Arthur Golden: Memoirs Of A Geisha

[lenny nero]

It's great, by all means, read it.

[MonkeyCatcher]

The writing isn't complex at all really, so you should be able to read it. Go ahead, it's a great book.

[Fantasy Moon]

I agree that it's a well-written book with many details to this aspect of Japanese culture, but after I read the book I didn't like the story of it at all. I can't be sure what exactly about it doesn't strike my fancy. Maybe it's the whole sold-into-slavery bit.

Everyone seeks to tell me that a movie was coming out because they know I like Japan, but I could care less about seeing it. Only if there was absolutely nothing else of interest to watch.

[novella]

Well, if it's a well-written book set authenically in Japan you want, try reading someone Japanese, like Murakami. He's brilliant, amusing, and available. I also love Banana Yoshimoto.

If you just want something Asian, Wild Swans is a complex and complete memoir of Maoist China from a woman's perspective. To my mind, Memoirs of a Geisha is fake-Asian, in that it's a stylized imagined first-person narrative by someone who has no real experience of that world. There are many things wrong with Memoirs of a Geisha that go beyond literary criticism or reality vs. fiction. It would probably be a good idea to read an authentic Japanese writer in translation before accepting Memoirs as 'literature.'

[Kenny Shovel]

Originally Posted by novella

... Murakami. He's brilliant, amusing, and available. I also love Banana Yoshimoto...

Post Of The Day.

[HermioneWeasley]

ok, thanks everyone! i'll try it. and i usually watch the adaptation of the book unless i hear that it's REALLY bad(which tends to happen a lot)

[Fantasy Moon]

Something that doesn't obsess about losing virginity through eels and caves? I'm there.

I need to finish The Wild Swans. I started reading that when classes started and never got to finish it.

[BenjaminDixon]

yeah read it, im reading it now. theres some graphic stuff, but nothing that would be kept on high bookshelves. otherwise its a really great book about this weird culture of 'geisha'.