Audiobook9 hours
Geisha, A Life
Written by Mineko Iwasaki and Rande Brown
Narrated by Cindy Kay
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Celebrated as the most successful geisha of her generation, Mineko Iwasaki was only five years old when she left her parents' home for the world of the geisha. For the next twenty-five years, she would live a life filled with extraordinary professional demands and rich rewards. Through great pride and determination, she would be hailed as one of the most prized geishas in Japan's history, and one of the last great practitioners of this now fading art form.
In Geisha, a Life, Mineko Iwasaki tells her story, from her warm early childhood, to her intense yet privileged upbringing in the Iwasaki okiya (household), to her years as a renowned geisha, and finally, to her decision at the age of twenty-nine to retire and marry, a move that would mirror the demise of geisha culture. Mineko brings to life the beauty and wonder of Gion Kobu, a place that "existed in a world apart, a special realm whose mission and identity depended on preserving the time-honored traditions of the past."
Geisha, a Life is the first of its kind, as it delicately unfolds the fabric of a geisha's development. Told with great wisdom and sensitivity, it is a true story of beauty and heroism, and of a time and culture rarely revealed to the Western world.
In Geisha, a Life, Mineko Iwasaki tells her story, from her warm early childhood, to her intense yet privileged upbringing in the Iwasaki okiya (household), to her years as a renowned geisha, and finally, to her decision at the age of twenty-nine to retire and marry, a move that would mirror the demise of geisha culture. Mineko brings to life the beauty and wonder of Gion Kobu, a place that "existed in a world apart, a special realm whose mission and identity depended on preserving the time-honored traditions of the past."
Geisha, a Life is the first of its kind, as it delicately unfolds the fabric of a geisha's development. Told with great wisdom and sensitivity, it is a true story of beauty and heroism, and of a time and culture rarely revealed to the Western world.
Author
Mineko Iwasaki
MINEKO reached the peak of her career as a geisha in the 70s and 80s, performing for the likes of the Queen and Prince Charles. Now, decades later (and still stunningly beautiful), she is the mother of one daughter and lives with her husband in a suburb of Kyoto, Japan.
Related authors
Related to Geisha, A Life
Related audiobooks
Rules for Virgins: Wherein Magic Gourd Advises Young Violet on How to Become a Popular Courtesan While Avoiding Cheapskates, False Love, and Suicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nine Continents: A Memoir In and Out of China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Honolulu Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Woman and Springtime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Azalea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women of the Silk: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bonesetter's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Joy Luck Club Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Samurai's Garden: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courtesan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Kitchen God's Wife Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Teahouse Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Valley of Amazement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Empress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hundred Secret Senses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cleopatra's Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tale of Genji Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Equal of the Sun: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Biography & Memoir For You
And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Lies Between Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Later Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Geisha, A Life
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
26 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was wonderful and the narrative was very good