Memoirs of a Geisha

Ziyi Zhang portrayed the role of Chiyo/Sayuri so convincingly and beautifully that I decided to read the book years later to see how it really was.
The author's writing is so engaging that after reading it, I feel as if I lived the life of the little girl with the grey-blue eyes myself. For us lay people, the author was able to describe in vivid detail the life of the mysterious geishas and what they had to go through to become the best artists they could be. The deeper I got into the plot, the more respect I had for the geishas.
Although Chiyo's story is pure fiction inspired by a real geisha, it's almost surreal that somewhere in the land of the rising sun, this actually happened and how many of those women could then say they were as lucky as the protagonist.

Let me add an interjection so that the author is not believed every word on the page, because geisha is not a courtesan, but happens to be a very respected artist, even in today's Japan.