clear. She wanted to wipe out the wrong notions about a ‘Geisha.’ A Geisha is not a prostitute but an artist. It’s true that she entertains the men but, the relationship is bound with customs. Sayuri also sketches the time of Japan in the backdrop of her life story for those to revive the history. As she speaks the last lines, she not only speaks about herself but on the history of her country itself.
"But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising in the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they blend into a wash, just like watery ink on paper." (P.439)
Author: Arthur Golden
Publishers: Vintage Classics
Price: 232 Rs/-
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