Memoirs of a Geisha by that back-stabbing* (see footnote below) hack, Arthur Golden is an beautiful work that is neither realistic, nor does it evoke the tender feelings of romance, as he tried so hard to achieve...
The story is of Sayuri, a young girl who grew up in a poor fishing village. Her mother dies while she is still young, and her father, unable to care for his two daughters, "sells" them to a gentleman who turns them over to geisha houses, to be trained. Because Sayuri is beautiful, she is sent to a reputable house, and her apprenticeship starts. However, her elder sister is stupid, ugly and clumsy, and is soon sold in turn to just an ordinary brothel.
The story starts off engaging, and I found myself, deeply immersed in the young life of Sayuri. It's a fascinating tale of the daily life of a geisha, from the beginnings of apprenticeship, to the classes that she had to take, and the daily care and make up that she was required to learn.
However, Sayuri, no matter how clever Golden tries to say that she is, never uses her mind throughout the story. She needs to rely upon her friends and her "mysterious" patron, to succeed. None of the plans that were implemented to promote and help her, where of her own mind, nor did she have a hand in the execution. She just sits idly by a wonder at why her life is not perfect and waits for the rest of the world to resolve her problems for her. Her cleverness extends only to her fascination with herself, and the wonderment of why she does not get everything she thinks she deserves.
This makes Sayuri an incredibly unsympathetic character. Although she matures during the book, she never really grows up, and her infantile obsession with her notions of love, is rather disturbing. Her friend and "elder sister", that takes her under her wing, is repeatedly betrayed by Sayuri. And Sayuri just shrugs it off as a matter of course.
Sayuri never feels the debt of honor that she owes to the people around her. They teach and protect her, yet Sayuri feels no compunction to reciprocate. I believe that it is this very American attitude that betrays Golden's tale, as something that is wondrous and magical, to be tainted by Western ideals.
This is further emphasized by the ending. I won't ruin it for you --- but the ending is incredibly weak and pathetic. At the very end, Sayuri sacrifices the debt that she owes to her most loyal patron (that helped her weather through the War, and his patronage, made her famous), to ensnare her "true love". It does not matter that the target of her affections had most honorably stepped aside so that his partner (and Sayuri's patron), who he owed so much, and had lost so much, could find happiness.
I find this final blow to Sayuri's cold inability to take responsibility for her life, and pay the debts that she is owed, the most absurd. While she was going through training of the life of a geisha, she was taught about debt and why all debts must always be paid. She goes against the traditions of her culture and of her training, in essence betraying her morals and values. How can there be any romance and love in a creature that does not understand any of these notions as more then just playthings for her?
Memoirs of a Geisha is an incredibly engaging tale, it's funny, entertaining, and gives a rare peek at the life of a geisha. However, Golden's inability to leave behind his own prejudices and Western way of thinking, taints the novel, from something mystical, to something plain, ordinary, and very expected.
* I call Arthur Golden "back-stabbing", because he betrayed the confidence of a real life geisha, who he claimed friendship with, to write this novel. It is not this betrayal that makes him back-stabbing, but that he warps the purity of her memories and her words to do so. He is no better then the emotionless and moral-less Sayuri, and it's evident that he can not write a more compelling character, because he lacks the true depth of feeling to do so. But that's just my humble opinion.