Book vs Movie: Memoirs of a Geisha 3
As mentioned in my previous post, I shall be talking about Satsu next. I am reading the Vintage Contemporaries version of Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
Satsu Sakamoto is the older sister of Chiyo. She is said to be more passive given that her element is wood. Unlike Chiyo, Satsu is the less active and less beautiful girl. She was simply normal and obedient.
At the age of 15, she had a romantic relationship with a local boy named Sugi (starts at page 18). I'd like to say that it is a romantic relationship even if Chiyo didn't say that it was. He was rather "hands on" with Satsu. (I think I just made a pun which may be understood if your read pages 18 to 19.)
Satsu's life in Gion has been explained in both the book and the movie -- being sent to the red light district and working there as a prostitute. (Is this a spoiler? I'll mark this post as a spoiler nonetheless.) The book had more description on how is Satsu and other prostitutes are different from the geisha but the viewer can easily pick up the difference. How Chiyo is desperately looking for Satsu isn't as highlighted as much in the movie. (Then again, that whole part was chucked out of the movie. I'll talk about that in later posts.)
So, how did Satsu exit Chiyo's life? Just like in the movie, she ran away on her own. (A few chapters later, it was mentioned that Satsu has carefully planned to run away without Chiyo by consulting an almanac.) However, the book tells the readers what happened after she runs away. (Spoiler tag is up anyway.) She goes back to Yoroido and runs away with Sugi. Romantic, isn't it?
I have nothing much to say about Satsu. As far as page 280 goes, I haven't read anything about her or if there is news about her. I couldn't really say that she was selfish to not look for Chiyo -- not after what has happened to her overall. She had the harder life but I don't sympathize with her. Am I that heartless? Haha.
So far, there are a few more characters that aren't in the movie. I do understand that they have to make it fit and remove what is deemed unnecessary to the whole jist. We'll just see how this goes.
Still swimming in the pages,
Anj
