Potential spoilers ahead, but nothing too serious.

The writing style wasn't my favorite. It seemed like Golden was intent on getting a lot of history into the book, and would go off on a historical tangent, then justify it by putting in a quote like, "Mameha told me about all of those things that afternoon." The book improved as it neared the end, but also the descriptions of her life got much less detailed. I just never really connected with the character as I wanted to - I was simply following her along in her life. Also, I felt that the war should have been a more significant part of the story. For Golden to be sooo detailed with her childhood and adolescence, then to just brush off her years during the war as "I spent 5 years there..."
However, I loved getting to learn about the life of a geisha. I appreciated that the author didn't shoot to resolve all of the issues, because some of them just couldn't be resolved. I can't wait to watch the movie now!