Book Club

Synopsis of discussions on Memoirs of a Geshia by Andrew Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha is a historical novel that tells the story of a young japanese girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, who is sold by her improvished family to a geisha house to support them by training as and eventually becoming a Geisha under the pseudonym "Sayuri Nitta". The story is set in Kyoto, Japan, before, during and after World War II, and ends with her being relocated to New York City.

It was interesting to learn that the Geisha the book was based on, did not like it and was concerned about backlash from the Geisha community. She sued the author, and it is believed that an out of court settlement was reached.

Our members were interested how the book would have felt if it had been a woman trying to get inside the head of a young woman and write her story as opposed to the male author.

As always, one of the joys of a book club which was again reiterated, was that, there was mixed responses between the two groups and indeed within the groups with the Monday club scoring 6.95 which included a zero and a 1. With the Tuesday club scoring it 7.71 putting it in their top 5. Those giving low scores appeared either to not connect with the story or the characters or found the idea of selling a young girls virginity viscerally abhorrent.

Many stated that they found the book interesting from an historical perspective and particularly the culture of both Japan and the Geisha’s role. Many either wanted to learn more of those customs and the role of the Geisha or had already begun exploring. One book club member said when in Kyoto they saw some Geisha and they were much better looking than others around.

At times, the discussion was very deep and meaningful as the members discussed, amongst other things, how much astrology plays a part in Japanese and Western life. The Geisha in the book used and believed in their almanacs whereas the West now tended to glance at their horoscope in a paper and choose the best bits!

On the question about Geisha being a slave, it was felt that they were no more a slave than other people who must work to put food on the table. The fact that the main character was not paid, by definition made her a slave though.

A lot of time was spent discussing the differences between a Geisha and a prostitute and had the main character had a better life as a Gesiha than she would have done had she been left in a motherless family with little money or food? Comparisons were drawn between the prostitutes of today working on the streets and the high class call girls, we thought they fitted more into the later category. One member mentioned a documentary on the call girls that said they enjoyed the job and helped them to live their lives as they wanted to. The Geishas made not all have been happy with their lives, but the ones we encountered, appears to be adapt at working the system and benefiting from their work.

Of course some are not so fortunate and the role of the pimp as a controller was then compared to the harsh Mother and Auntie (interesting titles, given what they did)! The idea that your “debt” was racking up once you started training was worrying and showed the only way out was to become a mistress or “danna”.

However, what was pulled out was that these Geisha were attractive due to their skills and intelligence not just the other services. Attending business meetings and holding their own in conversations, being engaged in political moves, learning art, reading, writing and drawing and being the epitome of culture. Many skills they could not have dreamt of from lowly beginnings.

Comparisons were made with western women; it was suggested that the Geisha preparing for their entry into society was a simple affair as they had to follow the same procedure time and time again with only the choice of Kimono to make them think. Western society had far harder decisions to make with the social event, people present and mood having an impact on preparation. But on reflection perhaps the anonymity of all looking the same under the Geisha make up is something younger ladies in the west, aspire to with so many cosmetic changes that they are starting to look alike.

People thought that the culture difference between Japan and the West meant they thought the process of Geisha and Danna was much more in the open than affairs in the West. In fact, it is said, that as no Geisha wanted to get married and have children, Japanese wives were more accepted because they did not feel threatened!

On Tuesday we debated that looking at the whole Geisha/prostitution culture from a Western lens, may discount the way that the Japanese think and that they may find some of our cultural behaviour’s to be distasteful. Who is right? Who should judge?

There were a few stories told that showed how the relationships between the characters were the same all around the world with people doing what they had to do to push on in life. The biggest surprise was how people understood why Pumpkin (a more junior Geisha) did what she did whilst they didn’t actually believe she did the right thing. People did generally feel sorry for Nobu, one of the lead male characters and they liked Sayuri as a character, but they did not think the fantasy of being with the Chairman added positivity to the book. Although as an ending with her moving to the US and her relationship with the Chairman, it allowed the author to conclude the novel. We enjoyed the surprise that Sayuri felt in the U.S. e.g. everybody had a fridge, which was only for the wealthy in Japan.

Any interesting book that got the groups talking, Chris particularly enjoyed the attempts of pronouncing various Japanese names and words😊

The book that were nominated for October but came second was The Mandibles - Lionel Shriver, so will go forward to next months vote for the November book.

We have two more nominations:

1. Dissolution by C J Sansom (historical crime)

2. The Teachers Secret by Laurent North (psycological thriller)

If you have any more you would like to include, please let Elaine or Chris know.