(Oh, and I am loving this book so far! I hope you are too!)
The first thing you see after the title page is something called "translator's note." I read through it and it made it seem as though the book was a true story, although according to the cover it was a novel. Needless to say, it confused me (and not only because I had just finished a physics test when I found this). The note is signed by someone who is not the author (further confusing me), but then when I finally looked in the back of the book to the author's note it said that the character Sayuri was fictional, and therefore the translator's note would be as well.
Once I had finally solved this little mystery, I started wondering why the author might have included this (aside from to confuse a student who had spent the greater part of the last hour and a half doing physics problems). After thinking about it for a while and reading further, I think that he may have included it to stress the fact that this story came from somewhere real and events like what happens in the story also happened in real life, even if the book itself is a work of fiction. It also introduces the narrator and suggests that her voice and story is captivating, something I have found to be the complete truth.
Any thoughts? If not that's ok, there isn't that much to discuss about it, but I thought I'd bring it up.
And if you skipped the translators note because you thought it wasn't part of the book, you may want to go back and read it ;)
It's funny that you mention this. I was debating whether or not to read this section, but i ended up skipping over it since i was so anxious to actually start reading. I think with your suggestion though, i'm going to go back and read it! :)
ReplyDeleteSo far, I really love this book. Arthur Golden's writing style is not only enjoyable, but very descriptive and beautiful. The sections where he describes the ornate kimonos that the geishas wear makes me look forward to see how they are portrayed in the movie.
I also have a few questions about the book that maybe you guys picked up the answers to when you were reading. First of all, are granny and mother related blood? And if not, how did they meet each other? And also, why does Chiyo still attend school if she is told she will never be a Geisha? It doesn't make sense for a maid to go attend this special school.
I know I'm definitely going to be finishing this book within the next few days. I can't stop reading!:) I'll try to keep blogging as I go along though just in case you guys are taking your time reading.
Happy Reading! :)
Haha yeah I always sort of find those sections and then end up reading them even if i didn't originally intend to. I just read a sentence and get sucked in; I read the author's notes a lot in books ;)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this book too! And it's going to be a problem because I am dead tired tonight but I REALLY want to read some more. (it's actually partially responsible for how tired I am already)
I completely agree with you about the descriptions, Olivia. Usually if a see a long paragraph with a bunch of details, in any book, not just school ones, I skim it instead of really reading it. It is totally different with this book. If I find myself skimming, I go back and read it because I really want to read those details. I even looked up the movie trailer so I could see what some of the kimonos looked like. (It didn't really give anything away so if you wanted to look at it, go for it)
I don't think that the two of them are related. I was under the impression that Mother was an unsuccessful geisha like Auntie, but I could be wrong. Now you've got me curious though, so I'm going to pay extra attention. :)
I think Chiyo is no longer attending the school (you're referring to after the roof incident, right?) I think she got demoted and I haven't read the part where things turn around (judging from the title, and other small things the narrator has mentioned, i'm assuming that they do).
I thought it was interesting that even though Chiyo, at this point, is not going to become a geisha, she still stays at the house and never considers running away again. I realize that she has nowhere to go and no money, but I fell like someone that miserable would try anything to escape. She seems to have gotten discouraged after that first attempt and she doesn't even want to bother trying anymore.
We should probably try to come up with a system for this blogging. Since page limitations are probably NOT the way to go, maybe we should just reference the pages or chapters (since we have different books) before we post. In the title or something. That way the others know the context and where in the book the idea is coming from since it's likely we will all be at different places.