I've only watched the movie, but since there's so many good reviews on the book I'm interested in reading it now :wink:

I really want to read the book. I thought the movie was great [aside from the house I was in while watching it was very noisy so I barely got what anyone was saying throughout the movie....the heavy Asian accents didn't help much either Dx ] I'm really interested in that kind of culture so I'm sure I will eventually read the book =]

♥♥♥

I haven't seen the movie, but I read the book and loved it. I read it many times and it still is interesting to me.

I'm still reading this book for the first time, and I love it to bits!
I purchased the film yesterday, and am waiting until I have finished the book to watch it. >u<
No end spoilers, please! :sweat:

I find the book to be so interesting and Sayuri's memoirs are something incredible. The way she thought, even at such a young age is amazing to me, she certainly comes across as a very clever and bright girl.

Anybody else here love this book? =3

I love the book, tohught I find it a bit of a chore to read as it is soooooo long!
I preffer the film tohugh it is a bit long, however I tihkn that compliments the tranquility of the book and gives you time to take in the vivid imagery.
If you like this book i'd suggest:
Empress Orchid - an chee min
Across the nightingale floor - lian hearn (this one is a series of brilliant books)

Raystea, I've merged your thread with our original Memoirs thread.

Always remember to search through a forum before making a new thread. :yes:

Hmm. I havent read the book.. but i did see the movie. It was.. ok i guess. It was just bothering because geisha is a japanese thing and it happened in japan and all, but the main actress was Ziyi Zhang, and she is chinese.
She is very beautiful and speaks good english, but she is in every chinese wuxia movie and it kinda pisses me off that she was in this one also. Dunno why.

Sorry for talking about the movie and not the book : D

I read the book, haven't seen the movie. I thought it was way good.

i have read the book and thought it was really good. i also saw the movie and while it was good i didn't really get to see the ending due to things out of my control. overall i liked the book better than the movie to be honest..even if it was a good movie.

I never read the book but I saw the movie, so is the movie better or worse than the book?

I finished reading that book in 6th grade. :insane:

It was a pretty damn good book. =3

But, I never saw the movie. :sweat:

Know where I can watch it? :o

I loved that book so much I went out and bought the Spanish version.

...Yes, I know it sounds strange. I do speak Spanish though, promise. I thought the movie had a lot of good parts in it. I should re-read that text again though before I can make a good comparison for you. I don't remember being entirely upset about it. I really did like the imagery in it. But at the same time...Actually--now that I'm thinking about it, the only issue I think I took was that it seemed to glamorize it even more than A.Golden did. But that's Hollywood for you.

Oana--You should try Netflix. Sometimes they let people view things online if you have an account there. If you don't have an account then I'm sure that there is somewhere you can get your hands on it. ;)

When I saw the movie i stood up and began to scream at the screen. Really, I was yelling at the credits. I was so upset I had to be dragged out of the theater. It was a horrible adaptation. I loved the kimonos though.

Haha! My sister loves it too. ^^ She read it but I watch it.

The book was so much better than the movie. In the book I really hated Hatsumomo(?) where as in the film she didn't seem as cruel.

It's a good book, but it is fiction. I like how it presents itself as fact, but it confused me, and probably other people about geisha. I haven't seen the movie, and I want to but I really want to read the geisha who gave the author all the factual info. She has an autobiography.

I liked the book better than the movie.

I really liked the book, though I have yet to see the movie.

I absolutely loved the book!! I saw the movie and fell in love with it so, of course, I headed to my nearest library and checked it out and just LOVED it. It was a fantastic book, with a lot of effort put into it and lots of research done and I loved the exploring of the culture and everything! I am definitely going to purchase this book one day, instead of just checking it out when I feel like reading it again!

Oh, and I agree with you Una: Hatsumomo was really just nasty mean in the book, whereas in the movie she was mean but not to the same extent! Still an excellent antagonist in both!

I just finished this book. I couldn't put it down. I love how she was so persistent and in the end perservered. She went through so much and was in her way was so alone. It has so much hope interweaved into it and with all the pain and suffering, how unfair it was just makes you pull for her.

I also found myself cringing at some parts when she was planing to free herself. One of the best books i've read in a long time.

I really enjoyed this book and it got me interested in reading more about geishas. I actually was recommened to this book by a high school teacher about four years ago so it has been a while since I read it.

i read the novel around the same time the movie came out and i wanted to read it first...

i agree that some of the story could be perceived as 'dry' as there is a lot of history, information and specifics discussed... but i found that is what i liked most about the story... i really liked learning how the kimono was put on and the name of the individual pieces and such other intricacies... and thus i didn't really care for the movie because i felt the characters and the information was lacking and 2D at best...

on another note, the past year or so i read a novel called 'the teahouse fire' by ellis avery and it felt a lot like the novel 'memoirs of a geisha'... granted the perspective is from a french-american girl and it's about tea ceremony not geishas, but it had the history and the details that i crave...

I love both of them, book and movie~ I aso have to make a play for literature about famous couples~ me and my group chose Memoirs of a Geisha with Sayuri and mr Tanaka~ I love them so much! she is an amazing sweet girl~ in the movie I totally like Mameha, especially when she describes the life of a Geisha~ *blush* I fell in love with a geisha's life since I read the book and watched the movie~
they are great, especially that I love Japan and japanese culture ;D

I read that book about two years ago and couldn't put it down (even though i was in the middle of my classes) I loved the detail and the richness of the story. It felt real.
There were allot of aspect from the book that weren't in the movie that were a pleasant surprise.
I liked the book more that the movie, but of course that is the case with many different titles as well.

This is one of the books that is at the top of my list. It was so well-written that it brings the reader into the story, grips them and doesn't let them go. I've read this book over a dozen times. (Now I tihnk I might read it again. :) )

I was excited when the movie was coming out and was only a little disappointed at the outcome. I was very happy I have read the book first. It makes things much clearer and better to understand what happens and why.