The poverty and disenfranchisement could make this a painful read, and it's brutal in its honesty. But Masuda's voice is aware and immediate--she moves quickly through her memoir, she sketches other people distinctly, she balances pathos with an expected liveliness that approaches humor. It creates a surprisingly accessible view into the rarely discussed (but oft imagined) realities of life for a bathhouse geisha in the 1930s and 40s, but Masuda expands from her memoir into a broader view that critiques the effects of misogyny and politics on poor women in rural Japan. My previous touchstone on geisha was Iwasaki's Geisha: A Life, which I also recommend; I appreciate the memoirs even better in tandem, as they explore vastly different experiences within a shared, flawed system.