Arthur Golden’s best-selling novel, The Memoirs of a Geisha,
is the story of how young Sakamoto Chiyo, born in a sleepy, poor, fisherman’s
village by the sea, goes on to become the glamorous, most sought after and
famous geisha in Japan, Nitta Sayuri.
Little Chiyo is an attractive child, with rare translucent gray eyes and her
unusual beauty prompts Mr Tanaka -a fisherman- to sell her to an Okiya in
Japan’s geisha district of Kyoto and her plain elder sister, Satsu, to a
brothel.
Chiyo has to deal with the mistresses of the Okiya, Granny, Mother and Aunty, a
scared, dim-witted trainee geisha, Pumpkin, in whom she tries to find a friend,
and the clever, beautiful and scheming Hatsumomo, who is the reining geisha of
the Nitta Okiya.
Chiyo tries to flee from all of this- she visits the brothel to meet her
sister- (I was super scared for her then, hoping nothing would go wrong) They
both plan to escape but she is caught and beaten up.
Jealous Hatsumomo makes life difficult for her and in the midst of this despair,
debt and helpless, heartrending misery, Chiyo meets the Chairman (A very rich,
handsome man, who is quite a few years her senior). They meet for a few minutes
and his kindness overwhelms her.
Throughout the book, the author, never once mentions the word love, only
describes and takes us through each and every emotion Chiyo goes through. The
readers just know that Chiyo is hopelessly in love, with the almost
unattainable Chairman.
She is around eleven or something when she meets him first. When you are that
young, your mind is most impressionable and even a single meeting can change
your entire life. Her only purpose in life from then on, is to win the
Chiarman’s affection.
Life goes on, she gets older and finds many other men who she is close to, likes
and admires but there is no one like him. She just can’t get over him at all.
The rest of the story is about what all Chiyo has to go through, in order to
get closer to the perfect man of her dreams. It is a poignant love story
of a striking woman, Sayuri (once she becomes a geisha, Chiyo is rechristened
Sayuri), admist the World War II and the Great Depression.
Mameha, a well-established geisha, is responsible for guiding Sayuri to become
a successful one herself. She takes her through her geisha life and helps her
to become a popular geisha.
Sayuri is a complete woman, a woman of substance (Femina!) and she finally
succeeds in ousting Hatsumomo, with the clever supervision and assistance of
geisha sister and mentor Mameha, to become the heir of the Nitta Okiya and
assume the title Nitta Sayuri.
The Chairman is visible throughout the book and Sayuri interacts with him
without ever letting him know of her true feelings for him.
The Chairman is indebted to his best friend Nobu and when Nobu exhibits an
interest in Sayuri, he slowly alienates himself from her life, in order to make
Nobu happy. If Nobu becomes her ‘danna’ then Sayuri would lose the love of her
life, forever. Does Sayuri finally express her love? Will Sayuri sacrifice her
love and give herself to Nobu? Read to find out…
In this breathtakingly evocative novel, we are taken deep into the exotic and
unknown (at least unknown to me!) world of Japanese geisha. Arthur Golden
reveals that geisha are not prostitutes- they are artists -excellent dancers,
singers and musicians. They entertain people for a fee and usually belong to
only one very wealthy man (danna) throughout their lives.
From the nitty-gritty of the traditional geisha make-up, the various stages in
the life of a geisha, their superstitions, their years of schooling to perfect
their art, the famous tea ceremony, and terms like apprentice, misuage, danna
etc are well-researched and detailed beautifully.
This book does not have one single moment of slackness- it is taut and un-put-down-able.
Every page leaves you wanting a little more of Sayuri’s life, her troubles and
her heartache.
Amazing and completely unforgettable as a debut novel and definitely warrants a
read. Skip the movie if you may but not the book!