Sunday, February 6, 2011

Memoirs of a Geisha up to pg. 428...(The End)

Finishing up the novel, I was extremely satisfied with the brilliant end to a fascinating story. The Chairman meets Sayuri at the teahouse back in Gion, and talks to her about he has always known she was the girl he had cheered up so many years ago. He says he arranged for Mameha to become her older sister and that he had always planned to become her danna. However, when Nobu fell for her he felt he had to give her up since life had treated Nobu so badly and Nobu had saved the Chairman's company. After seeing Sayuri with the Minister though and having Pumpkin tell him that she was really supposed to bring Nobu to the place, he figured out that she was trying to stop Nobu from becoming her danna. Therefore, he decided to tell Nobu about what he had seen. When Nobu had reacted angrily, he decided Nobu was not fit to be her destiny. The Chairman proposes himself as her danna and has her resign as a geisha so that Nobu will never know that Sayuri is his mistress. The Chairman takes Sayuri to the United States several times and eventually Sayuri ends up moving there and opening her own teahouse. She cuts ties with Mother, who pays back every Yen she owes to Sayuri. When the Chairman dies, Sayuri comes to understand "the world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean."

This was by far my favorite quote in the book. It gave me the same realization about life that Sayuri reached and it made the book leave so much more of an impression on me. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read!

No comments:

Post a Comment