주인공 니타 사유리는 일본의 전통적인 기생 게이샤로서의 자신의 삶을 얘기해 나간다. 사유리가 어렸을 적 기생집에 팔려가면서 이야기는 시작되는데, 기생으로 성장하면서 배우는 여러 기술이 눈길을 끈다. 춤과 음악, 기모노 입는 법, 정성들인 화장, 머리 손질 등... 게이샤들의 세계를 그렸지만 성에 관한 얘기는 별로 없는 편. 일본 게이샤들의 삶과 생각을 조명함으로써 또다른 일본 문화를 엿볼 수 있게 했다는 평을 들었다.
 

A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel tells with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.
Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it.
In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction--at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful--and completely unforgettable.