So I realize I missed the boat on this one by about 6 years, but I was sick, in Kyoto, and had nothing else to read, so I picked it up as “theme reading.” It’s just great (I know, that’s what everyone was saying 6 years ago). Well-told story, melancholy but not really depressing, interesting insight into Japan’s development in the 20th century. After finishing it, I dragged Sam to the geisha district in Kyoto and found the theater and teahouses mentioned in the book.