Memoirs of a Geisha
by Golden, Arthur
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- Condition
- Very Good+/Very Good+
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Seller
-
Ashland, Oregon, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1998. Reprint . Hardcover. Very Good+/Very Good+. Autographed wrap-around over cover. On ffep there is a gift inscription along with previous owner's name. Expedited or International shipping may cost more.
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
- Take Five Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 018055
- Title
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Author
- Golden, Arthur
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good+
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good+
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Reprint
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Publisher
- Alfred A Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1998
- Keywords
- Fiction, Geishas
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction;
Terms of Sale
Take Five Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged. International postage is based on books weighing 3 lbs. For lighter books, partial refunds are given.
About the Seller
Take Five Books
Biblio member since 2008
Ashland, Oregon
About Take Five Books
Specializing in Fiction, Literature, Art, Music and the Eclectic Book. .
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Reprint
- Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.
- FFEP
- A common abbreviation for Front Free End Paper. Generally, it is the first page of a book and is part of a single sheet that...
- Good+
- A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.