Started reading again - with Memoirs of a Geisha

As noted in my earlier post, a positive outcome of my laptop charger breaking is that I now have the time to read. So, I've started the process off with Memoirs of a Geisha. From what I have read so far (and from the book's blurb) it seems to be about the life of a Geisha (Duh...) which starts in Japan and ends in New York. I used to think that Geisha simply meant prostitute in Japanese, but now it seems like they were much more than that. I think it'd be more apt to call them entertainers who at the end of the night, had sex with their clients. From what I have gathered so far, sex wasn't the primary motive for men to come see them.

I have read about 4-5 chapters, and the one thing I guess I can feel and relate with the most is when Chiyo describes her feelings upon learning that her mother would die (we have been told before, and it has also been hinted that, her father is old and does not share the same kind of bond she and her mother do). What knocks the nail into the coffin as far as those feelings go is when she is taken away by Mr. Tanaka to be sent to Kyoto - at the drop of a hat, with no time to say goodbye or otherwise allow her to reconcile with the fact that she will never see her mother again. These sad feelings are reinforced by the readings in the earlier parts of the book when the bond between the mother and daughter is described.

It is also sad when she is separated from her sister once they're in Kyoto, but for some reason (and even though it should), it doesn't sting as much. The rest of what I've read, the feelings you have for this little 9 year old girl, fade in comparison. She is given a beating, she is made to do household chores, she is sent to school where "mean" and hard teachers teach her. None of that matters as much (to me anyways) as her being parted from her dying mother and not being allowed to see her sister.

So, it's been an interesting read, though it's not been as spellbinding (so far) as I had thought it would be. I must add though, the description of Chiyo's village as well as that of 1930's Kyoto and the okiya Chiyo lives in reminds me of a quote from Jhumpa Lahiri's book - The Namesake where Gogol's grandfather tells his father that reading books allows you to travel without moving an inch (or something to that effect, I don't remember the exact quote).