Geisha [Paperback]

Dalby's ability to story-tell also lends a quality of magic to the analysis. Even simple stories about floating paper lanterns on the Kamo River or stopping with the three geisha mothers to watch an old-style candymaker draw the reader in with their unselfconscious charm and personal allure. Without this sort of skill, even an intelligent analysis of the subject could be very dull, but her ability to shape the smaller stories within the overall experience make for more intimate and memorable peeks into her life as a geisha, rather than a "just the facts, ma'am" approach.

I have read some reviews juxtaposing this work with other more recent books on the subject of geisha, and one of the complaints other readers seem to have about this book is that it is somewhat out of date. True, it was originally written in the 1970s, after Dalby had completed her time in the geisha world. To me this indicates that this book was one of the first to address this subject in an objective manner and didn't just jump on the "Memoirs of a Geisha" bandwagon. In my opinion it is the definitive book on the subject, and given its unique perspective it is all the more valuable. If a reader read this book and no others on the subject, he or she would still be well informed about the geisha world, as well as entranced by its mystery, made somewhat less elusive by Liza Dalby's sensitive tour of the inner corridors of the hanamachi of Kyoto.

The main problem with the book is that Liza Dalby is not a very good writer. The book consists of random tidbits of information. There is no story. She only mentions her experiences a few times during the whole book, and these few are nothing worth mentioning, actually. A most annoying habit of hers is recounting a story without any purpose at all - she might tell you about an evening spent with guests, but there's no actual point in it, no conclusion. That seems to be the whole spirit of the book - pointless information mostly, just details nobody could possibly care about. Another thing I strongly disliked was that she mentioned some details about the geisha who welcomed her so warmly that the book could have done without perfectly. For example, she mentions (just as a side fact without any particular meaning) that her older sister (an "older sister" is the geisha who shows a novice how to do things and helps her in every way possible; she is to be treated with extreme respect and love at all occasions) drools when she has to speak too quickly. I didn't see why she should have mentioned such a fact.

Anyway, obviously the book was not that bad, as I gave it four stars. First of all, she provides many details about the history of geisha compared to modern day geisha, which I liked reading about. Secondly, she writes about many aspects of geisha (and Japanese culture) Golden didn't touch in his book - country geisha, children of geisha, geisha and wives etc. And possibly I felt I should give this book four stars because it is thick enough and covers all these topics. You can feel that there are some things Dalby knows what to say about, and she talks about them with a passion (kimonos, geisha and wives and such), but I feel there should be more of them. One thing is clear - don't buy this book in hopes of a story about an American geisha - she only mentions herself in a few places. Most of the stories are impersonal, I am thankful for that. When I was reading those that were personal I often found myself wondering what the point of all this was. I got the impression she just wrote whatever she had experienced, whether interesting or not.

I feel I learned far more about what it is like to BE a geisha from "Memoirs of a Geisha". Perhaps I should have given this three stars, really... but it wasn't such a bad read after all, even though I don't think I would like Liza Dalby if I knew her.