Memoirs Of A Geisha

"Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be."

- Sayuri Nitta, Memoirs of a Geisha

So I just finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha, a novel based upon the fictional life of Sayuri Nitta, one of the most famous geishas in Japan in the 1930s and 40s. Sold into geishadom at the age of 9, the book depicts Sayuri's struggle to make it in the competitive business of her okiya and understand and accept her place in the world as she learns the ancient craft of entertaining men. The preface to the book indicates that the story is taken from a series of interviews conducted by the author, a friend of the geisha after she emigrated to the U.S. later in life. According to this "interviewer," the geisha agreed to tell her story under the stipulation that it could only be published after her death. In reality, this book was written by a college professor who wove together stories from several Japanese geisha which he'd researched. Regardless, the tale is absolutely fascinating, told in a beautiful, couragous, honest voice filled with a soul that only comes with those stories rooted in truth.

Like many of my favorite reads, I came across this book almost entirely by accident. I developed a passing interest in geisha after I watched a really fascinating Japanese documentary on current geisha on the flight home from Oxford this summer. The hour long film followed two 14 year old girls training to be geisha, as well as one adult geisha and a number of men who act as both teahouse patrons and geisha dannas. I was both fascinated and horrified by what I saw; it was at once unspeakably beautiful and heartbreakingly sad. The overall practice didn't surprise me as much as the fact that it was still going on today. The young girls, although they had chosen to pursue geishadom of their own free will, seemed both brainwashed and horribly sad. The ending description a laughing danna gave, calling them "souless dolls" made me want to stand up and jump up and down in protest, until I realized I was on a plane with hundreds of sleeping passangers who wouldn't necessarily appreciate my outrage. Nevertheless, the haunting images of the dancing girl stayed in my mind long after I landed in Boston, and so when I was searching for a beach book upon my return, this title jumped off the shelf at me. I had actually walked into the store determined to grab a copy of Lord of the Flies since I had never read it in high school and had always wanted to. However, I couldn't recall for the life of me the name of the author, so as I scanned the novel shelves I saw this book staring at me instead. Ironically enough, Lord of the Flies sat right next to it, so I grabbed both. I read Flies first since it was more of a beach read, and started Geisha a couple of weeks ago. I had a hard time putting it down, greedily gulping down chapters in the 15 minute breaks between my TA sessions and dance rehersals. If I had more time, I'd have finished it in a night.

Interestingly enough, the book itself shares something in common with another one of my favorite books, Life of Pi, in that it is a combination of a novel and an oral history project (yes, my thesis is always on my mind). Both books are supposedly based upon true stories dictated to their respective authors, although instead of quoting them directly as oral historians do, the authors of these books took more artistic liscense and transformed them into novels. Of course, the danger in this is it causes me to wonder exactly how much of the story is true and how much was "tweaked" to make a more compelling book. I think the story works regardless, although I'd love to read the biography of one of the real geisha interviewed to compare notes.

Also, last week, when I was about halfway through the book, I was watching Entertainment Tonight and caught a trailer for the upcoming film version of the book. It looks incredible, directed by the same guy who did Chicago and populated by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon alumni, the acting and cinematorgraphy look outstanding. From what I have seen so far, they have captured the allure of the story quite well. The film comes out in early December, only a couple of weeks after Goblet of Fire. So not only do I have a new book to add to my favorites list, but the winter movie season is looking up. Rock on. And what did LeVar "Geordi LaForge" Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow? Check it out! And I'll leave you with another great quote:

"What if I came to the end of my life and realized that I'd spent every day watching for a man who would never come to me? And yet, if I drew my thoughts back from him, what life would I have? I would be like a dancer who had practiced since childhood for a performace she would never give."