My Impressions of “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden

After reading the first chapter of Memoirs of a Geisha, these are some comments I had:

Wow.

Chiyo is narrating the story of her life. In the first chapter, she tells us a little bit about her childhood, and an introduction to her life. Her mother is dying of bone cancer; the family is a poor fisherman’s family.

One day she stumbles and falls on her way to the store to buy incense for her mother’s predetermined death, and gets injured badly. She meets Mr. Tanaka Ichiro, the owner of the Japan Coastal Seafood Company; he helps her out and calls the doctor for her. This is also foreshadowing of the importance of this character.

Back at home, she has a conversation with her older sister, Satsu about their mother’s sudden illness and soon to be death. Chiyo can tell that Satsu was feeling something very strongly, but tried to push it aside.

I really want to read this book! The genre of this novel is also coming of age, and the themes reflect confidence in this young girl while she is trying to find herself in this difficult time in her life. Another theme reflected in the plot summary reflects Chiyo doing what she can to get by – even if it means doing something she doesn’t like or would rather not do, (being a Geisha to help out the family financially).