Memoirs of a Geisha
by Golden, Arthur
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Seller
-
Portland, Oregon, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Knopf, 1997. First Edition, First State. Boards. Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket. 8vo, 434 pp. Head of spine lightly bumped, otherwise Fine/Fine.
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
- ANTHOLOGY BOOKSELLERS (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 5937
- Title
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Author
- Golden, Arthur
- Format/Binding
- Boards
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, First State
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Publisher
- Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1997
- Keywords
- , , , ,
Terms of Sale
ANTHOLOGY BOOKSELLERS
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About the Seller
ANTHOLOGY BOOKSELLERS
Biblio member since 2005
Portland, Oregon
About ANTHOLOGY BOOKSELLERS
We are a independent bookstore doing business primarily on the internet, book shows and by appointment, specializing in out-of-print and rare books in the Arts, Literature and Humanities.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- 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...
- 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 State
- used in book collecting to refer to a book from the earliest run of a first edition, generally distinguished by a change in some...