The scent of sake

Picked up this book during waiting time between editing sessions at work. I surely wish I didn't though, because I ended up disliking this book to an absurd level.

There are many things that disturbed me about the culture of Japan written in this book; mostly the lackluster details, the disjointed writing, and the ? ? ? descriptions that might or might not fit the timeline... but what bothered me the most are the portrayal of geisha and the heroine herself.

First, the portrayal of geisha. This is an issue commonly seen in books about Japan: geisha are portrayed as prostitutes or concubines. True, some of them do sleep with their customers, but they are mainly what the term “geisha” means—entertainers. In this book, however, they got knocked up and had illegitimate children... and no, the father isn't necessarily a man of power.

The heroine is, frankly speaking, annoying to the highest degree. I do understand how she feels at first because women rights were strictly limited in 19th century Japan, BUT that doesn't make it okay for Rie to do all the crap she did later on in the book. She whines, whines, and whines. She whines a LOT, she's bossy, and she's forceful in a bad way IMO. I couldn't sympathize with her AT ALL.

I wanted to like this book, but I simply couldn't.