Golden, Arthur Memoirs of a Geisha ISBN 13: 9780375400117

Memoirs of a Geisha - Hardcover

9780375400117: Memoirs of a Geisha
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
An alluring tour de force: a brilliant debut novel told with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism as the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.  

Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love, always elusive, is scorned as illusion.  

Sayuri's story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Through her eyes, we see the decadent heart of Gion--the geisha district of Kyoto--with its marvelous teahouses and theaters, narrow back alleys, ornate temples, and artists' streets. And we witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it. But as World War II erupts and the geisha houses are forced to close, Sayuri, with little money and even less food, must reinvent herself all over again to find a rare kind of freedom on her own terms.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a book of nuances and vivid metaphor, of memorable characters rendered with humor and pathos. And though the story is rich with detail and a vast knowledge of history, it is the transparent, seductive voice of Sayuri that the reader remembers.

A dazzling literary achievement of empathy and grace by an extraordinary new writer.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
According to Arthur Golden's absorbing first novel, the word "geisha" does not mean "prostitute," as Westerners ignorantly assume--it means "artisan" or "artist." To capture the geisha experience in the art of fiction, Golden trained as long and hard as any geisha who must master the arts of music, dance, clever conversation, crafty battle with rival beauties, and cunning seduction of wealthy patrons. After earning degrees in Japanese art and history from Harvard and Columbia--and an M.A. in English--he met a man in Tokyo who was the illegitimate offspring of a renowned businessman and a geisha. This meeting inspired Golden to spend 10 years researching every detail of geisha culture, chiefly relying on the geisha Mineko Iwasaki, who spent years charming the very rich and famous.

The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

From the Publisher:
"Wonderful, involving, intelligent, fascinating, and almost Dickensian in the way the characters inhabit the landscape, and the landscape permeates the characters. It's a unique, beautifully written book."
--Ann Beattie

"I still can't quite believe that an American male can so seamlessly enter the soul of a Japanese woman, and catch her world, its textures, its hopes, and its sinuous patter with such perfection. Memoirs of a Geisha evokes all the delicate steel of Kyoto's geisha culture with such uncanny fidelity that, after you've finished, you feel as if you've entered not just another world, but an extraordinary and foreign heart."
--Pico Iyer

"Sayuri tells her story with such gentle courtesy and determination that you are quickly brought under the spell of her character. She takes you by the hand and leads you into a world that is both formal and intimate, a world that I had only before glimpsed in the fleeting and beautiful images of traditional Japanese ink painting...Memoirs of a Geisha is a wonderful achievement."
--Julia Blackburn

"A haunting tale of a hidden world that could hold an audience spellbound through many an evening in a lantern-lit teahouse."
--Geraldine Brooks

"Memoirs of a Geisha is a masterpiece. Every detail on this canvas is fascinating, even arresting, while at the same time the bigger portrait--the story, the truth told, a life revealed--is spellbinding."
--Elinor Lipman

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherKnopf
  • Publication date1997
  • ISBN 10 0375400117
  • ISBN 13 9780375400117
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages448
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780679781585: Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novel

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780679781585
Publisher: Vintage, 1999
Softcover

  • 9780099771517: Memoirs of a Geisha: The Literary Sensation and Runaway Bestseller

    Vintage, 1998
    Softcover

  • 9781400096893: Memoirs of a Geisha

    Vintage, 2005
    Softcover

  • 9780099498186: Memoirs of a Geisha

    TRAFAL..., 2006
    Softcover

  • 9781784871406: Memoirs Of A Geisha (Vintage Past)

    Random...
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0375400117

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 16.86
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Arthur Golden
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BowNError
(Front Royal, VA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # BK1911

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 18.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 5.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GridFreed
(North Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.)

Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. In shrink wrap. Seller Inventory # 100-29377

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 18.58
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 5.45
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0375400117-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 26.81
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0375400117-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 26.82
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0375400117

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 22.85
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover First Edition Quantity: 1
Seller:
Ergodebooks
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. First Edition. An alluring tour de force: a brilliant debut novel told with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism as the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love, always elusive, is scorned as illusion.Sayuri's story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Through her eyes, we see the decadent heart of Gion--the geisha district of Kyoto--with its marvelous teahouses and theaters, narrow back alleys, ornate temples, and artists' streets. And we witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it. But as World War II erupts and the geisha houses are forced to close, Sayuri, with little money and even less food, must reinvent herself all over again to find a rare kind of freedom on her own terms.Memoirs of a Geisha is a book of nuances and vivid metaphor, of memorable characters rendered with humor and pathos. And though the story is rich with detail and a vast knowledge of history, it is the transparent, seductive voice of Sayuri that the reader remembers.A dazzling literary achievement of empathy and grace by an extraordinary new writer. Seller Inventory # DADAX0375400117

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 28.06
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Hafa Adai Books
(Moncks Corner, SC, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # Hafa_fresh_0375400117

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 46.35
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.95
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0375400117

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 52.25
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Golden, Arthur
Published by Knopf (1997)
ISBN 10: 0375400117 ISBN 13: 9780375400117
New Hardcover Signed Quantity: 1
Seller:
Classic Bookshop
(Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. ***U.S. Shipping only*** Only one copy available. Hardcover, 30th edition, perfect condition, SIGNED by author Arthur Golden on the title page. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # ABE-1691676051968

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 50.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 7.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book