Avalon.ph Blog

Life As She Sees It: Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha

Arthur Golden’s debut novel is a fictional account of a geisha’s life. It narrates the story of Chiyo, who, as a child, was sold into slavery together with her sister. Chiyo eventually becomes Sayuri, as she is taken in and trained to become a geisha, while her sister is taken into a whorehouse and becomes separated from her sister permanently. I read this many years ago, and Golden’s skillful display of his exceptional knowledge in geisha culture and lifestyle woven with his main protagonist’s own voice narrating the accounts of her personal life cemented this book on my favorites’ list. The smooth prose adds depth to the rich narration and the poignant life story of Sayuri. The bittersweet memories of her life and the gripping prose style with which Golden wrote the novel combine into one absorbing and elegant must-read. If you have seen the movie, then there is all the more reason to peruse the book, in order for you to realize just how much the film failed to give justice to the novel’s beauty. Sayuri’s rivalry with Hatsumomo and her love affair with the hairman are just some of the delectable highlights of the novel, which is rich with facts about Japanese culture and art. The history and culture of a geisha in Sayuri’s time provides a rich social landscape apart from Sayuri’s personal story, so that when you read the book, not only do you witness the ups and downs of Sayuri’s life, but also a slice of Japanese history, and the culture that makes it worthy of remembrance.

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Living Through Death

Lovely Bones is not your ordinary tearjerker. I picked up the book with a Kleenex at hand, expecting to cry at the slightest dramatic antic. I was in for one major shock.

The book is not all tears and limitless impossibilities that are commonly associated with drama. The story is deeply poignant, yes, but also very grounded on reality. The story is touching because it showed how a teenage girl, Susie, could manage to cope with a horrifying incident which was, and still is, so alarmingly possible in real life. Though the premise of the story (point of view of a dead girl) is unrealistic, the incident which put her into that situation is a reality. What makes it even better is the prose. The book is elegantly written, with none of that overly exaggerated vocabulary used to intensify already-melodramatic storylines of other texts. Moreover, Susie’s tragedy is not treated with tears and solitude, but with a mix of humor and solemnity, so despite the sad premise, it was still far from depressing –which is what books should aim for, since nobody reads to get depressed. I also loved the prose because of its vivid power to connect to a reader’s heartstrings. Alice Sebold just knew how to tug the right strings at the right time. Throughout the story, I was keenly aware of how much the book emphasized the value of life, but only in one scene, which became an instant favorite, did this emphasis present itself at its best. It was the scene wherein the dead Susie desperately wanted to touch her crush, who was taking a shower. This part was written with such intensity that I actually felt how much my own life is worth, seeing as how one dead girl could yearn for mere physical contact (which only mortality could give) so immensely. The prose was so effective that I could feel how much Susie wanted to live again. Sebold’s language perfectly carved out Susie’s great thirst for life. It was only after finishing that part when I realized I was in tears. But then again, who could resist being moved when a book such as Sebold’s is in front of you, so hopeful and poignant without being overdone?

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