While the book was insightful and charmingly written, I'm not as prone to gushing over with enthusiasm for it as some. There were a few impactful takeaways, to be sure. I feel far more informed of precisely what a Geisha is/was, while previously I'd been under the impression that they were purely entertainers.(Well, then again I suppose that depends on one's definition of 'entertainment.') Now I've come to the realization that, for hundreds of years, the lifestyle of a Geisha was rarely a chosen one. While beautifully depicted in its own way, this book defines it essentially as the aristocracy of slavery and prostitution. 
 If you love metaphors and word pictures, this book may very well delight you all the way through. For me, it steadily became more of an irritant. It felt as though they'd been inserted in every page as a covert way of lengthening the book beyond all common acceptability of the genre. And while the writing style is exceptional and the imagery vivid, there were a few things that knocked down my overall rating... 
 One issue being the main character's ongoing childhood romantic obsession with a married man who is at least 25 years her senior. This felt less authentic to me, and more like a mental illness, making the main character's growth feel a bit stunted. Also, from the reviews I was under the impression that there would be more of a grasp of sensuality throughout. Instead, there was the disturbing portrayal of molestation, objectification, and the general impression that a Geisha's sex life reduced them to little more than passive blow-up dolls. 
 (mild spoiler alert) 
 While possessing a certain desperate sadness from beginning to end, this was fortunately not a typical Asian tragedy. Though, don't expect a happily-ever-after. The heroine does not seem to grow out of a soul-crushing dependence on men, and settles for what feels more like a bitter-sweet mutually beneficial 'arrangement' after much bridge-burning. Accurate or not (and I know that is up for debate) the story itself didn't leave me with any real satisfaction.