Review: The Commoner

I’ve always found Japan’s history and culture extremely interesting, so when I stumbled across The Commoner, the tale of an  ordinary girl becoming Empress of Japan by John Burnham Schwartz, I was immediately set on reading it. I’m glad I did–I enjoyed it, though that doesn’t mean I didn’t have some issues with it.

Based on the real Empress of Japan, Michiko, the novel details the life of the first commoner to marry into the Japanese imperial family. In the fictionalized version presented, her name is Haruko Tsuneyasu, and she takes us through her life growing up in post-WWII Japan, becoming a young woman, and eventually marrying the Crown Prince of Japan, against the advice of her father.

Learning about the secretive, tradition-bound world of the Japanese royal family was really intriguing. Haruko is the perfect narrator, as she too is learning about these rules for the first time. It was easy to see how stifling the court rituals were, and therefore not surprising to see Haruko begin to wither away. Until relatively recently in Japan, the Emperor and his family were worshiped as descendants of the gods. On the surface, that sounds great–you’ve got servants at your beck and call, live in the royal palace, don’t have to work, etc, etc. But where The Commoner really shines is showing how being perceived as gods is actually an awful burden. Besides coping with the endless rules (always enter the room behind the Prince, never speak before he does), Haruko is nearly robbed of her humanity. Becoming the Crown Princess changes her relationship with her parents, introducing stiff formality and distance between them all. Haruko is barely allowed to see her son–nurses feed and change him, and only hand him off during prearranged visits. She has no real friends in the palace, no one she can trust or talk to. It’s heart-breaking to read.

Schwartz does an admirable job writing from the voice of Haruko. She is dedicated to her loving parents, but headstrong and her own person; her voice, though traditional in style and prose, shows just how deeply the strict rules of the court affect her, and how much, in her own small ways, she challenges them. (Also, though it’s not a large part of the book, I really related to the parts where Haruko described her aimlessness after graduating school without knowing what she truly wanted to do with her life.)

One thing I would have liked more of were the “middle years” of Haruko’s life; the book covers her early life as Crown Princess very well, and her later years as Empress, but completely cuts out her life from her late 20s to late 40s. I may have just read it too quickly, but despite the lingering treatment Schwartz uses on Haruko’s post-college and early Princess years, the book felt very short. (And to some, the ending might seem straight-up wish fulfillment, but I didn’t care–I was cheering for Haruko and Keiko to pull it off the entire time.) I also felt that the book was a little weaker in the second half, once the excitement and then dread of Haruko’s marriage wore off, but it did still keep me reading.

It’s overall an interesting, worthwhile read, especially for those who are interested in getting a glimpse behind the scenes of Japan’s royal family–and learning about the women who suffered under, and eventually changed, the system.

This book counts towards the Women Unbound Challenge.

Bookwanderer Rating: Three and a half/four stars

Bookwanderer Tagline: A sad but ultimately hopeful look at the world of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Second Opinons:
Breaking the Fourth Wall
Book Reporter

Waiting on Wednesday/WWW Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that highlights books that haven’t yet been released. For my Waiting on Wednesday pick this week, I chose Corrag, by Susan Fletcher (on the strength of Teresa’s positive review on Shelf Love).

The description, via Amazon:

The Massacre of Glencoe happened at 5am on 13th February 1692 when thirty-eight members of the Macdonald clan were killed by soldiers who had enjoyed the clan’s hospitality for the previous ten days. Many more died from exposure in the mountains. Fifty miles to the south Corrag is condemned for her involvement in the Massacre. She is imprisoned, accused of witchcraft and murder, and awaits her death. The era of witch-hunts is coming to an end – but Charles Leslie, an Irish propagandist and Jacobite, hears of the Massacre and, keen to publicise it, comes to the tollbooth to question her on the events of that night, and the weeks preceding it. Leslie seeks any information that will condemn the Protestant King William, rumoured to be involved in the massacre, and reinstate the Catholic James. Corrag agrees to talk to him so that the truth may be known about her involvement, and so that she may be less alone, in her final days. As she tells her story, Leslie questions his own beliefs and purpose – and a friendship develops between them that alters both their lives. In Corrag, Susan Fletcher tells us the story of an epic historic event, of the difference a single heart can make – and how deep and lasting relationships that can come from the most unlikely places.

Wow, sounds powerful, doesn’t it? Corrag comes out in the U.S on November 15th.

For WWW Wednesday this week, hosted by MizB at  Should Be Reading, my answers are below:

What are you currently reading? Finishing up The Boys of My Youth, by Jo Ann Beard. It’s a collection of creative non-fictions essays, mostly about Beard’s childhood in the Midwest, her family, and her relationships (with her husband, her best friend, her cousin, even her dogs). This was given to me for Christmas by one of my besties, and I’m glad she did, because I probably wouldn’t have picked it up on my own.

What did you recently finish reading? Over the weekend I finished Joe Hill’s new novel, Horns. Ig Perrish, suspected murderer, wakes up one morning with horns growing out of his head–horns that make people do strange things. We follow Ig as he tries to find the person who killed his girlfriend, and learn about Ig’s childhood, friends, and family on the way.

What do you think you’ll read next? The Commoner, by John Burnham Schwartz. I got it in the mail last week, finally, and have been itching to start it ever since! The book is a fictionalized account of one girl’s rise from middle-class to wife of the Emperor, based off of the real-like Empress Michiko of Japan. It got a starred review from Publishers Weekly, too.

Got a Waiting on Wednesday or WWW Wednesday post? Link to it in the comments!

WWW Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday (Feb 17)

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Heeeeere’s tarynwanderer!

What are you currently reading? I’m just starting Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It’s embarrassing to admit for a self-professed fantasy nerd, but I’ve only read ONE book by Gaiman (Neverwhere) and NONE by Pratchett. So I’m looking forward to this one a lot.

 What did you recently finish reading? Just finished John James Audubon: The Making of an American, and it was so, so interesting. He was pretty ahead of his time in terms of his thinking about birds and protection of natural resources. He was an inspiring guy–didn’t let business failure, money woes, or age get him down! (Yeah…I kind of have a crush on Audubon now.)

What do you think you’ll read next? I’m keeping my options open! Waiting for several packages to arrive that include The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, The Commoner by John Burnam Schwartz, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, and Forever by Pete Hamill. So it depends which one stikes me once I’ve got my grubby lil’ paws on it.

As for my Waiting on Wednesday pick (hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine), this week I’m going with Anthill, by E.O Wilson. If you are interested in science and nature at all, you’ve probs read some of Wilson’s work before. But Anthill is his first foray into FICTION! Awesome. It sounds like Wilson brings his trademark depth and level of detail to a new kind of story.

The blurb, via Amazon:

Astonishing, inspirational, even magical: a naturalist’s novel about an Alabama boy who heroically tries to save a sacred forest. “What the hell do you want?” snarled Frogman at Raff Cody, as the boy stepped innocently on the reputed murderer’s property. Fifteen years old, Raff had only wanted to catch a glimpse of Frogman’s 1,000-pound alligator. Thus begins the epic story of Anthill, part thriller, part parable, which follows the adventures of Raff, a modern-day Huck Finn, whose improbable love of ants ends up transforming his own life and those around him. Alarmed by condo developers who are intent on destroying Alabama’s endangered Nokobee tract, Raff idealistically heads off to law school. Returning home, he encounters the angry and corrupt ghosts of an old South he thought had disappeared. The sacred woods he must now travel through to save Lake Nokobee are teeming with unimaginable danger. Anthill, with some of the most striking scientific detail ever seen in a popular novel, will transfix readers with its stunning twists and startling revelations of the true meaning of nature’s wildness.

Anthill, by  E.O Wilson, comes out on April 5th.