First things first, the reader has to tolerate young girls entertaining older men. It is a different time period and it was kind of hard for me to get past but I digress. I have a huge problem with the main character Chiyo or Sayuri later on, she was relatable in the beginning with her family situation and her move from a small fishing village to the big city to become a geisha and how she didn’t want that lifestyle. I felt her emotions but afterwards she’s become unlikable. Shes rather boring and is uncomfortably obsessed with this older man. Shes brainless and only thinks of him like a stalker and she said she has no purpose without him, which struck me as weird. Also similes EVERYWHERE. I almost starting counting them. So overused to the point the simile lost its meaning or became confusing, it didn’t help chiyo would talk to people like she’s reciting a poem. And the ending was not what I expected just like the author ran out of steam and quickly made an ending.

The ending is dumb. She works so hard to become a geisha and win the affections of this man just to become his mistress and kicked out of her home basically.