Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional tale about the life of geisha Sayuri, a story that spans from her childhood in the 1920s, in the small poor fishing town of Yoroido, and through her experiences as a geisha into the 1950s.
Sayuri recounts the story of her earlier years from a New York apartment, in the latter part of the twentieth century, so we know that her circumstances change a great deal during the course of her story. But, as the reader follows her journey, it is unclear whether she has been brought where she has been by steps of her own choosing, or whether circumstances have simply swept her there.
As a child, Sayuri (named Chiyo in her youth, but renamed Sayuri when she becomes a geisha), sees her mother grow ill and then die. Her father, with no money and advanced in age, sells her and her sister, through a deal with a businessman that visits their town for work, to the entertainment district of Kyoto. Sayuri finds herself put to work in an okiya (a geisha boarding house), whilst her sister is sent to a brothel.
The first of many times Sayuri's circumstances are decided by deals done by businessmen.
It is worth noting that this is a historical novel, set very much during that span of time in Japan's history, especially after the Second World War, when traditions would be upset by Westernisation and changing social attitudes. Just before traditional geisha training would begin to decline in practice.
Sayuri's story reflects these changes, and by the end of her story she is much more in charge of her life. Her horizons literally broaden, her story even moving from Japan to America, and her way of living begins to encompass and acknowledge something beyond what she has been taught and the duties she has been expected to perform.
The Chairman, a man who is kind to Sayuri and a key character in the novel, is a businessman who begins to recognise that duty and tradition must incorporate a changing world. A world of burgeoning globalisation, the necessity of taking a place on the world stage if an individual's business is to survive.
Sayuri's world is one of duty and tradition drawn heavily from the past, and the Chairman's is one that will play a key part in the Westernisation of his country and its social attitudes.
The theme of impermanence is key to the novel. It begins with Sayuri's change of fortunes at the beginning of the novel -- and many other characters see their circumstances change profoundly throughout this book -- and also considers how the wider world evolves and fluctuates. Indeed, often how one affects the other; how changes in the world can impact upon the individual, and vice versa.
But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising in the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.
I think that Golden must have chosen to have the main character be a geisha for the reason that, at the time the novel is set, it was a role on the cusp of great changes. It was a role that demanded a great sense of duty and was weighted in traditions of the past but, especially in the post-war decades of the 1950s and beyond, it was a traditional role on the wane.
That this story is told in the first person, seen through Sayuri's eyes, told in her voice, means that the story is a more intimate and poignant telling than it might have been in the third person, and able to explore wider social circumstances and how they affected people. And Sayuri is such a well drawn character that the reader simply falls into the story.
There is hope in this story too. Though much of the protagonist's story is decided by circumstance and the duties she is expected to perform, she does not float through the story without striking out, without trying to steer the course of her life in a direction with some happiness and hope.
From the beginning, Sayuri's situation is decided by events beyond her control. However, she often seeks out a way to improve her situation, if even only ever so slightly. She attempts to run away, she finds a way to contact her sister, she forms relationships with those that become good friends and allies. Through her story, Sayuri holds on to hope.
As much as this is a story about change, it is a story about hope. To see the impermanence of things is to see hope is never lost.
I enjoyed this novel very much, and think that Sayuri is a wonderfully conceived character. I enjoy reading novels that offer the reader another point of view, another little way of looking at the world. And for this white, English guy, born in the mid-eighties, a story told from the point of view of a Japanese geisha in the middle of the last century took me away to another time and place for a while. And the story is so excellently told, these characters so well drawn, that that little bit of travel through time and space wasn't at all jarring -- ultimately, regardless of where the story is set, or who populates that world, it is a story about humanity. A story about hope, fears, love, and just trying to be okay in a world that sometimes barely makes sense.
Within the pages of Memoirs . . . , the reader is immersed into a world of Japanese culture and tradition, where geisha in beautifully embroidered kimono -- silk dragons and water -- entertain businessmen in teahouses. Sometimes the atmosphere is debauched and drunken, sometimes it is more delicate and enchanting. Traditional Japanese dance and the sound of shamisen play throughout the pages. Gasps and moans of the erotic and the horrific are heard intertwined. There is exploitation and degradation, but there are friendships too. Sayuri finds friendship with other geisha and some of the men she entertains. But it is a story, ultimately, as most good stories are, about being human and finding a way.
Sayuri holds onto hope, even when all seems bleak. Mameha is a friend and an ally, careful and intelligent. Hatsumomo is a bully, perhaps because she too recognises the impermanence of things, and the delicacy of her position. Though her recognition of this leads her to fear and hate, rather than to a place of hope.
They all navigate a changing world. Something, in struggles and in triumphs, many readers can recognise and understand, regardless of the setting of time and place.
To an extent, a person's character is shaped by the times in which they live. And also by the changes that take place during the course of that person's life.
The historical novel, the best of them, explores the human in the historical. The conflicts that take place between a person's inner world and the times they live; how those times mould who they are and what they become; and, the great changes that take place on the personal level and on a more broad and global scale. And so, with that as my definition, I might tell you, with some confidence, that this historical novel is one of the best.
Poignant, beautifully written, and told with empathy . . . A wonderful book!
I recommend that, if you haven't already, you spend some time in Sayuri's company and listen to her story.
You can order a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden here!
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