Memoirs of a Geisha is the fictional story of Chiyo Sakamoto/Sayuri Nitta and is set in the 1920 to after World War II. Chiyo's mother is dying and as a last resort, her father sells Chiyo and her sister Satsu to different places in Gion, Chiyo to an okiya, where geisha in training live, and Satsu to whore-house. Chiyo makes a new friend in the other geisha in training in the okiya, Pumpkin, as she is so fondly nicknamed, but also makes a new enemy in Hatsumomo, the resident geisha of the okiya. Hatsumomo makes life terrible for Chiyo in hopes of keeping her down with so much debt and making her make so many mistakes that she will have to remain a maid for the rest of her life. However, one day Chiyo breaks down on the bridge and a nice man who goes by Chairman, as he is the chairman of Iwamura Electric, and the Chairman helps Chiyo by giving her reassurance and a coin to by a snow cone. That day Chiyo makes a promise to herself that she will one day become a geisha in hopes of getting closer to the Chairman (she even prays to the gods). During the aftermath of the death of one of Chiyo's okiya's owners, Granny, one of the most prominent geisha of the day, Mameha, comes and sees Chiyo, then asks the other owner of the okiya to put Chiyo back in the geisha school, and offers to become her "big sister", as the mentors of the soon to be geisha are called. Mameha devises a devious plan to get rid of Hatsumomo and help Chiyo become a geisha. Chiyo succeeds in becoming a geisha, and her name is changed to Sayuri Sakamoto. The devious plan succeeds and Sayuri gets adopted by Mother, and her name is changed once more to Sayuri Nita. Hatsumomo looses it and is banished by Mother from Gion. Sayuri rises to become a very prominent geisha and wins the heart of the Chairman.
I love this book. Period. No questions asked. It's awesome and the writing is wonderful. The use of similes and metaphors is masterful. Sometimes, the use of similes and metaphors can be overpowering and it becomes superfluous, but in this case, it adds to the magic of the book. There is one major con of this book- the slow pace of the novel. The book is read as if it really were a memoir, and as with most biographies, that type of writing causes the novel to slow down in pace. This book won't make you tear through the pages, but you will love it, treasure it, and hold it close to your heart.
