Memoirs Of A Geisha: A Novel
by Golden, Arthur
- Used
- Very Good
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Seller
-
Woodlawn, Illinois, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York, New York, U. S. A.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Stated First Edition. Isbn 0965084740 On The Back Over The Bar Code. The Hardcover Isbn On The Copyright Page. Pictorial Wraps With Black Lettering On The Spine. Light Tanning Of The Page Edges. Faint Vertical Crease On The Back.
Synopsis
Memoirs of a Geisha is a novel by Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first-person view, tells the fictional story of a geisha working in Kyoto, Japan, before and after World War II.
Reviews
On Jan 16 2014, a reader said:
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, is a warm, happy read. It is the story of a Japanese girl whose father sells her and her sister to strangers as her mother dies. Her older sister is sold into prostitution, and our heroine, Chiyo, only nine years old at the time, is sold to a geisha household in Kyoto, and expected to become a geisha. We discover that, at this time, becoming a geisha requires years of schooling. Chiyo studies various instruments, singing, dancing, and the tea ceremony, so that she can become an entertainer of men in tea houses. Eventually, she is adopted as a “younger sister” by Mameha, a first-rank geisha. All of this occurs before the Great Depression and the Second World War. During that terrible period, everyone in Japan underwent great hardships. The geisha profession was legally abolished. Chiyo, by now known by her geisha name of Sayuri, spent the war years sewing parachutes in a former kimono maker’s home and shop. After the war, she eventually was able to return to her geisha life. The story of her success, largely guided by Mameha, and her own desire to become worthy of a man she has fallen in love with, is very endearing. Somewhat to our surprise, she eventually comes to live in the USA, along with her lover. We suspect, although we are never told outright, that she has an American son. She tells her story verbally over a period of months to a sympathetic writer. This is a hard book to put down; the action is so real, and the writing so lyrical, that we feel we must keep reading until we know the end.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA) (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 041194
- Title
- Memoirs Of A Geisha: A Novel
- Author
- Golden, Arthur
- Format/Binding
- Soft cover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York, New York, U. S. A.
- Date Published
- 1997
- Pages
- 434
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
- Keywords
- Geishas - Fiction; Women - Japan - Fiction; Prostitution - Japan - Fiction; Japan - History - 20Th Century - Fiction. Historical
Terms of Sale
Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA)
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA)
Biblio member since 2013
Woodlawn, Illinois
About Granada Bookstore (Member IOBA)
I have a small inventory of about 23,000 titles. I sell from my own property and only on-line. I started selling on line in 1999. This is my Fourth year with Biblio.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Pictorial Wraps
- Pictorial wraps are color illustrated covers for paperback books. Preceding mass-market paperbacks, this format brought popular...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...