Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The book I'm currently reading as my book outside of class is Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I immediately fell in love with the book only after reading a few sentences, thus, the statement that Golden is capable of writing a captivating and riveting novel is a huge understatement. The story takes place in the late 1920s to early 1930s Japan, where a young girl Chiyo, from the small village of Yoroido, endures many difficult challenges when she is forcibly taken to Kyoto to become a geisha at the age of nine. Golden’s style is so unique and his writing truly honors Japanese tradition which he embodies so vividly.

The novel is told in Chiyo’s point of view, as she tells the story of how she came to be a geisha, which is truly a saddening story as I can almost feel Chiyo’s pain through her thoughts and words. Chiyo’s character is so pleasant and considerate, and in my opinion, she is the epitome of a good-natured person in every sense of the word. Her story is so heartbreaking, yet touching at the same time because her audacity and courage to overcome obstacles is very admirable.

In the beginning, the way in which Chiyo describes the world around her is indicative of her youthful innocence and naiveté. Her point of view reflects that of an unassuming child who has an immense curiosity for the world and everything in it. For example, Golden elaborates Chiyo’s inquisitive character when she observes Mr. Tanaka in great detail and notes how the “creases in his brow [were] like ruts in the bark of a tree” and how he “seemed to [her] the wisest and most knowledgeable man on earth” (Golden 20), which serves to elaborate her childish innocence. Chiyo is such an imaginative child too, as she constantly concocts fantasies in her head of what she believes are people’s intentions and of her future.

Moreover, Golden’s vivid descriptions take the novel to a whole other level, especially because each literary device is explicitly true to Japanese culture and principles. Golden specifically reveals Chiyo’s depth of knowledge and understanding of the world through her language and descriptions of what she feels or thinks. For instance, when she feels tired and completely worn out, she says that she “felt as sore as a rock must feel when the waterfall has pounded on it all day long” (Golden 34), perfectly capturing the sensation of fatigue. Additionally, when Chiyo encounters Hatsumomo for the first time, she is amazed and stunned by her beauty and the extravagance of her kimono, which “was water blue, with swirling lines in ivory” and of her face, which is described like a painting with a “rich white, like the wall of a cloud when lit by the sun” (Golden 36-37). Golden’s writing is incredibly creative and flawless, in my opinion, because it is difficult to tell a story in the point of view of a girl searching to find her way in life, much less when it is a story about a foreign culture. Overall, I think the Golden is a commendable and brilliant writer, and from what I have read thus far, Memoirs of a Geisha is a great read and a fantastic novel.