I’m not getting into the historical aspects of this novel because I don’t really know about Japanese history. I know that there’s been quite a controversy regarding Golden’s portrayal of Geisha, so I read the book with a pinch of salt (and I looked up for a book written by an actual Geisha in order to compare them).

The book is presented as the actual memoirs of a Geisha settled in New York (Sayuri), and they recount her life from childhood to young womanhood. She begins in a poor family, whose mother is very sick and her father is struggling to take care of his two daughters, Chiyo and Satsu. Eventually, they are both sold to a woman who sells them in turn. Chiyo gets to be sold to a Geisha house, while Satsu doesn’t. Chiyo later finds out that her sister was sold into prostitution, which makes a sharp contrast with her own life. But both of them are miserable and try to escape. Of course, their attempt fails and Chiyo doesn’t get out (as far as she knows, her sister does get her freedom).

In the house where Chiyo serves, the main Geisha is Hatsumomo. She’s one of the most famous Geishas in their city. She instantly takes a disliking of Chiyo, and later manages to get her out of Geisha-training. However, when things seem very bleak to poor Chiyo, she meets the Chairman. He’s an older man, married and rich. She’s instantly struck by him.

A short time later, Mameha, another of the most famous Geishas in town, takes an interest in her and manages to get her back into Geisha-school (I really suck at remembering Japanese names, please forgive me). She also takes up the challenge of making Chiyo the greatest Geisha in all their district.

The rest of the book is basically a lot of scheming, planning and plotting against Hatsumomo. And World War II appears there, a little. While the book is very interesting, I could never forget that I was reading a man posing as a woman. An American man posing as a Japanese woman. There’s a lot to be said about that, but I’ll leave it for another occasion.

While the relations between women are very important, the author pays a lot of attention to the sexual aspect of their lives. I don’t know much about Geishas, but I do know that they weren’t prostitutes. And, at certain points, this book seems to forget that. Their roles as artists are left in the background, and are scarcely brought up before being left out at all. I feel that they should’ve been emphasized because they were the centre of their world. I missed reading about the world that was mainly populated by women, an essentially female world that made them who they were. The book should have been less about the males in Chiyo/Sayuri’s life and more about women and how their identities are forged in such an environment.

It’s a entertaining read, but if you pick it, don’t expect it to be an actual account of what a Geisha’s life was. It’s written by an Occidental man and it is written to appeal to occidental readers. Don’t forget that.