Sayo Masuda - Autobiography of a Geisha

[Kell]

Autobiography of a Geisha

Author: Sayo Masuda (Translated from Japanese by G. G. Rowley)

ISBN # 0099462044

Publisher: Vintage

First Published: 1957 (Translation: 2003)

186 pages

Rating: 7/10

The Blurb:

Sayo Masuda's story is an extraordinary portrait of rural life in Japan and an illuminating contrast to the fictionalised lives of glamorous geishas. At the age of six Masuda's poverty-stricken family sent her to work as a nursemaid. At the age of twelve, she was indentured to a geisha house. In "Autobiography of the Geisha", Masuda chronicles a harsh world in which young women faced the realities of sex for sale and were deprived of their freedom and identity. She also tells of her life after leaving the geisha house, painting a vivid panorama of the grinding poverty of rural life in wartime Japan. Many years later Masuda decided to tell her story. Although she could barely read or write she was determined to tell the truth about life as a geisha and explode the myths surrounding their secret world. Remarkable frank and incredibly moving, this is the record of one woman's survival on the margins of Japanese society.

The Review:

Having read several other

[Paul]

Autobiography of a Geisha

Author: Sayo Masuda (Translated from Japanese by G. G. Rowley)

ISBN # 0099462044

Publisher: Vintage

First Published: 1957 (Translation: 2003)

186 pages

Rating: 7/10

 

The harsh reality of life in the

[pontalba]

Kell,

A friend gave me this book, and it was marvelous. It was stark and raw, and really, one of my favorites. I do have Memoirs of a Geisha in my TBR stack, and look forward to comparing them.

[Weave]

I am just started to read 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and I think will read this one as well.

 

[Kell]

I also recommend Geisha of Gion by Mineko Iwasaki - she's the Geisha that Memoirs was unofficially based on & her story is somewhere in between. Very readable.

[Weave]

Thanks Kell:mrgreen:

[Child.of.God.1989]

I may like to help, if not just with monetary contributions then as a career, with a nearby organization for human trafficking. Shared Hope International goes all over to prevent future human trafficking, specifically in prostitution; and to rescue those already caught up in it.

I've come across a few very informative non-fiction books on the subject of the modern-day slave trade, but this is the first fictional one that deals a little with that. Thanks for the recommendation for a realistic read, Kell!

[Kell]

I've come across a few very informative non-fiction books on the subject of the modern-day slave trade, but this is the first fictional one that deals a little with that. Thanks for the recommendation for a realistic read, Kell!

This is a non-fiction autobiography.

[Child.of.God.1989]

Oh, thank you for the correction, Kell. An autobiography would certainly be more informative. The other books and the one website I skimmed through in research told paragraph-long stories, and were not able to get into everything about the bondage of prostitution.