My favorite book I’ve read this past year is Stalin’s Children: Three Generations of Love, War, and Survival. Written by Moscow Newsweek Bureau Chief Owen Matthews, it’s a deeply personal story of his families roots and struggles within Russia that spans three generations. The book opens with the successful lives of his grandparents. Unfortunately, the tide turns swiftly and his great grandfather is arrested and charged with anti-state behavior. He is sent to prison, never to be seen again. His grandmother was arrested shortly thereafter and serves ten years hard labor for being married to an enemy of the state. Their two children are sent to various state orphanages and raised there under the heavy influence of Joseph Stalin.

Admiration for Stalin

Although Stalin was the reason for their family being torn apart, neither girl views this as the case and in fact they deeply admire Stalin. One of the girls, Mila, grows up to become an academic and falls in love with a British National taking part in a foreign exchange program in Russia, the first of it’s kind. The British National, Mervyn Matthews (Owen’s father) is recruited by the KGB, but upon rebuffing them is deported from the country. His love affair with Mila survives despite the distance and through letters, phone calls, and two clandestine face to face meetings they manage to keep their love alive.

Mervyn petitions the British and Russian government for five long years to receive a visa to go marry his love Mila. Their love stands the test of time and Mervyn is eventually granted a ten-day visa to visit Russia once again and marry Mila. Mervyn’s son Owen does a fantastic job of telling the story of his family through three generations. He also details his experiences in Russia during the crazy nineties when Russia saw an explosion of capitalism. Today he resides there part-time with his Russian wife and children, still telling the stories of his Russian bloodline.

Mineko Iwasaki

There’s nothing quite like sitting down and reading history from a first person encounter. Though translated and written into simplistic English, Mineko Iwasaki’s words and genuinely amazing story ring through. There is an elegance, a mystique to her words that create wondrous pictures of the karyukai (districts), kimono (traditional clothing), and okiya (geisha house) in one’s head. Iwasaki creates a world that we will never see, but was all too real for her.

The Truth Behind the Geisha

Outside of Japan, people are not quite acquainted with the truth behind the geisha (or geiko) of Japan’s Gion Kobu district. The geiko – women of art – live and work inside the district, and spend their entire careers there attempting to please customers and entertain clients. This is wonderfully painted by Iwasaki in her memoir, with rich details of her first-hand experience of being the most popular geiko in the world. Her story is of love, of triumph, of success, but at the same time, she faces plenty of hardship along the way.

We begin the story with a first-person introduction to Iwasaki in her own words. Moving into a geiko house in Gion Kobu district at the age of five, Iwasaki began her rigorous training in dance and artistic endeavors early on. At fifteen, she debuted as a maiko (adolescent geisha) to Kyoto and the world. In the 1960’s and 1970’s of Japan, Iwasaki had to learn to carry on tradition as her nation was moving toward the future and modernization. Her career path was a difficult one, and she states she “finds great irony” in her chosen profession because it conflicts with her own personality.

Background of the Book

The book has a brief background of Iwasaki’s family life before living in the okiya, but the majority of her grand story focuses on life in the okiya. She tells the story of a young, hardworking woman who is destined for success, but experiences hurdles along the way. Iwasaki details such things as the way she wore her hair as a maiko, the way she was dressed, and even recalls specific customers she entertained (such as Prince Charles). The book reads like a great foreign film with simple subtitles, everything straightforward and direct. Her way of retelling her story through translator Rande Brown opens a whole world to those of us not in Japan or experienced in Japanese culture/history we never could imagine.

Iwasaki – who is now retired from being a geiko and has a family of her own – lived an incredible life, and lets the reader into her incredible past. Though somewhat off topic at times, Iwasaki’s story is one not to be missed or scoffed at. Her tale is true insight into the lives of the geiko of Gion, a world that most will never know.