Memoirs Of A GeishaAccording to Arthur Golden's absorbing first novel, the word "geisha" does not mean "prostitute," as Westerners ignorantly assume it means "artisan" or "artist." We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child's unusual blue grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old. In the years