Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Fine/Very Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Seller
-
Flemington, New Jersey, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Knopf, 1997, 1997. Book. Very Fine. Cloth. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Cloth. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Very fine copy in like jacket.Light soiling to top text block.Light staining to the first three page sides.Very minor. Still a nice tough book..
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
- Jeff Bergman Books ABAA/ILAB (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 003608
- Title
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Author
- Arthur Golden
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Fine
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Publisher
- Knopf, 1997
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1997
- Keywords
- FICTION 0-375-40011-7
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Terms of Sale
Jeff Bergman Books ABAA/ILAB
All books may be returned for any reason.
About the Seller
Jeff Bergman Books ABAA/ILAB
Biblio member since 2006
Flemington, New Jersey
About Jeff Bergman Books ABAA/ILAB
25 Year Book Dealer.Modern First Editions.Signed Copies, Pulitzer Prize Winners,Booker Winners,First Books and Classics.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- 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...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...