So I was just looking at my list of posts and I realized that I never finished writing and publishing this one. Which is a tragedy because it is an amazing book and definitely one that I want to recommend to you all to read.
I've mean wanting to read this book since I saw the first of half of the movie. Both the movie and the book are such an amazing slice of a culture completely different from mine. I was constantly amazed by the poetry of the language used by the narrator. She spoke with such majesty and grace about her life. I could not believe that a man from Western culture was the one writing this.
My biggest question throughout the whole novel was, "Where on earth are these men's wives?" Why are they out with these geisha's every night instead of being at home? As much as I felt for the geisha's and the hard work they must put in to move up the ladder of their profession, I felt even more for the silent characters in the book... the wives of these men. They were barely mentioned, but I had to wonder how they dealt with the situation. I guess they just turned a blind eye to their husband's activities since they couldn't do much else. But did they feel betrayed that their husband was off with these other women? I know I would.
The whole book got me thinking about women's rights. Should it be an inherent right that every person can demand fidelity from their significant other? If one party is expected by societal norms to be faithful, shouldn't both parties be held to the same standard? Especially where children are involved. Shouldn't a married woman with children be able to expect her children to grow up knowing that their father loves their mother and respects her? Maybe that's just my 21st century, Western thinking, but it seems reasonable to me.
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