Tonight I was a little curious about the life of Geishas. I picked up Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden to read last week and I was really enjoying it. But then I learned that even though it is called a memoir, it is really a piece of fiction. That is sadly disappointing to me.
While I was googling "Geisha" tonight I saw an article about a real geisha. Her name is Mineko Iwasaki. I saw that she said the book Memoirs of a Geisha was written very closely to her life. The author, Arthur Golden, had interviewed her but was supposed to keep the identity a secret. He let the cat out of the bag in his acknowledments though. He claims his story is his own, she claims it is too close to hers to be his.
Now I don't want to finish reading the book. I know that fiction books are just that, fiction. But if you are going to write a fiction book that is based on something real like this, it should be more factual. Mr. Golden has told untruths in this book, according to some people. I like the story, but I don't like to wonder which facts are true or not I'm reading about.
I will put this into the box for the garage sale goods and start reading the new book that I need to review. Now to decided which one to start with first....
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