Word: geishas
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Sayuri once notes that "the point wasn't to become a geisha, but to be one," but Golden wisely devotes the bulk of the book to the becoming. Golden has done an exquisite job of research. His comprehensive knowledge of the world of a geisha adds verisimilitude as Sayuri describes her reactions to her increasing knowledge of a geisha's life. Her descriptions of how to wear a kimono, or what a geisha's daily lessons are like, or how a geisha is expected to behave in the presence of men are among the best passages in the book: educational...
Oddly enough, men play almost an incidental role in Sayuri's life as a geisha. She spends her evening hours being attractive and attentive to the men she entertains and excites at the scores of parties she pops in and out of, yet scarcely sees another man besides her dresser at any other time. The main figures in a geisha's life are all female. Even during the evening, while seemingly enthralled with the men she is with, a geisha is likely to be secretly worrying about a catty rivalry with some other geisha rather than about the men themselves...
...women of Gion are somewhat indifferent to their male customers, the men are all too aware of the women. Many men are boorish and cruel around geisha, and geisha are expected to be subservient to men in everything, but men place geisha on a sort of erotic pedestal. They will pay exorbitant amounts for a geisha's virginity, and the sums they pay to become a geisha's danna, or exclusive sexual partner, could support a family in many cases. The danna is the key distinguishing feature between a geisha and a prostitute; the effort and expense involved in becoming...
...will often expect as much emotionally of a geisha as they would of a wife, without realizing that a geisha's lifestyle cannot allow her to give her emotions so freely. The interactions between men and women seem sad and empty in Gion; so many misunderstandings, so many disappointed dreams, so much pain...
Memoirs of a Geisha is crammed with wonderful sentences; Golden's language is almost overwhelming. He is fond of verbal special effects, and his prose reads almost like a poet's at times Image follows metaphor, which follow conceit, which follows simile. There is proliferation of "like" and "seemed and imaginative figures of speech are densely crammed together. Sometime Golden's images ring false--raindrop that hit "like quail eggs," a sky "extravagant with stars," a retired geisha "more terrified of fire than beer is of a thirst...