Sarah's Library

29/06 - Memoirs of a Geisha is the fictional recounting (although it could be based on the experiences of a number of real-life geishas the author spoke to during his research) of how a young girl was sold into a house to be trained as a Geisha.  The opening chapters with Chiyo describing her mother's illness ending with her being near death when Chiyo is taken away brought back my worries over my mother's health as she gets older.  I kept thinking, even at my much more advanced age than Chiyo's, what would I do without my mum?  To be continued...

1/07 - Last night, after reading the disturbing passage where The Baron tricks Sayuri into staying behind after his party then strips her in order to masturbate whilst looking at her naked body, I had a bad dream (not a nightmare) about a group of characters from the book (not exactly sure which ones, but they were all wearing kimonos and white makeup) who were being cruel to me.  Not in the same way The Baron was to Sayuri, more like some of the mean things Hatsumomo did and said to Sayuri and almost everyone else around her.  Obviously some of the material I read last night had an effect on my subconscious.  To be continued...

2/07 - Golden sure does use a lot of metaphors and similies to describe Sayuri's surroundings, situations she's thrust into and those around her - friend or foe.  The ending is a bit sad and disappointing for a happy-ending junkie like me; but, of course I know, it's probably exactly how it would have happened.  Sayuri and The Chairman would never have gotten married and lived happily ever after - this wasn't a romance novel, obviously.