Geisha by Liza Dalby Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Geisha
Book Review: I read this tantalizing and authoritative book in two days.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was living near Tokyo in 1976, the time when Liza Dalby was a geisha, so that in itself made me drawn to read her fascinating book. My view then and up until I read "Geisha" was quite limited. Like most people, I was intrigued about the intimate details of geisha life, and Dalby's book satisfies the innate curiosity to the fullest. Like the previous reviewer, I became aware of this book after reading "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Golden. Now I want to read more on the subject. Absolutely great reads, both of them.Book Review: If you want to really learn about Geisha, this is great
Summary: 4 Stars
However, be warned, it is not a novel about Geisha as some people seem to want. She is an anthropologist and she documents and writes like an anthropologist. She casts a keen anthropologist's eye on the culture and how people act and interact. May well be too detailed for some people. I know I got a little bogged down in the last third of the book. But, really answers a lot of questions about the whole process including the trainers, dressers, wig stylists, kimono makers, etc. And I think she does a good job of updating the fact that the Geisha are a lot different now than they were even ten or twenty years ago. They've become pretty modern and the girls are much more in control of their lives. I've read 2 or 3 other books on Geisha and this is the best and most comprehensive by far.Book Review: Informative, but not very interesting, really
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book mostly because I had absolutely fallen in love with "Memoirs of a Geisha", a stunning book. Arthur Golden just had a way of writing that made me love the details he described (kimonos, dressing, history, dancing, rituals, sisters etc.) the most. Therefore I thought I would enjoy a book about the life of geisha immensely. Well - I didn't. Compared to my expections, this book should get three, or even perhaps two, stars, but I tried to appreciate it for what it was, not what it should have been.The main problem with the book is that Liza Dalby is not a very good writer. The book consists of random tidbits of information. There is no story. She only mentions her experiences a few times during the whole book, and these few are nothing worth mentioning, actually. A most annoying habit of hers is recounting a story without any purpose at all - she might tell you about an evening spent with guests, but there's no actual point in it, no conclusion. That seems to be the whole spirit of the book - pointless information mostly, just details nobody could possibly care about. Another thing I strongly disliked was that she mentioned some details about the geisha who welcomed her so warmly that the book could have done without perfectly. For example, she mentions (just as a side fact without any particular meaning) that her older sister (an "older sister" is the geisha who shows a novice how to do things and helps her in every way possible; she is to be treated with extreme respect and love at all occasions) drools when she has to speak too quickly. I didn't see why she should have mentioned such a fact.
Anyway, obviously the book was not that bad, as I gave it four stars. First of all, she provides many details about the history of geisha compared to modern day geisha, which I liked reading about. Secondly, she writes about many aspects of geisha (and Japanese culture) Golden didn't touch in his book - country geisha, children of geisha, geisha and wives etc. And possibly I felt I should give this book four stars because it is thick enough and covers all these topics. You can feel that there are some things Dalby knows what to say about, and she talks about them with a passion (kimonos, geisha and wives and such), but I feel there should be more of them. One thing is clear - don't buy this book in hopes of a story about an American geisha - she only mentions herself in a few places. Most of the stories are impersonal, I am thankful for that. When I was reading those that were personal I often found myself wondering what the point of all this was. I got the impression she just wrote whatever she had experienced, whether interesting or not.
I feel I learned far more about what it is like to BE a geisha from "Memoirs of a Geisha". Perhaps I should have given this three stars, really... but it wasn't such a bad read after all, even though I don't think I would like Liza Dalby if I knew her.
Book Review: Interesting, informative, and readable.
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely loved reading this book. I actually found it more enjoyable than "Memoirs of a Geisha". Although it can look a bit intimidating at first, Geisha is actually a very readable and very enjoyable. That fact that it is in a sense a memoir as well as a book about geisha is definatley a plus. I would recomend this to anyone who is interested in geisha and Japan, and also to anyone wanting to be better informed asbout the world as a whole.Book Review: Intriguing
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book after Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha" got me intruiged in geisha. I wanted to know more about the world the fictional Sayuri lived in. "Geisha" does not have the drama and romance of "Memoirs" but it offers more than a cursory look at the life of a geisha. As Dalby gives a firsthand account of her experiences as Ichigiku, the American geisha, she also digs deep into the history of geisha in different parts of Japan, the intricacies of geisha customs and the joys and pains of being a geisha. While "Geisha" may not be everyone's cup of tea, the insights it gave me only made me want to know more about this fragile "flower and willow world".