Reading Response on Independent Reading Book

I have currently finished rereading the book Memoirs of a Geisha, written by Arthur Golden. This book has become one of my favorite books. It has such an interesting conflict, many themes, characters you can connect to, and is very interesting. To tell you the truth, I didn't even want to read it in the first place. When I first read it, all I wanted to do was close the book and put it back on the book shelf. I was so close to actually putting it back, but decided to give it a chance.


The book is about a girl named Chiyo, who at first lived and grew up in the poor fishing village of Yoroido. She was taken, along with her sister, to an okiya in kyoto. Chiyo stayed at the okiya for future geisha training, but her sister was rejected and became a prostitute. Chiyo was to be a maid for Mother and Auntie, two older women who ran the okiya, before actually preparing to be a geisha. Being a maid was just one of the obstacles Chiyo had to overcome to become the geisha she dreamed to be. 


While reading this book, it was frustrating when Chiyo made stupid mistakes. One of these mistakes was deciding to run away. Mother and Auntie specifically told Chiyo that by running away she would kiss goodbye the fact that she would one day become a geisha. Although knowing what she would risk, Chiyo made plans with her sister to run away. At the end, not only did Chiyo get caught, but she also broke her arm while falling off the roof. The medical cost, and the fact that she tried to run away made the debts that she owed the Okiya skyrocket.


At the end, Chiyo managed to become a successful geisha.(No thanks to Auntie, Mother, and Hatsumomo, but to Mameha.) I was really glad when her life finally became perfect. Her bad luck finally seemed to run out, and she was at peace.