Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.33 You Save: $13.67 (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 Reviews of Geisha: A Life
Book Review: A wonderful tale
Summary: 5 Stars
After having read Memoirs of a Geisha, it was wonderful to find another story of a geisha. While not everything in Mr. Golden's book was accurate, I still enjoyed it as a good story. If you are to read both Golden's book and Ms. Iwasaki's book, you cannot compare the two. Golden's book is a novel and reads as a romance story. Iwasaki's book is her life story and cannot be read as a piece of fiction. Many people compare them and are more taken in with Golden's style of writing, which is very poetic and again, romantic, but Iwasaki's is straight forward and does not try to cater to anyone's ideal.
The two stories are very similar because Golden used Iwasaki's story and transformed it enough to be his own, though it was not his story to tell, so even though they have many things in common, they still should not be compared on that basis. Golden's tale is a work of fiction while Iwasaki's tale is all her own. I would highly recommend this book, although it may appeal more to people who like historical books, as it is an autobiography. As in all I found that Iwasaki's tale was fascinating and engaging. While some may believe parts of it are too much to be true, I point out that we cannot begin to claim to understand all the inner workings of the Flower and Willow world. Iwasaki Mineko is a true, former geiko (Kyoto geisha), and she lived a very amazing, hard life. I believe that she has a right to be heard and let her story be known.
Book Review: An autobiography is an act of self-revelation
Summary: 4 Stars
One of the reasons Mineko "came out" and decided to write this book was to set the misrepresentation of Geisha culture by Arthur Golden, whom she sued for the publishing of Memoirs of A Geisha (and settled out of court).
The biggest items in contest were the facts that the concept of the Mizuage as a fee for a deflowering ceremony of a girl only applies to the oiran and tayu (prostitutes), not Geishas (where the word stands for the amount of money made by appearances over a period of time) and the notion that Geishas don't provide sex, only company. These were two items that was misrepresented by Golden.
If by definition, an autobiography is to be a revealing self-portrait, then Geisha, A Life succeeds brilliantly. As readers, it is human nature, I think, to seek common ground and find people we can identify with when we pick up a book, especially a biography. However, if one can accept that the act of reading can also serve as an insight to individuals whom he or she will never cross paths with, then the absence of common ground no longer becomes an issue.
Like many others here, I found this book through the controversial source for Golden's Memoirs of A Geisha. I was hoping to read about the witty conversations Geishas are reknown for. Certainly, Iwakasi- who never lets up from constantly reminding us, until the very final page- portraying herself as the greatest legend in the Geisha culture in the last hundred years, would be positively emanating with wit in every page.
There was none.
Instead, we are treated to a 300-page reiteration of a narrator who continues to win in almost every situation. She is No.1, inspiring jealousy in her colleagues; she excels in her dance, she instills mass hysteria and adoration from her numerous fan clubs; she is highly in demand in the Gion kobu; people sneak photos and out-takes of her into posters, commercials, and annual events, she makes so much money that she owned over three hundred kimonos worth tens of thousands of dollars, she comes from an aristocratic family (and yet, curiously, she had to "chose" a hard life of work at the age of five, separating from her family which she points out, was the only time she was truly happy in life).
Even when she was at the point of retiring, not only does a good-looking younger man ask for her hand in marriage, but she keeps all her appointments, have an affair with a married superstar, and manages to make the Queen of England jealous enough to send the Duke of Edinburgh to the doghouse for paying too much attention to our heroine.
She openly admits she doesn't like people. She is impetulant and spoiled from a young age. There is a unfortunate dearth of any humane voice in her narration. At the same time, she overworks herself because she wants to be liked by everyone.
If all of this doesn't seem to add up, it's because the root of the story lies in one line, imparted to Mineko by her father at the beginning and the end of his life. "The samurai betrays no weakness even when starving. Pride above all."
Given this filter, you begin to realize that you have to read this autobiography as if it was selectively recounted with a heavily prejudiced pen, often in the writer's favor.
The only big dramatic moment occurs on Page 159, when our author pays a visit to her Onesan (the mentoring older sister to a maiko at the Okiya) who also turns out to be her real sister. She finds their mother hunched over like a maid, cleaning something. The older sister enters and screams "This is the [...] who sold us and killed Masayuki." Our author cries and runs out of the house.
So the reader first thinks "whatever happened to making her own decision at five years old to lead a superstar life of a Geisha? I guess I'll find out in the next chapter."
We never do.
It immediately jumps back to the busy schedule of our triumphant heroine. All we have to go by is the closing chapter line "I never went back. Some proprieties were just not worth it."
There is never a Geisha that equals Mineko in the narration. We are told there is a graceful beauty who was an exquisite dancer in the Gion district. Her name is Satoharu, but she is only alluded to in passing. Why? We get a glimpse of the reason on pg 232, as Mineko pleads with her Okiya mother Masako to dress down when they go meet Mineko's love interest. Here is a 21 year old superstar Geisha at the top of her game, with men falling all over her, and she is begging a 47 year old woman to go in everyday clothes because she couldn't bear being outdone?
A person who doesn't like competition can tell a story only one way.
One of the inherent problems of a non-fiction account of Japanese culture is that the subject is known to be extremely insulated as a community. Even if they beg to differ, or they are put off by a gross misrepresentation of the facts, we, as non-Japanese people, will never know. I think this sets the stage for a free-for-all, with the prize going to the person who choses to speak.
And that's how I made it through the last hundred pages. It became more of game for me as a reader, to see how the narrator could continue to cram yet another example of self-glorification into her story.
In this, she did not disappoint.
Book Review: Awesome Read
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the ultimate book you should consider when trying to get a first hand account the details of a life of a Geisha.
Mineko Iwasaki is highly respected and is referred as one of the best Geisha to ever come along in her generation.
This book was interesting and exciting to read.
If you have read Memiors of a Geisha, you will know that Mineko's story greatly contributed to Golden's novel. Now see what it is really like to be a Geisha by reading Mineko's book.
Book Review: Better than Memoirs
Summary: 5 Stars
Geisha of Gion/Geisha, A Life (they're both the same book, don't get confused) is a wonderful story. Though Memoirs was more ...dramatic, these real life accounts of a real geisha is better. Mineko is a thoughtful, wonderful writer and her story draws you in. You might find yourself reading facts that discredit Memoirs and it's a shame but you'll feel better for knowing the true ways a geisha really lives.I would recommed this to anyone intrigued by the world of Geisha.
Book Review: Can't put it down
Summary: 4 Stars
Geisha have always been fascinating, mostly I believe, because they are so mysterious to us Westerners. Prepare to be demystified. Golden's 'Memoirs' was like another reviewer wrote, an excellent book, but still a fairytale - a bittersweet Japanese Cinderella. This book, by contrast, was written by an actual Geisha living her own real life rags to riches story. Though we might envy her glamorous lifestyle and beautiful clothes, we sympathize with her heartbreak, rejoice in her victories, and otherwise come to care about Mineko. She is simultaneously innocent and worldly, childlike and alluring. She was the top Geiko of her era and extremely privileged. While not as dramatic as Memoirs, I enjoyed this book much more - mainly because I felt it was more accuracy and less artistic license.