The Commoner: A Novel
by John Burnham Schwartz
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Book Reviews of The Commoner: A Novel
Book Review: From Freedom to Subjugation in a Luxurious Setting
Summary: 4 Stars
If you like prince and princess stories, this one will probably appeal to you.
In all of the fairy tales about prince and princesses, the authors wisely end the story after they fall in love or marry by saying some version of "and they lived happily ever after." But do princes and princesses really live happily after marriage? The harshly publicized marriage between Prince Charles and Princess Diana suggests that it's not inevitable that it all works out.
Why? Royal persons of all kinds are figureheads subject to lots of arbitrary rules and restraints that would drive a normal person crazy. If the person married isn't from that background, can depression be avoided?
In The Commoner John Burnham Schwartz bases his fictional story on the public events in the lives of the Japanese Imperial family. Using good imagination, he describes what it might have been like to leave a carefree life to become the consort of the Crown Prince.
His narrator is Haruko, the bride of the prince. You'll feel like you are reading about a slave's life in places. Many people will find this book evoking tears of sadness or regret on Haruko's behalf.
The book's main strength is making Japan and the Imperial family accessible to Western readers. That strength carries the first half of the book which is by far the more interesting part.
The book has a few weaknesses:
1. Everything is built up around dramatic scenes, and the tone is always too high to reflect real life.
2. The book's resolution is a weak one that doesn't adequately deal with the issues the author raises.
3. Other than Haruko, the characters are not as well developed as they might have been. As a result, the story is often flat unless some visceral event takes place.
4. Haruko's life becomes an occasional sketch of a scene after she becomes a mother. With so many blank places, Haruko becomes distant to us.
Book Review: What Would You Choose?
Summary: 4 Stars
I read mixed reviews of THE COMMONER before picking it up. However,the subject matter intrigued me. THE COMMONER is a work of fiction that is loosely based on the life of Empress Michiko who rose to the throne in 1989. The Empress was the first commoner to marry into the imperial family. The imperial family is naturally very private and little is known about its innerworkings. This book imagines what it would have been like for a commoner entering the imperial life.
The book opens with a description of the early life of Haruko as a commoner. I felt that the book took a long time to get going. Haruko doesn't marry the Crown Prince until halfway through the book. However, it may have been important to set the stage so that the reader would understand how very much Haruko's life changed when she became a royal. The novel itself is very quiet and slow-moving. The pace was almost glacial. This became important, however, in conveying the oppressive nature of royal life. Haruko struggles to reconcile her former self with her royal self and experiences mixed and often tragic results.
One moment I found especially heartbreaking was when Haruko's baby is forcibly weaned from her without her consent. As a mother who had to involuntarily wean her own baby, this broke my heart. In all of the splendor and opulence of courtly life, Haruko loses those things most important to her. Including her true sense of self.
While this isn't a particularly exciting novel, it is extremely thought-provoking. It forces the reader to think about what decision you would make in the same situation. Would you give up everything you knew for love? Or to experience royal life or fame? Would it be worth it?
Although difficult to get through, I recommend this novel because it will leave you thinking about a great many things and, perhaps, with a greater appreciation for the small freedoms and pleasures of everyday life.
Book Review: A nice attempt
Summary: 3 Stars
The prose did have its moments of beauty and clarity but otherwise I felt that the plot lacked a bit and the resolution was completely unrealistic. In general, the Japanese as a people hold duty and honor above all else. Once I read the ending I could not help but feel the thin thread that was suspending my disbelief snap... resulting in disbelief spilling all over me...
Throughout the book I kept thinking that it would have been more effective if written in the 3rd person. It would have more effectively communicated the thoughts and feelings of the main character who seems so reticent and socially hindered--i can only imagine that any Japanese woman who has lost the power of speech for as long as she has would not so easily be able to put into words the full complexity of her emotions, the colossal weight and inexplicable grief that must well up in her...in fact I doubt that she would be capable of let alone so brazen as to write a memoir as the one just read. It just seems ridiculous. 3rd person would have also better captured the nuances of feeling between the characters thus giving the reader a better grasp of the context and idea of imperial Japan.
There are beautiful moments in the book but it seems that Schwartz tries to evoke meaning out of impressions that would most obviously have impressed a western observer in a Japanese context.I found the prose alienating in the sense that many of the impressions communicated seemed like a pastische of orientalized novelties that were more for the benefit of the western reader than a true memoir of someone like the Empress Michiko. Perhaps this is simply me never getting over the fact that this is a male western writer.
It is no easy feat to attempt to write and explain something that is meant to remain elusive and inexplicable, how can anyone do that in a sensitive fashion? It is a strong attempt.
Book Review: Interesting Fictional Biography
Summary: 4 Stars
When she is a young woman, the well-educated, tennis-loving Haruko is wooed by the Crown Prince of Japan. She eventually accepts his affections, the first commoner ever to marry into the Imperial Family. But this choice will have ramifications far beyond what she ever imagined.
Such is the premise of John Schwartz's "The Commoner," which traces Haruko's life from her girlhood during World War II to her old age at the Imperial Palace. It takes its inspiration from the real story of the recent generations of the Japanese Imperial Family, but Schwartz changes most of the names, invents most of the details, and even peeks a little bit into the future.
Much of the novel is concerned with Haruko's life in a cloistered family hobbled by tradition (a theme that bears some comparison to the 2007 movie The Queen). With her concerned but oft-uncomprehending husband by her side, she battles the Empress, the age-old rules that constrain her, and her own doubts--and the book's drama arises in part from the question of how much she will succumb to the things she tries to resist.
Schwartz's language is rich in metaphor and evocative imagery, yet he mostly avoids getting caught up in his own wordsmithing, allowing the voice of the increasingly worldly Haruko to stay at the forefront. Things drags somewhat in the middle, but pick up again for the finale--and meanwhile, the brilliantly written, perfectly-paced Part One is worth the entire book.
In addition to being an intriguing psychological novel, Schwartz stays true enough to the historical roots of his story that readers may come away with both a compassion for his characters and a better knowledge of an often opaque monarchy.
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Book Review: Stunningly impressive, minutely flawed
Summary: 4 Stars
The author himself showed up at a book promotion event at our university. I was honored to meet him and impressed with what he had to say concerning the writing of the novel, the research and time invested, and of course, the underlying story which was deeply intertwined with the facts of the Japanese Empress Michiko and Crown Princess Masako's lives.
I bought the book. The language is restrained but wonderfully convincing and poignant; the story moving and tragic. However, the book isn't without its shortcomings. Some parts of the narrative and internal dialogue seem a little too 'Western' to be authentically Japanese / Asian. Furthermore, the first half of the book deals with the early life and marriage of "Haruko" in what may seem like painfully slow detail. The next quarter has to do with her adjustment problems in the Imperial household, and her breakdown. The last quarter deals with the 'present' - how she relates with "Keiko", the love of her son's life and soon-to-be daughter-in-law. Therefore, there is no mention of the 'lost years' in between - her life at the Chrysanthemum Palace is completely omitted, and we are left to guesswork. It's logical, given the secrecy of the cloistered system, and probably better for the author to leave it out than throw the story to the winds of wild speculation. However, you do get the feeling that *something* crucial is missing. Lastly, although the ending is appropriate (and one would say, an almost wishful desire on the author's part and most likely many readers), I simply can't see it happening in real life. There is no way it could take place. And that, for me, ruined the book.
Nonetheless, it's a marvelous read, and succeeds in evoking emotion and sympathy for the women who have to deal with such a restrictive life. Four out of five stars.