Geisha: A Life
by Mineko Iwasaki
List Price:
Our Price: $2.37
You Save: $13.63 (85%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Mineko IwasakiContributor: Rande Brown
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-01
ISBN: 0743444299
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Book Reviews of Geisha: A Life
Book Review: "Geisha.....a question mark"
Summary: 3 Stars
Like most of the readers out here, I too read "Memoirs of a Geisha" and was enthralled with it. Although technically fictional, the book still contains broad and specific strokes of information that allow us entry into the "floating world" therefore giving it credence and credibility. Mineko Iwasaki's book also allows us a view into the life of geiko but, as with most autobiographies, the story is told from the most advantageous point of the living author. In Ms. Iwasaki's case, her story is interesting but also questionable.
To begin, she has recollections of conversations between people where she wasn't even present which adds that element of embellishment. Additionally, though people accuse her of not understanding her position as atotori, I believe she fully understood what this meant but the real question is why was she supposedly chosen at such a young age. The concept of Madame Oima meeting Mineko, then aged three, and having a sudden feeling that she'd just met her atotori and therefore needing Mineko at all costs smacks of something more necessitating than honorific. I suspect highly that Mineko's family ancestry was just the required lineage of titles Madame Oima needed since Mineko tells us directly that the Iwasaki okiya was in financial trouble. She glosses over that point rather quickly.
Mineko does an excellent job in pointing out the artistry and value of the kimono. What she doesn't indicate is that the kimono is not the property of the geiko but that of the house. Only those in highest ranking positions are allowed to "own" a kimono outright and she was one of those who was allowed this ownership.
Where the story falls flat is in it's telling all around. It moves from subject to subject without real flow and much of it centers around repetitious information. Mineko wants us to understand Japanese culture but she herself appears to have been very closed about understanding other cultures. Her disgust with Prince Charles' faux pas over signing her fan without her consent indicates her inability to make allowances for the ignorance of someone else but she makes no such excuses for her own ignorance. She's vain, arrogant and ambitious making her perfectly human and therefore exactly the point of her book. Geisha is a fantasy world.
I recommend this book for a few reasons. One, it allows for an alternate perspective even if questionable. Secondly, it gives insight into the workings of the mind of someone from another culture and shows just how vast differences in perspective can be. Finally, it reveals that beneath the calm and always polite veneer of Japanese society, there exists true human nature....a thing we all possess regardless of culture.
Entertainers Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Entertainers Books
El Sid: Saint Viciousby David Dalton
Griffin; Published: 1998-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.79
Price in other shops:
Moonwalkby Michael Jackson
Crown Archetype; Published: 2009-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.45
Price in other shops:
High Society: The Life of Grace Kellyby Donald Spoto
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.13
Price in other shops:
Stand & Deliver: The Autobiographyby Adam Ant
Pan Macmillan; Published: 2007-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $105.86
San Antonio Rose: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BOB WILLS (Music in American Life)by Charles Townsend
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1986-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.50
Price in other shops:
Orson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanaduby Simon Callow
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1997-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops:
The Basketball Diariesby Jim Carroll
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1987-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops:
Hollywood Animalby Joe Eszterhas
Hutchinson; Published: 2004; Paperback; Book
Love, Janisby Laura Joplin
It Books; Published: 2005-08-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
A Paper Life CDby Tatum O'Neal
HarperAudio; Published: 2004-10-12; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $17.77
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Tale of Murasaki: A Novelby Liza Dalby
Anchor; Published: 2001-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Memoirs of a Geishaby Arthur Golden
Vintage; Published: 2005-11-22; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.06
Price in other shops:
Memoirs of a Geisha (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)Sony; Release date: 2006-03-28; DVD
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geishaby Lesley Downer
Broadway; Published: 2002-04-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops:
Geishaby Liza Dalby
University of California Press; Published: 1998-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.21
Price in other shops:
A Geisha's Journey: My Life As a Kyoto Apprenticeby Komomo
Kodansha USA; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.04
Price in other shops:
Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novelby Arthur Golden
Vintage; Published: 1999-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.54
Price in other shops:
The Nightless City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science)by J. E. de Becker
Dover Publications; Published: 2007-09-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.61
Price in other shops:
Autobiography of a Geishaby Sayo Masuda
Columbia University Press; Published: 2005-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.08
Price in other shops:
Geisha of Gionby Mineko Iwasaki
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2003-05-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.10