MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
by Golden, Arthur
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Book condition is Fine. Price Clipped Dust Jacket is Near Fine.
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Seller
-
Petaluma, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Neptune, N.J.: Alfred A. Knopf., 1997. First Edition. First Printing. First State.. Book condition is Fine. Price Clipped Dust Jacket is Near Fine.. 6.5 x 9.5 Inches in size.. FIRST EDITION HARDBACK. Protected with an Acid Free Clear Archival Cover.
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
- Collectible Book Shoppe (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- ID#2541
- Title
- MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
- Author
- Golden, Arthur
- Book Condition
- Used - Book condition is Fine. Price Clipped Dust Jacket is Near Fine.
- Edition
- First Edition. First Printing. First State.
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf.
- Place of Publication
- Neptune, N.J.
- Date Published
- 1997
- Pages
- 434 numbered pages.
- Size
- 6.5 x 9.5 Inches in size.
Terms of Sale
Collectible Book Shoppe
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Collectible Book Shoppe
Biblio member since 2014
Petaluma, California
About Collectible Book Shoppe
Online Bookstore since 1999. Specializing in Collectible Modern First Editions
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- 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...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Price Clipped
- When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First State
- used in book collecting to refer to a book from the earliest run of a first edition, generally distinguished by a change in some...