Picked up for a special BookCrosser as a little thank you - after a few wrong turns it is finally here, and will be leaping back into the post later today!

Hope you enjoy it, Babs! :O)

Thank you so much Lucy - what a lovely surprise. And I adore the bracelet as well. You're a naughty BookCrosser (but I'm not complaining *too* loudly).

Thank you!
Babs
:-)

This is such a sad little book. Right from the start you get a sense of the feelings of abandonment Sayo Masuda felt. Her earliest years were spent as a nursemaid to a local family before she was sold into the Geisha profession. She never knew her father, nor most of her step-siblings, at all. She only had minimal contact with her mother - but never felt loved by her - and only became close to one of her step-brothers later in life.

The Geisha life Sayo endured was at the lower end of the scale - nothing like the glamourised versions made popular in novels of recent years. She was little more that a glorified prostitute, whose life was bought and sold by those around her.

However, through it all, it becomes clear what a steely determination this young woman possessed. No matter what was thrown at her she managed to cope. Despite being illiterate and uneducated, she managed to convince patrons she was more knowledgeable than she actually was, by listening to others' conversations. When food was scarce, she became an entrepreneur in order to survive. And even at her very lowest points, she was able to come through them with a new strength.

This book was written entirely by Masuda, and as such, lacks a little "polish". In places I found it a little difficult to follow conversations, but on the whole this is an excellent book. The situations and imagery are all very vivid, being written first-hand, and you can't help but admire this woman for everything she came through.

A great read. Thank you very much Lucy.

This book is off on a BOOKRING!!

The participants are ...
1. Perfect-circle
2. Kleptokitty
3. Olliebear
4. Tanis
5. Catrionamoore
6. Coolboxuk
7. Winterson81
8. Nut


I hope you all enjoy it
:-)

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent today to Perfect-Circle. 2nd class.

arrived in the post yesterday, will read it asap. Thanks

I read this in one evening and have to agree with Glasgowgal's comments on the feeling of abandonment. Masuda's life as a geisha was harsh, unpolished and so very far removed from novels such as Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha (which I read last year) But apart from the feeling of utter loneliness, Masuda came across as a strong woman, someone who had lived through some of the worst things life can throw at you and still had the courage to tell her tale.

Off to Kleptokitty at the weekend. Thanks for sending this out.

RELEASE NOTES:

posted to Kleptokitty this morning (second class)

Arrived safe & sound this morning, unfortunately just behind another couple of BC rings. I hope no-one will shout at me too loudly if it takes me a wee bit longer than normal to get to it.

Woo, after yesterday's complaint about having too many Rings on the go I've managed to scoot through them & finished this this morning.

I didn't particularly enjoy this book (if you can be said to enjoy a life story so bleak ..) but it was a fascinating insight into a world I know nothing about.

Masuda's fortitude is quite astonishing, and is something I will attempt to remember when I feel overwhelmed myself.

12.2.05

Off to Olliebear on Monday

It has arrived! Sorry for the delay in journalling, but life has been a little stressful lately! Will get to this asap!

I enjoyed this book..if that is the right word. It is a horribly tragic life though, and far removed from the beauty and grace that I often associate with Geisha. I have read another similar to this one before and so wasn't shocked by the portrayal of a Geisha's life being about prostitution and slavery (for want of a better word) but I did feel deeply sorry for her during the most tragic happenings. I don't want to give too much away for others, but I am glad she managed to overcome her sense of grief and loss and make something out of her life in the end.

The only thing that niggled me about this book was the footnotes being at the end. Why? I didn't read them afterall as I was fed up of flicking from the page I was on to the back every five seconds. The pictures were nice though and a few more would have been welcome.

Thanks for sharing this one Babs! Will get it off to Tanis shortly.

ooh lovely! I'd completely forgotten about this one. I love it when that happens. It looks like a fantastic book too, I'm really looking forward to reading it, but I'm halfway through White Teeth at the mo so I won't get started on this til next week.

Last but not least THANK YOU for the lovely bookthong and funny post card, how did you know about my shoddy typing skills? You are a very clever and kind bear, Ollie.

Arrived safely this morning with two other books and goes straight in at 3rd place in Mt TBR.

An enjoyable quick read that gave me some more insight into the fictional Memoirs of a Geisha. It was easy to see where Arthur Golden got some of his inspiration from. Unlike the other Geisha books however this one failed to engage me and endear me to Little Crane. It might be a case of over exposure to the Geisha world, or it was because of Sayo Masuda’s limited literacy becomes lost in translation.

Not bad, but not the best of it’s genre, although if you want to read the memoirs of someone who saw the seedier side of Geisha life it is a good book.

To be sent on when I get to the post office next as I have already contacted coolboxuk.

Received today upon return from holidays, along with 2 other ring books! Typical... Looking forward to the read, though...

A rather different life from that of Mineko Iwasaki of "Geisha in Gion" which I read not long ago. I suppose it complements the picture although I would disagree with some of Sayo's choices and with some of her views on life. Hers is certainly a tragic start in life but some of her misfortune seems to have come out of her own scheming and vindictiveness, then unfortunately snowballed on. She does at the end of her story seem to realise that, and take another turn of living which seems to bring her happiness and fulfillment. I wholly disagree with the interpreter's foreword, though, as I think it makes a completely wrong emphasis and asks for a compassion that Sayo herself did not expect.
I would also agree with Olliebear's comment on the footnotes...

After contacting coolboxuk myself to find out the latest status on this book, it now appears I have to list this bookring as being dead. The book was apparently posted to Nut in Ireland, but the packaging arrived torn and damaged, and without the contents.

Lucycat - I am so sorry that your lovely present has ended this way. Losing books is a risk one takes when setting up a bookring, but it's especially upsetting when the book in question was a gift in the first place.

I'm glad those who did manage to read it enjoyed it.

This book has now been replaced by this copy which is continuing the ring and further travels.