Memoirs of a Geisha reads like a biography, a first person account of the life of Sayuri, a successful Geisha in living Gion. Arthur Golden encourages this idea further with an introduction stating that the novel was dictated to a writer by Sayuri toward the end of her life, when living in New York.

Although this is a clever technique for lending authenticity to the story, it also provides us with the only real view of Sayuri from the outside. Throughout the novel we see things from behind her eyes, and while occasionally we hear comments and compliments made to her from her patrons, the initial chapter shows us how Sayuri appears to others, and especially to men.

The story begins when Sayuri was a child, known as Chiyo, in a tiny fishing village. When a local businessman realised her potential, and that her mother was dying, he suggested that she be sent to Gion. Her father agreed to have her sold to an Okiya, a geisha house, and at the age of eight, she began training.

Golden uses rich descriptions to bring the geisha of Gion to life for us:
'Her face was painted a kind of rich white, like the wall of a cloud when lit by the sun'.

Things did not proceed smoothly at the okiya, as the reigning geisha of the okiya, Hatsumomo, took an instant dislike to her and began to make trouble immediately. When young Chiyo tried to run away, the owner of the Okiya, Mother, ceased paying for her training and she was relegated to being a maid.

Her life changed several years later when she meets the Chairman, a businessman who was kind to her on the street, and she began to dream of becoming a geisha who would be able to spend time with him. Although the situation seemed hopeless, she had the good fortune to attract the attention of Mameha, perhaps the only geisha in Gion successful enough to take on the scheming Hatsumomo without risk.

Mameha convinced Mother to begin Chiyo's training again, offering to become Chiyo's mentor, known as an Older Sister. Chiyo's training progresses well this time, despite Hatsumomo's attempts at sabotage, and she becomes the geisha known as Sayuri.

The story is full of details about the training of a geisha, from learning dance and music, to the correct way to walk and pour tea. Mameha teaches Sayuri how to flatter a man, how to say no without appearing to, and how make stimulating conversation. Ultimately geisha are entertainers, and they must be able to entertain on many social levels, maintaining a perfect balance between availability and aloofness, between shy and flirtatious.

Sayuri quickly gains the patronage of Nobu, President of the same company as the Chairman and his long-term friend. Nobu is disfigured by burns, with a cold and gruff persona, but quickly becomes fond of Sayuri. When she turns 18, he tries to become her danna, a relationship whereby a geisha becomes someone's official mistress.

Sayuri is distressed, because if Nobu becomes her danna, then the Chairman never will be. Mameha saves her by suggesting to Mother that a certain military general would be a better choice. Nobu refuses to see Sayuri after this, not speaking to her again until Gion is closed during the war some four years later.

Meanwhile, Sayuri has surpassed Hatsumomo, who has become more bitter and deranged the years have passed, until she is weak enough that Sayuri and Mameha can finally push her over the edge:
'She was like a fabric taken from its warm closet and hung out of doors where the harsh weather will finally consume it.'
Hatsumomo is thrown out of the okiya after losing control to the point where she attacked a patron and Sayuri's life becomes easier to bear.

When Gion is closed down, Sayuri goes to stay in the country, living as a peasant for five years through the defeat of Japan and the occupation by the Americans, before returning to Gion. After her return, Nobu again proposes himself as her danna and she tries to resolve herself to losing her dreams.

Nobu's company has been saved by Minister Sato, and Nobu had asked Sayuri to help entertain him to keep him onside with the company. Nobu and Sayuri have a disagreement when Nobu reveals that the Minister had wanted to sleep with her, and that he'd wanted Nobu to act as a procurer. Nobu says that if Sayuri is the type of woman who would do that, he wants nothing to do with her.

Sayuri then conceives a plan to seduce the minister and have Nobu catch them, to free herself from him. Nobu is the only obstacle between herself and the Chairman that she has not been able to find a way around. The plan goes awry when the Chairman catches them instead. She is sure that nothing will save her now, but finds instead that the Chairman has understood her motives perfectly, and they can finally be together.

The story covers about twenty years of Sayuri's life, and is everything about the style compliments the impression of the beautiful and elegant world of the geisha. Descriptions of not just the beautiful kimono and surroundings, but Sayuri's feelings and thoughts creates a rich environment for the story to flow through.

The author's ability to use common experiences to describe emotions adds a sentimental credibility, when Sayuri says:
'I could no more have stopped myself from feeling that sadness than you could stop yourself from smelling an apple that has been cut open on the table before you."
it is immediately obvious what is going on, and yet the cadence is sufficiently unusual to constantly remind you that this person is from another culture, and a rather beautiful one.

This is a love story, a story about a woman and her life, and also a story about a type of culture that is rapidly fading, that of the geisha of Gion.