Distributors Books

In "Working at Cross-Purposes", the authors help distributors and suppliers improve their relationships with each other. The authors learned through their research findings--drawn from responses from distributors to a comprehensive written DREF survey as well as candid interviews with distributors--that thinking a relationship was "win-win" could be dangerous. The more time both partners spend managing the relationship, the more beneficial the economics. Spend less time, get fewer rewards. This book is written with both distributors and suppliers in mind and both partners can benefit. Anyone, at any level, within an organization who is interested in preserving relationships with partners will benefit from exploring the ideas presented. Sales managers, product marketing managers, or local supplier reps can have a significant impact on the relationship, because it is here that the players do not always understand the big-picture impact of their decisions.

The book helps understand the ideology of Al Qaeda. Great research and the book organization is excellent. Understanding Al Qaeda is the only way to stop them.

A great yoga primer for kids or for anyone. It is very accessible and easy to follow.

I found this book to be extremely informative. I recognized the characteristics of my youngest son in the well-written case histories. I, also, recognized traits of my oldest son in the text which eventually led us to a diagnosis from a professional of "auditory processing difficulties". We enrolled both our sons in the 3-week intensive course at the Melvin Smith Clinic in Sacramento last year and have been reaping the benefits of their instruction and suggestions every since

Sylvain Trudel has been a favourite author of mine, ever since a friend of mine lent me a copy of his "Terre du Roi Christian", around 1993. His literary universe is a rich one, erudite, and heartfelt. He is not afraid to dwell on the dark side of life, which also means that he has the ability to discover life's treasures.

In his first two novels, "Le Souffle de l'harmattan" and "Terre du Roi Christian", the story revolved around children whose worlds were slowly coming apart. In "Zara, ou la Mer Noire", it's like those children have grown up, and are now completely lost in their adulthood. The main character, sick with death, mad with evil, roams Europe, looking for something, fleeing his doubts and his remorse, defiling every sacred symbols. Poetic, well researched, completely gripping, this novel is very dark, yes, but also magical and undeservedly unknown.

The unique story of one man's quest for salvation.

"Zero Challenge" books are valuable tools for students, professors, and practicing engineers. They are designed to facilitate the learning and teaching of complex engineering course work. I have previously used the first of the series, "Zero Challenge Dynamics" (ZCD), on three occasions in my Dynamics course at U.C. Davis and found it to be highly beneficial to my students and in my teaching.

The newest release, "Zero Challenge Statics" (ZCS), is the most recent addition to the series. I believe that ZCS is also a perfect tool for all those who are learning, teaching, and reviewing Statics concepts. Like ZCD, "Zero Challenge Statics" contains a superb set of notes that are written in a clear and concise "note-format". This, in turn, allows users to obtain pertinent information quickly without dealing with wordy sentence structures and complex formatting. The book consists of approximately three hundred solved problems, which are completely derived and easily referenced. Unlike conventional texts, each problem is self-contained, providing the generic formulas necessary for each problem. A very systematic approach is used to solve the problems, which continually reinforces key ideas. If a student has difficulty solving a particular Statics problem, he/she can easily refer to a similar one in ZCS using the Pictorial Table of Contents. The Pictorial Table of Contents is a great idea which facilitates the search for a problem by providing a table of diagrams that are each associated with a problem in the book.

I feel that "Zero Challenge Statics" provides wonderful reference material for professors and practicing engineers alike. I highly recommend it to all engineering students learning Statics and look forward to future releases of the Zero Challenge Series.

Meine erfolgreiche Dissertation war nur möglich durch dieses Buch. Dafür ein herzliches Dankeschön. Ich habe lange nach seriöser Informatio gesucht und dieses Buch legte mir alle Informationen zu Füssen.

Holes is set primarily in Texas close to the present day (the late 20th Century), although parts of the book flash back to the same area in Texas in the late 19th Century and to the country of Latvia in the late 19th Century as well. The story is told by an all-knowing narrator who guides the story back and forth between the present day situation of the story and two key plot lines about the past. The bulk of the story centers around the main character and protagonist Stanley Yelnats and his life in a boys' juvenile detention center called Camp Green Lake. Stanley has been falsely convicted of a crime and must work hard all day under the hot Texas sun. The boys in the detention center are forced to dig large holes day after day with no other apparent purpose than to "build character." Stanley's family has been under a curse for generations, which began back in the late 19th Century when Stanley's great-great grandfather Elya broke a promise he made to a gypsy woman named Madame Zeroni. A small part of the story that the narrator tells focuses on how this sub-plot developed in the past and how it still affects Stanley and his family today.
The other side-plot of the story focuses on the town of Green Lake, Texas in the late 19th Century, before the lake became dried up and the place became a juvenile detention center. This part of the story deals with the issues of racism and prejudice, and helps to build up the plot for the present day section of the story, where Stanley and the others are at a juvenile detention center. Stanley struggles to make friends and to survive the tough conditions at Camp Green Lake, and he is always battling the larger fight against his family's curse. He and a friend at the camp (named Zero) discover that the camp's warden (a relative or descendant of Charles Walker) is actually making the boys dig holes because she is looking for something valuable. Stanley finds out about his family's history and how his great grandfather's suitcase full of money is buried somewhere in Camp Green Lake. When Stanley's friend Zero escapes from the camp, Stanley escapes as well to go and help him. They figure out that Zero is a direct descendant of the gypsy Madame Zeroni, and so the boys sort of heal that old family rift and thus lift the curse off of Stanley's family. When they return to the camp a week later the boys find the suitcase. The warden tries to take it from them but Stanley's lawyer finally shows up, proves his innocence, and allows Stanley and Zero to leave the detention center (with the suitcase full of money!). The story concludes happily with Stanley and Zero receiving a million dollars each for the stocks and jewels in the suitcase, with the detention center closing down so that a girl scout camp can be built, and with Stanley's father finally creating a cure for foot odor which makes him rich.
There are not many negative aspects to Holes, as it is an excellent read for adults and children alike. One drawback may be that the chapters are very short, spanning two or three pages on average. This makes the story a bit choppy at times as it flips back and forth between the past and the present settings without much warning. Some readers might like the short chapters though, as it keeps the story moving and keeps the reader on his or her toes. I personally think that Holes is a great novel for emerging young readers. It has a rich and complex plot but is not too difficult to read and understand. The author weaves a good mix of humor and fate, and the characters are very realistic and relatable. I like how the characters in the book are diverse and represent different types of kids with different economic and racial backgrounds. Holes is an enjoyable book to read and contains many plot twists and turns that will keep you interested. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading it.

"Holes" by Louis Sachar (1998). Random House, Inc: New York. 233 pages. Realistic Fiction. Grade level: 5.30.
Holes is about a boy whose life is affected by the past. Most notably, Stanley Yelnats, has a family curse from his "no-good-dirty-rotten pig stealing great-great-grandfather" who did not carry out a promise to a magic woman. Stanley's family blames most of their problems on this ancestor. Stanley's father is a poor inventor who works hard but has no luck. He is currently working on trying to invent a spray to remove foot odor. One day, Stanley is walking and a pair of sneakers fall from the sky so he naturally takes them home to his father. It turns out, the sneakers were from a famous basketball player who is donating them to charity. Staney is arrested and sent to Camp Greenlake for his punishment and "rehabilitation." Once he gets to the camp in Texas, Stanley quickly realizes that it is not a camp in the typical sense and there is no lake to be found. He is forced to dig one 5 foot by 5 foot hole each day in the scorching heat and report to the warden if he finds anything interesting. He is accompanied by other juvenile offenders who all fend for themselves and try to survive the grueling work and horrible living conditions. There are no fences, because if they ran away they would die in the desert.
The story also goes takes the reader on flashbacks to the time when the area actually was a lake in the early settling times. It was a small town that was an oasis in the middle of the desert. The one-room school house was run by Kate Barlow who happily taught the town's children and adults alike. Kate takes to the town onion seller who happens to be black. This is, of course, unacceptable at the time so the town kills him and runs her out of town. From that point on, she changes and becomes "kissin' Kate Barlow" an outlaw who prays on unsuspecting travelers and kisses them before she kills them. The town's luck and lake run dry and it becomes abandoned. Before she dies, she buries all of her treasure on the grounds of the lake. Stanley's great-grandfather was robbed by Kate Barlow, but not killed. He survived by "God's thumb" and miraculously lived although no one knew what that meant.
Back in present day, Stanley and another boy Zero run away from camp because they are fed up. They know they must go back or they will die. Stanley notices that a mountain nearby looks like a thumb and they decide to see if they can survive there. After days of walking in the desert, with no water and little food, they make it up the mountain. Stanley carries Zero and they discover a spring filled with onions which they eat until they are healthy again. In carrying this boy up the mountain, Stanley reverses his great-great-grandfather's curse. They decide to return to camp to find the buried treasure. When they get there, they find it but are caught. However, it turns out that the treasure is in a case labeled with Stanley's name on it, which was his great-grandfather's. A lawyer comes to get Stanley out of the camp because he is innocent and ends up closing the camp because it is illegal treatment of the boys. Stanley and Zero become rich and Zero finds his mother with his money. In the end, each character gets what they deserved.
I think this book was amazing. It was elaborately interwoven with past and present. It exposes the realities of fate while at the same time showing the strength and necessity of strong moral character. Stanley and Zero learn to believe in themselves. This book is inspiring and very entertaining. My only concern, is that the author could have discussed the racial issues in the story more. There is the interracial relationship in the past with Kate and also the way the boys at the camp relate to each other based on their races. This was not the focus of the book, which is probably why Sachar did not elaborate on these themes but I think it is a valuable subject to expose. Perhaps, it is merely up to the reader/teacher/parent to discuss the interplay of people of different races in the book. Overall, I was very impressed and would recommend this book to anyone of any age.

Title: Holes
Publisher: Dell Yearling
Date: 1998
Reading Level: Approximately 6th grade (According to Fry Readability Formula)
Number of Pages: 233
Genre: Fiction

Main character Stanley Yelnats was convicted of stealing a pair of valuable baseball shoes meant to be donated to a homeless charity. For his crime, he was sentenced to go to Camp Green Lake in order to rehabilitate himself.
At Camp Green Lake, all of the boys are required to dig one hole a day that is exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. When they are done digging their hole, they are allowed to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. But their task is not easy. Camp Green Lake is a barren desert with an unrelenting sun. Each day the campmates wake up at 4:30 am to start digging in the hopes that they will be done before the sun reaches its hottest point of the day.
Three adults run the camp, The Warden, "Mr. Sir", and Mr. Pedanski a.k.a. "Mom". "Mom" stands out as the sympathetic adult, while The Warden and "Mr. Sir" act ruthlessly towards the children of Camp Green Lake.
While there Stanley earns the nickname "Caveman" from his friends and campmates in group D; "X-Ray", "Armpit", "Zero", "Zigzag", "Magnet", and "Twitch". Stanley and "Zero" develop a deep bond after Stanely teaches Zero how to read and write.
Along the way Stanley discovers the real reason why the camp members of Camp Green Lake are digging holes. It in fact has nothing to do with building character, but instead a much more sinister plan cooked up by the Warden.

Though I enjoyed the book overall, there are a few minor set backs in the book. First, author Louis Sachar offers no explanation as to why the Government has decided Camp Green Lake would be an appropriate place for criminal youths to rehabilitate themselves. Given that the Warden's plans have nothing to do with helping these troubled youths, there should have been an explanation as to how the Warden positioned Camp Green Lake as an alternative to prison. Without this important explanation, the book loses points for positing outlandish scenarios as realistic.
Secondly, the book contains a few too many movie friendly cliché scenes. In one example, the members of Group D steal "Mr. Sir's" bag of sunflower seeds. Stanley accidentally drops the bag into his hole. When "Mr. Sir" arrives, he discovers the bag of sunflower seeds and Stanley takes the blame. He is taken to have his first encounter with the Warden in which she tortures Stanley using poison laced fingernail polish. The whole time I was reading this chapter of the book I kept thinking to myself how obvious it was that Stanley was going to get in trouble for taking the sunflower seeds from the very beginning. The chapter was too predictable and made me want to skip over entire paragraphs because I already knew what was going to happen from the very beginning.
Lastly, author Louis Sachar includes racial commentary in a very superficial way. In only a few chapters Sachar alludes to possible racial tensions at Camp Green Lake, but he does not deal with them in a direct way. In fact, he skips them over entirely. In one chapter Stanley wonders to himself if there will be any racial tension at Camp Green Lake. Sachar could have used this opportunity to open a dialogue on the racial structures in America in general and within the U.S. prison system specifically, but he ignores this opportunity by not interjecting any racial problems between the Black, Latino, and White members of Camp Green Lake. Instead, Stanley discovers that racial identity by and large does not exist at Camp Green Lake. This is a truly missed opportunity to add a deeper level of commentary to Holes.
With that said, there were aspects of the book that I did enjoy. The culmination of the separate stories of Kissin' Kate Barlow, Stanley's Great Great Grandpa, and the Stanley at the end of Holes made the story a little more complex. Sachar's interweaving of the past and the present in Holes made the plot much more interesting, while not being overly confusing. Additionally, Sachar's twist surprise ending is not entirely predictable, but will have you going back in the book to review the clues that could have led you to guess the ending of the book.

It's kind of new... but a page is torn in the book that I received.

I have to say that I did not read this book myself, so I won't comment on plot, character, content, etc. but my 10-year-old son read it and absolutely devoured it. I bought it for him to take on a vacation to keep him occupied and gave it to him a few days in advance. Well, the book didn't make it to vacation as he finished it within a couple of days. He enjoyed it thoroughly and now wants to see the movie.

The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry.
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Reprinted: September 10, 2002

Fry Readability: mid to late 9th grade.
Number of pages: 192
Genre: Utopian fiction

Synopsis:
This novel chronicles the workings of a utopian society. This community centers around duty, responsibility, correctness of speech, and courtesy to others. At the age of 11, each child must take his or her place as adults within the community. On the day of the Ceremony of 11, Jonas gets assigned the mysterious and highly respected position as The Receiver of memories. His training centers around receiving the unremembered memories of the world. Joy, pain, love, depression, and loss pass to Jonas through The Giver of memories. These new experiences give Jonas a new range of emotions and appreciation for life. At the same time, it begins to distance him from his family unit and isolates him from the rest of the community. He realizes the atrocities the community commits on a day to day basis to preserve sameness and to prevent the community from feeling. He begins to plan, with the help of The Giver, to release the memories to his community and allow them to look at life in all its rich colors, its devastating pain, and its overwhelming joy.

Negative aspects of book:
This book has a couple of disturbing moments centering around "being released" or the euthanization of those who cannot conform to sameness (the elderly, the sick, twins). My students found these parts difficult to read and even more difficult to understand. However, it did make for an interesting conversation about what a utopian society would be like and where conformity can lead a society. While I don't believe there are negative aspects of this book, these touchy areas should be approached with sensitivity and caution. At the same time, the issues that Lowry raises within real societies is unmistakably important for students to study and consider. We used some of the more disturbing areas in the book as a spring board for some incredible discussion. We even re-examined our own society in light of Lowry's critique.

My personal appraisal of book:
This book was interesting to me as a junior high student and even more interesting to me as a teacher of junior high students. It is a classic that holds readers and thinkers to a high standard. Parts of it may be hard to read for students with a lower reading level without teacher support (sentence structure and vocabulary might prove an obstacle to understanding). However, the story itself interested each student more and more the deeper we dug into the story. It is thought provoking while its characters are endearing, and its community is intriguing. It shows that without being taught, there is kindness, courage, love, and choices in a colorless, unvarying world.

The Giver
Lowery, Lois
Published by Laurel Leaf (2002)
Reading Level: 6.5
192 Pages
Youth Science Fiction

I remember reading The Giver for the first time as an emerging adolescent. For the first time I can remember, a novel challenged me to do more than just imagine. This powerful novel (to the my delight) forced me to consider and evaluate the circumstances and situations the author describes. Lois Lowry weaves together a provocative narrative that challenges our assumptions about the desirability of a utopian world, and explores the dark underside that so often accompanies flawed human attempts at manufacturing perfection. The story is less about Jonas, a 12-year old boy who is designated to become the receiver of memories, than it is about the twisted modern utopia he inhabits.

The story is set in a world without extremes. There is no pain, no suffering, and no poverty, but at the same time, no joy, no meaning, and no love. The cost of ridding the world of its ills is sacrificing many of its greatest virtues. By introducing the reader into the sterile world Jonas is born into, and accompanying him as he breaks through personal and societal barriers, Lowry invites her audience to consider controversial issues about freedom of choice, the nature of authentic experiences, the conditions of righteous rebellion, the intrinsic value of human life, and the price of a painless existence.

Jonas's experience reminds us of the simple joys we tend to take for granted in our world, full of endless variation, possibility, challenge, and choice. In the (literally) black and white world that Jonas inhabits, experiencing everything from the fundamental concepts of color and hunger to simple pleasures and pains like sledding and sunburns leaves Jonas profoundly changed. The way Jonas grows and matures through learning about his environment reminds the reader of how important it is to seek out new knowledge to better understand our world and ourselves.

Despite the striking differences between the modern world and the society Jonas is born into, many of the decisions that Jonas grapples with upon discovering the true nature of his utopian existence are similar to those every teenager and adult must make as he or she matures to gain wisdom, and with it, responsibility. It is almost painful to watch Jonas, at a mere 12 years of age, carry the enormous burden of remembering (and experiencing) the imperfections and wonders of the past alone. Jonas's journey, beginning with his passage into adulthood with the Ceremony of Twelve, and culminating with his decision to flee the only world he has ever known (to what end, we will never know...), reveals the incredible range of emotions we all know well as the human experience.

As soon as I picked up this book I was captivated by it. The people are all so ignorant ... the old saying ignorance is bliss Is best put here. Although there are some parts of the book that made me cry, don't ask me why but when I found out who got released I kind of knew it by the way he talked about her. Overall A great read and a captivating one at that.

The Giver
Lowery, Lois
Published by Laurel Leaf (2002)
Reading Level: 6.5
192 Pages
Youth Science Fiction

In this captivating story, a young boy named Jonas struggles to come to terms with his own specialness, his community's secrets, and the full range of human experience. Jonas lives in a community where everything is carefully planned and carefully controlled. There is no suffering or discomfort, but likewise no joy and little individuality. Children are assigned to families, mates are chosen by a committee of elders, and the weather is always comfortable. The people's lives proceed in a course prescribed by the community's elders, marked by routine, ritual and procedure. With the passage of one such ritual, The Ceremony of Twelve, the youth of the community are assigned to a profession. As his friends begin preparing for their new adult roles in the community, Jonas embarks on an altogether different journey.
Jonas has always known himself to be a bit different from his peers, and at his Ceremony of Twelve, he is chosen as the Receiver of Memories. As such, he is charged with holding all of the human memories passed from previous generations, so that the others in the community might be shielded from them. And so- bit by bit- Jonas begins to receive these memories from the pervious Receiver, an old man now know as the Giver. With these memories comes a whole range of emotions, good and bad, and wisdom well beyond his years. Armed with these insights, and the access granted to him as the Receiver, Jonas begins to see his community in a whole new way.
This book is a wonderful read for young people or adults. It dramatically addresses the issues with which adolescents are already familiar: feeling deeply, leaving childhood behind, and questioning the rules of their upbringing. It challenges the mind to consider issues of conformity and rebellion, and the infinite pros and cons of the human condition. The reader must wrestle with the questions like "is the absence of unpleasantness really happiness?", "is getting rid of sadness and pain worth it if it means giving up things like love and creativity?", and "how far will people go to preserve harmony and avoid unpleasantness?". These questions challenge and extend young minds, but may be a bit complex for young readers. Additionally, the mood and subject matter of the book are quite dark at times, and may be upsetting to some. Overall, however, this is an intellectually and emotionally engaging book that I found hard to put down!

The Giver -
1. Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co. (1993)
2. Author: Lois Lowry
3. Reading Level: Young Adults (Ages 11-15)
4. Number of Pages: 192
5. Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy

Lois Lowry's The Giver is written from the point of view of Jonas, an 11-year-old boy who lives in a perfect yet artificial community. There is no pain, no poverty, no fear, no war and no hatred. This society has also eliminated choice.

Jonas has an unusual power of perception. Sometimes he perceives flashes of color, whereas for everyone else, there is no color. He also has instances where he sees objects change shapes. This foreshadows Jonas's assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas' life changes the day he turns twelve. He is apprehensive about the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve, when he will be given his assignment as an adult member of society. The Committee of Elders tells Jonas that he has been chosen to be the Receiver. The Receiver is the sole keeper of the community's memory. Someone must keep the memories of pain, war, emotion, etc. so that the community can avoid mistakes that were made in the past. Jonas receives these memories from the current receiver, a wise old man who tells Jonas to call him Giver.

Soon Jonas learns The Giver will transmit all of the past memories of the world to him, and his life will be difficult and lonely. He was no longer able to participate in family and community activities, and was no longer able to spend time with his friends. Jonas soon realizes that the world he knew is a lie. He asks permission to view a releasing ceremony and witnesses his father murder a baby boy by injecting him with a drug. His father "discards" the young boy into a garbage, because the boy constantly cried, unlike the "normal" newborns. After Jonas receives good and bad memories, he is deeply troubled and changed. He is not forbidden to share any of his training experiences with the community.

Understanding for the first time that life is far better being aware of the memories of the past and being able to choose, the Giver helps Jonas develop an escape plan from the community. Jonas escapes and the book ends. Lowry wants the reader to create the ending to this thought-provoking chapter book.

There are some negative aspects of this book. The people in the community are not allowed to feel. They only have one point of view - what they are taught by the elders. Also, the releasing ceremony is criminal and disturbing.

In this book, young readers are asked to think about life without the ability to choose, where everyone is the same, where there is no religion. It is a provocative book that allows its readers to bring their own beliefs to find the symbolism. I recommend this well-written book be read in a school setting. After reading this book, readers can see what life could be like without diversity, and it makes readers appreciate the freedom we have to make our own choices.

I have to say, that I am impressed with this book. It took me until the end of the book where the author stated that it is purely fiction to realize that what I had just read, in fact, had never happened! I was so sure that this story was an actual memoir, that I read the introduction over, the author's last note over, and then had to look online for anyone to tell me differently. I still can't believe it's not true. It was such a great story.

The story follows Chiyo (or Sayuri, as she later comes to be known) through her life as she strives to become a Geisha after being sold as a child. The emotion in the story is amazingly real, and the events that take place are enthralling. I like that Arthur doesn't take a dramatic turn in the book by having a character do something you wouldn't expect. It seems more like a real memoir that way.

This was an interesting book to read. If you have seen the movie and loved it, you will also love the book, though, I recommend reading the book first. This is a great opportunity to peak into the Japanese culture as it was before WWII. The culture is alive and deep in this book. Arthur Golden did his research pretty well. I loved being able to see life through the eyes of Geisha.

So, like some other reviewers, I watched the movie first (and I wills ave the accolades for my review of the movie). However, after a watching it, I had an instant craving to read the book to see what was left out (cuz we all know that Hollywood loves to elave out the best parts of a book).

And, what I found within the pages completely led me to believe that I was right for wanting to read the book as well. While I will say that for the first time the film and the book are synonymous in character and detail. I must also add that the beuaty of the book was better as written work than on film. If you thought the movie was amazing, the book will prove breath-taking.

From the narrative voice, which is rich and full of personality and life, to the events themselves, the reader will be hard-pressed to put the book down. The move does an admirable job portraying the emotions and feelings of the narrator, but the book sits you front and center to everything Sayuri feels, thinks, breathes, and does. The reader navigates through every life moment with her like they were there--feeling the anger of her father's decision, the pain of relizing her dream of being a giesha may be crushed, and her determination as she plans how she will see the Chairman again. It's a wonder the reader doesn't set off on their own journey to meet Sayuri and the characters that enter and exit her world--they're that real.

I left the book feeling a better sense of completeness than I did with the movie (no spoilers here). And, I feel that Golden's research and time were well spent and permeate not only the landscape and places in the novel, but also the richness and depth of each character.

If you've seen the movie, please do yourself a favor and read the novel as well. You won't be disaapointed.

I greatly enjoyed the descriptions of the kimonos.

Also, this is a light, entertaining FICTION. By this, I mean it is Arthur Golden's fictional take on a historical period in Geisha history. I definitely would not consider it a classic by any means. The turns in the plot were actually fairly predictable.

As a person trained in writing, I was taught that one should always take the route people can't bear the characters to take. This creates tension and drama. In Memoirs of a Geisha, the events take the popular route that would make most readers happy, and therein lies the lack of drama.

I think the argument that Golden is not a Japanese female in the early 1900s is not entirely valid, since by definition, fiction involves a large degree of imagination. Salman Rushdie wasn't around in 6th century CE, but that didn't prevent Satanic Verses from being a fantastic work of art.

I definitely noted a lack of transparency in several passages throughout the book. When certain Japanese things and Japanese people were described by the Japanese narrator as smelly or disgusting, and American soldiers (during post-WWII occupation in Japan) were described - without the slightest hint of bitterness, even after her cities have been bombed and loved ones killed - as wonderful happy people whom the Geishas greatly enjoyed laughing & dancing with, abandoning all their formal training and tradition, then it becomes apparent that it is an American white male holding the puppet strings to these characters all along.

I do believe this book will do more good than bad. For those who care to explore further, Memoirs of A Geisha will easily fulfill its duty in introducing readers to both Japanese and Geisha culture. All they have to do is to dig a little further into the works of Liza Dalby, Iwasaki Mineko (whose interviews with Golden formed the basis of Memoirs of A Geisha), Sayo Masuda, and also of interest: The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.

For those who are content to read this FICTIONAL account and complacently treat it as truth, well, there's no rescue for them.

It took me a while to finish reading this book because I was indulging myself word per word. This book isn't the type of novel you should rush through. Regardless, the fact it is wrong in some places, like the part where Arthur Golden mentioned about the "mizuage", the book pulled you in like a few other books could do. Plus it took me a while to actually pick up this book and I must admit I did watch the movie first, then read it, cause I don't want to be disappointed with the movie. The book itself is way better than the movie.

The book centers on a first view perspective of a geisha named, Nitta Saiyuri, who was born with the name Chiyo. Originally daughter of a fisherman from small fishing village of Yoroido, Chiyo and her sister, Satsu; was sold off to Kyoto, one to an Okiya and another off to a brothel. Chiyo's early life in Gion was pretty much mostly hellish due to Hatsumomo ("), because she saw Chiyo's potential of being a successful geisha. There she befriends another of a girl around her age nicknamed Pumpkin (,¨J{). In the okiya she also met Mrs. Nitta, or "Mother", and Granny, the mistresses of the okiya, then there's also Auntie.

One day, she met a man that would change her point of life, the Chairman, and another geisha named Mameha ("¤--t), who in fact is Hatsumomo's rival in Gion, who would trained Chiyo into a very popular geisha. Chiyo became Saiyuri and search for the man who leads her into becoming a geisha. Then time really came and they met, but Saiyuri doesn't seem to get the opportunity to get his attention quite the way she wanted.

I love this book so much, its so detailed and captivation and I never wanted it to end, I saw the movie before I read it and its soooo much better than the movie. This book is fantastic