It is a bit strange that a man could have written this, but I think it speaks to the universality of human experiences. Many people feel the ending falls flat, but I think the author wanted to show a contrast in Sayuri’s later life to her beginning. Also, Sayuri says that once the Chairman became her danna, her life was not the struggle it had always been before.

I found so many of the characters fascinating. I wished we got to know more about what made Hotsumomo such a monster too.

The fact that the war intrudes on the story and breaks the action up was a bit irritating, but that it the way with such things in real life…no one expects them and then no one expects them to last so long or to cause so much disruption.