Between both film and movie, Memoirs Of A Geisha demonstrates the forbidden romance and tragedies of a geisha in pre-war and post-war japan, though both are historically accurate, I personally feel as though the book goes further into depth of all the character's life, whereas the movie focuses strictly on Sayuri-Which of course is; completely understandable. In the film we're butchered a bit from the characters as well, especially important ones whom played important rolls in Sayuri's upbringing as a woman , Meiko, and Geisha. The book also foreshadows a bit of Sayuri's current life, while in the movie we just hear her story, the book demonstrates the sort of people she meets as a geisha, and even reveals that she lives in New York sometime after the war, which does show that unlike the movie, she earns a life that is hers.