Memoirs of a Geisha

A seductive and evocative epic on an intimate scale, that tells the extraordinary story of a geisha girl. Summoning up more than twenty years of Japan's most dramatic history, it uncovers a hidden world of eroticism and enchantment, exploitation and degradation. From a small fishing village in 1929, the tale moves to the glamorous and decadent heart of Kyoto in the 1930s, where a young peasant girl is sold as servant and apprentice to a renowned geisha house. She tells her story many years later from the Waldorf Astoria in New York; it exquisitely evokes another culture, a different time and the details of an extraordinary way of life. It conjures up the perfection and the ugliness of life behind rice-paper screens, where young girls learn the arts of geisha - dancing and singing, how to wind the kimono, how to walk and pour tea, and how to beguile the most powerful men.

ISBN 0099498189   Pages 44 ISBN13 9780099498186 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 280 Publisher Vintage   Published in London Imprint Vintage   Previous ISBN 9780099282853 Format Paperback   Height (mm) 178 Publication date 01 Dec 2005   Width (mm) 110 DEWEY 813.54   Spine width (mm) 32 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level General

Read this book in Cyprus on holiday many years ago before the film was released (I have the video also) but book is much better. It transports you to a place that you would otherwise never go and gives a wonderful insight into the Japanese way of life. A very sensual and poetic read which conjurs up all sorts of visions in your head, I can smell the cherry blossom from here! Just can't wait to visit the country to share the wonderful cultural experience first hand. - Jan Tovey



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