Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) is a wholly remarkable book. I cannot explain my fascination with it clearly, but (to give you an idea of how much I liked it) I read it in two days. It made two statements about pain that I thought were interesting:
p. 405: "I couldn't help imagining I'd seen on his face some of the shock I myself was feeling. I didn't know if the shock was really there-- and I doubted it was. But when we feel pain, even the blossoming trees seem weighted with suffering to us; and in just the same way, after seeing the Chairman there . . . well, I would have found my own pain reflected on anything I'd looked at."
p. 419: "Though I must say, I lived in that contented state a long while before I was finally able to look back and admit how desolate my life had once been. I'm sure I could never have told my story otherwise; I don't think any of us can speak frankly about pain until we are no longer enduring it."
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I loved that book! It fascinated me, to,o and I read it pretty quick as well (although maybe not in two days). Thanks for the quotes on pain. Really interesting comments I might have overlooked when I read it several years ago.
ReplyDeleteYou know what's fun to do? Look up a book in Google Books and type keywords into the search bar on the side!
ReplyDelete(I noticed the second quote in my first read-through, but GB reminded me of the first one).