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Sep 11, 2019
I have read this wonderful book several times. If you have seen the movie be sure to read the book, it is so much more than the movie. The author draws you into a world so different than ours from the very first sentence and I recommend it to anyone wanting to escape our Western world and discover a place where customs are so different from ours. The story is written as if it were nonfiction. The story is told through a geisha (Sayuri) and is transcribed by a friend and published after her death. The book basically presents the life story of one geisha who through often very harsh events in her life transforms herself from a fisherman’s daughter into one of the most famous geishas of Japan. She is put into a Geisha house which demand very strict discipline and service and has hierarchies that abuse power. Once she reaches her goal, stability of her career is unclear as many events threaten to destroy it as they have for other geishas who are often dragged into lives of prostitution. WWII presents other unexpected challenges she has to face. This is a enjoyable book about determination within boundaries.