Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha

This book, Women of the Pleasure Quarters, is considerably less of a personal story than either Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden or Geisha by Liza Dalby, although it does detail the author’s interactions with the geisha and the people who worked with them as she attempted to discover what it was like to be a geisha. She was apparently a little old to train as a geisha herself, or perhaps just didn’t want to go that route, but she did manage to befriend several geisha and other people who knew about their lifestyle. All in all, it makes for interesting reading.This book has much more of the history of the geisha and of the prostitutes who were both their source and their main rivals in the early years than either of the other two. There are also numerous stories of famous historical or fictional geisha. In addition to Gion in Kyoto, where most of Memoirs of a Geisha took place, and Pontocho, also in Kyoto, where Liza Dalby trained as a geisha, the author visited the other geisha quarters in Kyoto and also talked to some of the modern geisha, wannabe geisha, and people similar to but not the same as geisha in Tokyo and other parts of Japan. There are discussions of how the geisha related to wives and other people, and of how the number of geisha appears to be steadily declining. Where Liza Dalby met many middle-aged geisha, Lesley Downer appears to have encountered primarily aged geisha in their sixties and seventies.

I found this an interesting read, but it seems to focus alot on non-geisha or psuedo-geisha. It does talk quite a bit about prostitution, which does not really factor into high-class geisha, and never has.I think that it focuses on the author a bit too much as well, and her problems getting into this closed world. While at points it reads as a narritive, at others it gets very dry...the author can not seem to pick a "voice" to stick with.An interesting read, but I do not think that it should be taken a holy grail of Geisha books.

I read this book before leaving for Japan and it was such a great summer read. More of a detailed account than a history. Liza Dalby would be more for something super detailed in history.

I enjoyed reading this book, which acts as a good counterpoint to Liza Dalby's book Geisha (which I notice Downer does not reference even once in the writing, though it must surely have been on her mind). She also, herself, comes across as a great deal more pleasant than Dalby.

Starting to read it now

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I purchased it at a supplemental reading item for my Japanese Literature class and was enthralled as soon as it showed up on my kindle homepage. I find the Geisha world fascinating and this book does a wonderful job of explaining how the geisha interact with female gaijin.

At first I hesitated buying this book, thinking it was a dry documentary. But then I decided to buy it since I love most things Japanese. What a pleasant surprise. Lesley Downer combined her experience as a researcher and a historian and crafted a well-written story on the life of Geisha in contemporary Japan. This book is as interesting and entertaining as Arthur Golden's novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, and in addition, it is also a history of Japan's moral code, past and present. I strongly recommend this book.

I read alot and I've never seen so many commas in a book in all my life! I keep having to go back to re-read a sentence to see if a missed the period somewhere. I've, gotten, about, half, way, through, the, book, and, don't, think, I, can, finish, it!! AHHHH

This is a very good, thorough book, though I would not rate it as highly as "Geisha", by Liza Dalby.The one point I would like to make is that this book is a newer, retitled edition of Ms. Downer's "Geisha", it is NOT a new book. Nowhere on the website is this pointed out. So, if you don't have "Geisha", then buy this book. If you do, then unless you like collecting different editions of the same title, dont buy it.

A complete and extensive history of the geishas, as long as an interesting personal experience of an occidental woman trying to learn more about how they live and work nowadays.

I haven't had a chance to read it, but Leslie Downer is an excellent author with a great knowledge about Japan,and I'm looking forward to learning more about the geishas and their culture