And they lived happily everafter.. Review on Memoirs Of A Geisha - Arthur Golden

I remember, once I was having light discussion over romanticism with my friend, in between I asked ..” do you believe in eternal relationship in romance? Like most of the romantic novels ends in a formal note ..’and they lived happily ever after” My friend gave me strange look but did not comment. But I kept on pondering and after a long time I found this reply in this novel. A life long urge to pursue a single dream and once it is achieved..purpose of living is fulfilled and they lived happily ever after'.

I am talking about “Memoirs of geisha, apparently it looks like an autobiographical book. But it is a fiction based on a Geisha’s life.Geisha is a girl of Japan who entertains men with music and dance. The central character of this book is a poor girl Chiyo..who is sold into slavery in Geisha house, she is renamed ‘Sayury’, who is a strikingly beautiful girl.She lives in Gion, Where poor girls learn music and dance to entertain high society men. Sayury is an unfortunate girl, she meets in her life  journey 'chairman' in strange circumstances, who has sympathetic glint in his eyes for Sayury, a child.. without knowing her personally. That proves a paradigm shift in her life and a dream takes shape.

She is awed by this amazing man . She develops great desire to live life with him.But in her life she has to become a successful geisha not as an ambition but to make her livelihood too, she is suppose to perform some rituals essentially required to lead geisha’s life like ‘mizuage’ where a geisha has to surrender herself completely to her best bidder only for a night. After having performed this ritual she becomes professional Geisha and then she has to find out a ‘danna’, a lifetime provider, who can take care of her livelihood. Finally when Sayury is capable of proving herself and became successful geisha.. Japan entered in second world war! she has to face depression in every field and the district Gion also went in back ground. She has to survive, makes her livelihood somehow. Her best friend Nobu, a physically crippled person offers her to become her danna..but she likes him not more than a friend. She wants to run away from present scenario when surprisingly in a dramatic situation, her life drifts in a positive direction, her life time dream comes true and chairman not only proposed her to become her danna but takes her away to America.. Where she lives…Happily ever after..”

No doubt the novel ends abruptly in Mills and Boon way. But its simple thought provoking story touches your heart. In back ground you will find Japan  unlike other novels. Story narrates only Geisha’s life style, which is beyond comparison. I have read somewhere that after publishing this novel Arthur Golden was sued for breach of contract and defamation of character by Mineko Iwasaki, a retired geisha he had interviewed for background information while writing the novel. But in fact Arthur Golden has touched the soul of Japan. A must read book.