Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Knopf, 1997-09-23. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. New York: Knopf, 1997. Hardcover. First edition, first printing. The story of a geisha in WWII era Japan. Chipping to corners of the dust jacket. Crease to top of jacket. Near Fine in Very Good Jacket.
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
- Vandello Books, Member IOBA (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 180200601OFFFH33GOL
- Title
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Author
- Arthur Golden
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Publisher
- Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1997-09-23
- Keywords
- Women - Japan|Geisha
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature;
Terms of Sale
Vandello Books, Member IOBA
Returns accepted within 30 days of purchase.
About the Seller
Vandello Books, Member IOBA
Biblio member since 2005
Seattle, Washington
About Vandello Books, Member IOBA
Vandello Books is an online bookstore in Seattle, Washington. Our areas of strength include Modern Firsts, Textiles, Craft and the Arts. We carry inventory in numerous subject areas and are happy to advise our customers on building collections. We consider ourselves to be custodians of your books and treat each item with this philosophy in mind.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- 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...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...