Book Club - March

We read Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

A fisherman's daughter in 1930s Japan rises to become a famous geisha. After training, Sayuri's virginity is sold to the highest bidder, then the school finds her a general for a patron. When he dies, she is reunited with the only man she loved.

I first read this book in 2000.  I picked it up at a book store and thought is sounded interesting and didn't even realize it was written by a man until I was about half way through it.  The book is voiced by a girl named Chiyo whose mother dies and her and sister are sold since her father can't take care of them.  Chiyo is sold to an Okiya in Kyoto Japan and she is to be trained to be a Geisha.  While her sister is less fortunate and sold to a brothel.  The story is told by the grown up Chiyo known as the Geisha Sayuri and now living in New York and the struggles she went through to get where she is.  Through this book I learned many things about Japanese culture that I did not know about and that there are politics even for Geishas.  I highly recommend this book.

The book for April is The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci