GEISHA Paperback – 1 September 2003

I've found this book absolutely accidentally by browsing Google. I read Memoirs of a Geisha and watched the film a few years ago. I liked it. But since the book has been written by a real geisha, it was very interesting to know a different point of view and see the events through her eyes. I like "Geisha: A Life" so much. Still reading. I would definitely recommend this book to people who like Japanese history and culture.

This is a very well written book by a highly successful geisha of the 1960's and 70's Japan. Hated and envied by her older geisha sister, adored by her adoptive geisha family, she went on to be Japan's most succesful geisha and retired early at the tender age of 29 to run a tea shop. Now suing Arthur Golden for breaking his vow of not naming her as his source for his acclaimed novel "Memoirs of a Geisha" as it was unheard of for a geisha to break the vow of silence on their lives. The book may not have the excitement and the attention of Golden's novel but at least it's a true story itself and well written enough to get the reader's interest. Worth buying in my opinion and a warning to everyone: it has a different title by a British publisher, "Geisha of Gion" as I made the mistake of buying it, only to realise it was the same book but under a different heading.

Completely absorbing and amazing book. I initially read Memoirs of a Geisha then picked up this book as I read about the controversy behind MOAG and wanted to know the real story. Infinitely more interesting than the fabricated Memoirs of a Geisha.

Brilliant book, would recommend to anyone.

Good purchase