Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

This is one of my fave reading. I have read both Indonesian and English versions. So touched and impressed me.
Before read this book, I used to think that Geisha is only such a 'hostess' (couldn't find any more suitable word for this, sorry!). But then I knew that I was completely wrong.

Arthur Golden has been tremendously telling us about the hard life of a Geisha. A Geisha has to learn so hard in order to be capable in singing, playing Japan traditional music, doing a beautiful traditional dancing, etc. Besides, a Geisha is expected to be smart in entertaining her guest.

Ok, this is a short overview of the book I copied from Yahoo! Movies.

In the years before World War II, a Japanese child is torn from her penniless family to work as a geisha house. Despite a treacherous rival who nearly breaks her spirit, the girl blossoms into the legendary geisha Sayuri. Beautiful and accomplished, Sayuri captivates the most powerful men of her day, but is haunted by her secret love for the one man beyond her reach.

I'm happy that Columbia Pictures in collaboration with DreamWorks SKG decided to produce the movie of this book. And they did a great casting since Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh are on the artists list. Perfect! No wonder if the movie has been on the box office list in some last weekends in the USA.