Memoirs of a Geisha

By: Arthur Golden

Narrated by: Elaina Erika Davis

Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Nitta Sayuri tells us in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate of her life as a geisha. Her story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion.

It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction - at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely unforgettable.

©1997 Arthur Golden (P)1999 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Rarely has a world so closed and foreign been evoked with such natural assurance." (The New Yorker)
"Captivating, minutely imagined...You are seduced completely." (Washington Post Book World)

Let your imagination run free.

I loved it. I have read this book about 4 times now. A good read.

excellent in every way

This was an absolutely wonderful book in every way. The narrator was top notch and the writing drew me into a completely different world. The abridgement was excellent-I would not have known it is much longer unabridged. I may even get the unabridged version to to experience more magic. Highly recommended if you love a good read and don't have a lot of time.

Excellent performance and splendid atmosphere.

When a Geisha, Hastumomo speaks, I can feel Kyoto accent though she speaks in English. But there is one concern. As a Japanese woman, I’m worried that Westerners might misunderstand Geisha because of this book. Certainly Geishas are existent in Kyoto and highly respected as a part of Japanese antique culture. But they are not prostitutes as the book describes “Mizu-age”. I’ve heard a lot of foreigners who visit Kyoto try to pay them for sex. Of course it’s illegal and very rude to offer. You can see they dancing and playing music, and play games with them in a very graceful, traditional way. Surely they’ll please the eye.

this unabridged copy is too short

the original copy is 18 hour long while this is only 3. however, it's good if you want to know the main events in the story

Too Much Abridging

I enjoyed the story and the narration, but I think that too much was taken out in the abridged version. I had not seen the movie nor read the complete book and thought that this would give me a good overview of the story. However, I felt parts were choppy and not connected, so I read the reviews of the full-length book. To my surprise, there were many parts that seemed to be relevant to the story that were not included that I thought would have been helpful, even in an abridged version. This did pique my interest enough that I borrowed the full-length version from the library and am currently reading it to fill in the gaps. My advice is that if you are really interested in the whole story, get the full length version.

It Sucked Me In

I decided to listen on a whim, and I'm glad I did. I listened to this in one session and thouroughly enjoyed the story. Excellent choice for a narrator, she really helped the story come alive.

Really enjoyed!

Really enjoyed this book it was an easy read and very interesting to learn this about Japanese culture in the geisha

abridged

This is a very abridged version of the story.
The reader sounds like she is providing a poor attempt at a Japanese accent.

Not the entire book

Abbreviated version. Don’t buy this copy. Feel like I was duped! Find the original. It’s MUCH better.

Its missing parts of the story!

so I love this book but its missing parts of the story very disappointing!