Memoirs of a Geisha

This novel was a very good read, the story was very engrossing, and the characters were interesting.

The story is a fictitious biography of a geisha named Sayuri in the 1930s, which is based on an interview with a real geisha. She was sold to an okiya (a dorm for geishas) to become a geisha at the age of 9. She struggled through life and fell in love with the chairman of an electric company because he helped her when he saw her crying by the river side. She devoted her life to finding this chairman again and became a pretty successful geisha.

I believe that this novel sheds some light on what it felt to be a geisha and the rigamarole that you have to go through in order to become one. But I strongly disagree that a geisha would be so silly and only think of kimonos and pretty things.

I am mildly annoyed at the ending. It seems that everything worked out quite perfectly for sweet Sayuri and not for everyone else around her. I guess the author felt that Sayuri had endured enough hardships so she deserved a happy ending.

I definitely recommend this book. I don't consider this book as a commuters' book, but you can definitely read it while you are commuting if you want to.

4 chopsticks out of 5!