A Woman of Pleasure Audiobook By Kiyoko Murata, Juliet Winters Carpenter - translator cover art

A Woman of Pleasure

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A Woman of Pleasure

By: Kiyoko Murata, Juliet Winters Carpenter - translator
Narrated by: Susan Momoko Hingley
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In 1903, a fifteen-year-old girl named Aoi Ichi is sold to the most exclusive brothel in Kumamoto, Japan. Despite her modest beginnings in a southern fishing village, she becomes the protégée of an oiran, the highest-ranking courtesan at the brothel.

Through the teachings of her oiran, Shinonome, Ichi begins to understand the intertwined power of sex and money. And in her mandatory school lessons, her writing instructor, Tetsuko, encourages Ichi and the others to think clearly and express themselves. By banding together, the women organize a strike and walk away from the brothel and into the possibility of new lives.

Based on real-life events in Meiji-era Japan, award-winning and critically acclaimed veteran writer Kiyoko Murata re-creates in stunning detail the brutal yet vibrant lives of women in the red-light district at the turn of the twentieth century—the bond they share, the survival skills they pass down, and the power of owning one's language.

©2024 Kiyoko Murata (P)2024 Dreamscape Media Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction World Literature
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Great writing, even with this being a translation. It was interesting to see this world (Early 20th Century Japan) from the eyes of a teen girl who is also new to life we're being introduced to. Loved the mostly female cast of characters and appreciated the respect paid to the issues faced by the Oiran and the pleasure district. Great read!

Tough Topic Written Very Well

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The narrative follows Aoi Ichi, a young girl sold into a brothel in Kumamoto’s licensed quarter. We first encounter Ichi at the moment of her sale, and through her education at the Girls Industrial School and her tutelage under the brothel’s leading courtesan, Shinonome, we witness her evolution.

While the brothel strips away Ichi’s innocence, the school offers her a form of self-expression: a journal. Her blunt, poetic entries provide glimpses into her inner turmoil, capturing her anger, grief, and hope. The classroom scenes subtly expand the novel's scope, exploring the societal forces impacting these women’s lives.

The Livestock Emancipation Law, which nominally freed prostitutes by likening them to animals, serves as a pivotal backdrop. Though unenforced, it suggested that sex workers could not be held responsible for repaying the debts incurred by their families.

The novel gently underscores the power of an individual to spark change, instilling a sense of empowerment and rights among the prostitutes.

Loved!

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