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The book “Memoirs of a Geisha”, by Arther Golden is excellent. Not since reading “Wild Swans” several years ago have I felt myself so completely transported to a by-gone place so readily. I admit I was initially confused by the “biography” introduction, and the comments on the back cover about the “Novel”. The book reads as an autobiographical first-person narrative, which adds to the confusion. However, it is a Novel - but extraordinarily well researched and written.

The story charts the progress of a small girl who finds herself through cruel fate, training to be a Geisha. Through bitter rivalries, and an intense determination to achieve her goals, the girl progresses through to become a Geisha, in pre-war Japan.

The story looses much of it’s intensity when war strikes, and the Gion district is shut down. The ending could well, in my opinion, have come a good 100 pages earlier where the drive appears to have finished in the authors intent. He had relayed the story of a Geisha’s life, and just had the plot to wind up. However, that in itself shouldn’t detract from the book itself - it’s extremely well written, and quite literally a page turner. 5/5

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