Rose

Not mind-blowing, not terrible. A little bit hard to believe at times, and hard to relate to unless you are among the wealthy inhabitants of Barcelona. It touched [extremely] lightly on being undocumented in the city, women's safety, and alcoholism but it in a way that did not seem to be drawn from personal experience or connection.

Absolutely amazing book. Don't judge it by the title. A unique story of womanhood, grief, parenthood, love in all its forms (without lapsing into a love story), and the power of human connection. One of the best books I've read for a while.

I sit here struggling to write a review of this book. It's hard to say you love a book full of such violence, suffering, and tragedy. However, it is beautifully written, allowing the reader to connect so well with Cora, to the point that there were moments I couldn't stop reading until I knew she was safe from her many terrifying situations. It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming to read the stories of human sacrifice made to help others amidst the impossible situations inflicted upon people.

It's been a while since I became so attached to the characters in a book in this way. The profound message of how much society is willing to ignore providing they are benefiting is unsettling. A dark story with unnerving parallels to real world humanity.

I really liked this book until I was half way through and I found it wasn't really going anywhere. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, it was a memoir as you expect, but I just found it a little dull when not much had really happened by the time I had read half of it. I hate giving up on books but so I compromised and watched the film and I didn't find the film that riveting either. Perhaps it just wasn't the book for me, I prefer a bit more drama and I didn't find much drama in the storyline. Having said that, it is absolutely a memoir of a Geisha which I had little to no knowledge of before and I did learn a lot about their traditions and way of life which I found interesting.