2005-12-15 02:57:46珍珠
Book: Memoirs of a Geisha
”Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden
This book was published in 1997. But it was until the year 2000 that I came across it on the shelf of a bookstore. I bought the paperback edition right away and began to read earnestly. It was truly a story you could not turn down easily. I like the way Sayuri’s story was told; just like water flowing down the stream. The ending is very touching and satisfying. It is like a dream has come true; and you are left to ponder the question of whether it is man or fate that controls one’s destiny.
Since the movie of the same title will be released here in my city this Friday, I reread this book in the past few days. Now this time every character has a clear face to me because I know who will be playing them. I focused especially on the few passages describing Sayuri and the Chairman, who is played by my favorite actor Ken Watanabe. I cannot wait to see the movie!!
I learned from some Chinese newspapers and online discussions, lots of Japanese and Chinese (in especially China) are boycotting the movie. I want to say to them: just relax. It is just a movie; an entertainment. No matter the leading ladies are Chinese or Japanese, as long as they do a good job at playing their roles, I personally do not care. Because most of all, they are actors. They should be able to “act” like someone they really aren’t. And I am glad that I will find out if those actors did a good job in just 2 days!
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Review from Library Journal
”I wasn’t born and raised to be a Kyoto geisha.... I’m a fisherman’s daughter from a little town called Yoroido on the Sea of Japan.” How nine-year-old Chiyo, sold with her sister into slavery by their father after their mother’s death, becomes Sayuri, the beautiful geisha accomplished in the art of entertaining men, is the focus of this fascinating first novel. Narrating her life story from her elegant suite in the Waldorf Astoria, Sayuri tells of her traumatic arrival at the Nitta okiya (a geisha house), where she endures harsh treatment from Granny and Mother, the greedy owners, and from Hatsumomo, the sadistically cruel head geisha. But Sayuri’s chance meeting with the Chairman, who shows her kindness, makes her determined to become a geisha. Under the tutelage of the renowned Mameha, she becomes a leading geisha of the 1930s and 1940s. After the book’s compelling first half, the second half is a bit flat and overlong. Still, Golden, with degrees in Japanese art and history, has brilliantly revealed the culture and traditions of an exotic world, closed to most Westerners. Highly recommended.
This book was published in 1997. But it was until the year 2000 that I came across it on the shelf of a bookstore. I bought the paperback edition right away and began to read earnestly. It was truly a story you could not turn down easily. I like the way Sayuri’s story was told; just like water flowing down the stream. The ending is very touching and satisfying. It is like a dream has come true; and you are left to ponder the question of whether it is man or fate that controls one’s destiny.
Since the movie of the same title will be released here in my city this Friday, I reread this book in the past few days. Now this time every character has a clear face to me because I know who will be playing them. I focused especially on the few passages describing Sayuri and the Chairman, who is played by my favorite actor Ken Watanabe. I cannot wait to see the movie!!
I learned from some Chinese newspapers and online discussions, lots of Japanese and Chinese (in especially China) are boycotting the movie. I want to say to them: just relax. It is just a movie; an entertainment. No matter the leading ladies are Chinese or Japanese, as long as they do a good job at playing their roles, I personally do not care. Because most of all, they are actors. They should be able to “act” like someone they really aren’t. And I am glad that I will find out if those actors did a good job in just 2 days!
*****************************
Review from Library Journal
”I wasn’t born and raised to be a Kyoto geisha.... I’m a fisherman’s daughter from a little town called Yoroido on the Sea of Japan.” How nine-year-old Chiyo, sold with her sister into slavery by their father after their mother’s death, becomes Sayuri, the beautiful geisha accomplished in the art of entertaining men, is the focus of this fascinating first novel. Narrating her life story from her elegant suite in the Waldorf Astoria, Sayuri tells of her traumatic arrival at the Nitta okiya (a geisha house), where she endures harsh treatment from Granny and Mother, the greedy owners, and from Hatsumomo, the sadistically cruel head geisha. But Sayuri’s chance meeting with the Chairman, who shows her kindness, makes her determined to become a geisha. Under the tutelage of the renowned Mameha, she becomes a leading geisha of the 1930s and 1940s. After the book’s compelling first half, the second half is a bit flat and overlong. Still, Golden, with degrees in Japanese art and history, has brilliantly revealed the culture and traditions of an exotic world, closed to most Westerners. Highly recommended.
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