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    The Commoner: A Novel
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    The Commoner: A Novel
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    The Commoner: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Commoner: A Novel

    Written by John Burnham Schwartz

    Narrated by Janet Song

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    It is 1959 when Haruko, a young woman of good family, marries the Crown Prince of Japan, the heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne. She is the first nonaristocratic woman to enter the mysterious, almost hermetically sealed, and longest-running monarchy in the world. Met with cruelty and suspicion by the Empress and her minions, Haruko is controlled at every turn. The only interest the court has in Haruko is her ability to produce an heir. After finally giving birth to a son, she suffers a nervous breakdown and loses her voice. However, determined not to be crushed by the imperial bureaucrats, Haruko perseveres. Thirty years later, now Empress herself, she plays a crucial role in persuading another young woman-a rising star in the foreign ministry-to accept the marriage proposal of her son, the Crown Prince. The consequences are tragic and dramatic.

    Told from Haruko's perspective, meticulously researched, and superbly imagined, THE COMMONER is the mesmerizing, moving, and surprising story of a brutally rarefied and controlled existence at once hidden and exposed, and of a complex relationship between two isolated women who, despite being visible to all, are truly understood only by each other.


    From the Compact Disc edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 22, 2008
    ISBN9781415946176
    Unavailable
    The Commoner: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Commoner

    3.5/5

    207 ratings24 reviews

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    • 3/5
      About the first 40? pages (anything before the post-war era) were kind of extraneous storytelling. Even while reading, they just felt like placeholders, and like I was waiting for the book to really get going.

      Once it got moving, though, it was an interesting and engaging story--part love story, and part tale of a woman's search for independence. 3.5 stars.
    • 4/5
      This book is based on the true story of the commoner who married into the Japanese royal family following World War II. It was so painful to make the journey with her as she had to leave her family and be treated so poorly by her mother-in-law and even the servants who all looked down on her. Schwartz does not, of course, have any real knowledge of the inner workings of the Japanese royal family, but he does a wonderful job of painting a realistic picture of what it must be like to live in that world.
    • 3/5
      John Burnham Schwartz does make it clear that money and prestige do not a happy life make. And if we missed that truth with the first generation, it became abundantly clear in round two. I guess you just can’t go against tradition. But wait! By marrying commoners, the Crown Princes did go against tradition. So why did the rule breaking have to stop there? Haruko does show strength of character by being more supportive of her daughter-in-law than what she was shown by her own mother-in-law, but even that support was almost too late. Besides the despair and depression that engulfed both princesses, little other character development was evident. We don’t really know how or why both of them suppressed their true personalities or why their husbands allowed them to be so obviously miserable for so long before coming to their aid. The book is sadly lacking in many of the details of their lives, feelings, and thoughts, other than their deep sadness at the life they freely chose. Somehow, though an interesting tale, it missed the mark of being a really good book.
    • 4/5
      I didn't love nor hate this book. It was a good book. As a member of my book club stated last night it is a good book just not memorable. I agree. I enjoyed reading the book but I was not so enthralled that I couldn't put it down.This is a work of fiction loosely based on the Japanese Crown Prince after WW2. It was nice to learn about the lifestyle of the Crown Prince and how he falls in love with a Commoner. This story is told from the eyes of Haruko who is the Commoner that the Crown Prince falls in love with.I found the tone at times very depressing. That is why it was easy for me to put the book down. I wasn't captured by the writing. Learning the differences in their lives as I read the book does make you think about how being of different backgrounds can put strain on a marriage and hopefully make you grow as a person.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written novel that follows the heartbreaks of a Japanese commoner who marries the Crown Prince. Stark view of the role of royalty. This one would make a perfect reading group choice.
    • 4/5
      This is a beautiful story of Haruko, a commoner, who marries the Crown Prince of Japan. Haruko's father is a wealthy sake and beer merchant, and she is a very good tennis player and meets the Crown Prince through tennis tournaments. What follows is a learning experience for Haruko and the reader in how a bride is chosen for a Crown Prince and then what life is like in the Imperial Palace and the sacrifices that have to be made. The reader follows Haruko through that life and then what happens with her children. Excellent book with a very dramatic ending.
    • 4/5
      In 1959 when Haruko married the Crown Prince of Japan she was the first commoner to enter the world of the Japanese monarchy, a world full of mystery, jealousy, cruelty, tradition and duty. She endured. And now 30 years later her son, the Crown Prince wants to marry a commoner. Haruko does everything in her power to help the young couple, but it may not be enough. Beautifully told, but in a controlled manner as befits an Empress.
    • 4/5
      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 review is also available on Bookwanderer.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: In 1959, Haruko gives up her life as a commoner to become the wife of the Crown Prince of Japan. She gives up her freedom, independence, and family to a life where her only expectancy is to produce an heir - a son. Her first child is a son and the demands placed upon her by tradition and the Empress cause her to have a breakdown. When she finally becomes stronger, she resolves to never be broken again. Thirty years later, when she is Empress that same resolve helps Haruko to protect her new daughter-in-law. The first chapter of the book, about Haruko's childhood during the WWII bombings in Japan drew me into the story. However, after that the preceeding chapters, although eloquently written in great detail, were rather dull. Just when I was about to abandon the book, Haurko marries the Prince, and the book gets much better. It is one of those books that when I finished reading it, I felt sad and fulfilled at the same time. Recommended if you can get through the first 200 pages or so. 3.5 out of 5 STARS
    • 3/5
      I totally agree with mollishka in this particular review. The book, while very well written was just a complaint about someone who was in love and chose a life of "prison" due to social obligation. This story really has no climax or true dilemma, except for the idea that one becomes trapped in the public eye. I was really looking forward to this book and I usually great qualities in every book I read, but I am sorry, this book did not do it for me. I closed the book trying to think of the point the author was trying to convey, and I just was lost. It was too simple and contrite.
    • 5/5
      Finally I've gotten to read two great books right in a row, and one is fiction for a change. This was a fascinating look inside what it's like to marry into royalty. I used to envy princesses when I was little, not realizing how one's own life completely disappears. Although the first part, about the current commoner-empress, was very interesting, I would have liked to read more about the Harvard-educated princess and her own breakdown.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite books - so believable - I loved the characters and the internal termoil caused by class differences between Japanese royalty and commoners. I couldn't put the book down - a great read!!!
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this immensely, it is obviously a fictionalized account of the current Empress' life and is a quick and light read despite the air of melancholy and suppresion throughout the book.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating glimpse of life of the first commoner to marry into the Japanese imperial family. Based on the life of Michiko of Japan, the heroine, Haruko suffers under the stifling rituals of court life. Later in life, Haruko befriends her new daughter-in-law, also a commoner who marries into the royal family. A well written, compelling story.
    • 3/5
      This is an atmospheric and detailed telling of the controlled and sequestered existence of the first commoner to become the Crowned Princess of Japan. We meet Haruko in 1959 when she is a vibrant, intelligent, free-thinking, somewhat headstrong young woman who does not hesitate to beat the Crowned Prince at their frequent tennis matches. But the moment she accepts his marriage proposal her life is no longer her own. After the marriage she is no longer allowed to have an opinion, enunciate an original sentence, and she is forbidden from seeing her own family. Her only real job is to produce an heir.As if her story weren’t sad enough, it is extremely painful to witness the repetition of this personality-stripping existence thirty years later as Haruko’s son, who is now the Crowned Prince Yasuhito, sets his sights on another commoner. Before the marriage Haruko promises to aid the worldly and brilliant Keiko in creating changes toward liberties for the position of Crowned Princess, but after the wedding Haruko does nothing as she watches Keiko fall into the same depression and lethargy that she herself had succumbed to decades before. Of course the reader cannot help but wonder why these dynamic women would even consider entering the controlled and highly restrictive world of the imperial court. Schwartz does an admirable job of conveying the sense of hopeful change as Japan embraces modernity after WWII, the Emperor moves from god to human, and a young girl might believe that she could be a harbinger of change. By the time the second commoner is being wooed Schwartz has also convinced us that a mother’s love for her son and a nation’s desire to continue a long-standing tradition might create a pressure that’s too difficult to resist.Schwartz conducted as much research as was possible on the impenetrable royal family for this fictional imagining of history and has created an intimate portrait of the victims of archaic traditions.
    • 1/5
      sixty pages in, and i'm bored out of my mind. i could take another story about a repressed asian woman, just not one that moves as slow as this one. i am putting it down, with some regret, but life's too short!
    • 3/5
      This is a fascinating look into the life of Haruko, who marries the Crown Prince of Japan and suffers the consequences of living in a world "constituted entirely of surface" where the "soul is put on a hard diet." The requirements of this world eventually erode the person she was and could have been; she is harshly judged and has no preparation for a life with such strictures. In middle age, she eventually convinces a wary woman to marry her son and live the same life that she had lived. The prose is somewhat flowery, but the storyline is well developed and flows easily. It is probably reminescent of biographies about Princess Diana and the very steep learning curve of someone new to royalty.
    • 5/5
      A blend of fact and fiction. Makes the British royal family seem like warm and fuzzy folk.
    • 4/5
      Carefully researched, parallelling current Japanese royal family, this book allows an inside view of an isolated and desparate life. Love leads Haruko to marry the Crown Prince of the Chrysanthemum Throne. The first non-royal ever to enter the secretive world of the royals, Haruko is victim to suspicion, distrust and dislike. She's made to believe her only value is to produce an heir. Years later, another young commoner enters the scene. Only Haruko truly understands.
    • 4/5
      fascinating, quick read, moving
    • 3/5
      I read this book right after I finished reading March by Geraldine Brooks and that might have been its downfall. The writing quality as well as the inventiveness of the story really paled by comparison. It was very readable, but predictable.
    • 3/5
      A fairly interesting piece of bio-fiction, based on the life of Haruko, the young commoner who married the Japanese crown prince in 1957 (now the empress). Her daughter-in-law's similar situation--i.e., her difficulty in adjusting to the royal life--has recently been in the news again, and the book ends with an empathetic moment between the two women. (SInce the current emperor has no son, there is a movement on to allow a female to rule.) Should be of interest to those who enjoy reading about upper class life in modern Asia.
    • 5/5
      I was swept up by this story and could hardly put the book down. Highly recommend.
    • 3/5
      I generally adore historical fiction, and have read both Shogun & Memoirs of a Geisha. This is well-researched and very nicely written. That said: I am really tired of men trying to plumb the depths of women, (Asian or otherwise) especially when they themselves are white and privileged. Clavell I can give a pass to, since Mariko was not the principal character. Golden & Schwartz, however, may receive kudos from the reviewers, but they will always be what all men who write women as principal characters are, (and perhaps will always be): dreaming.Yes, on a superficial level, they seem like real women - but they are the idealized version of what men think, believe, or wish women are/could be. While I agree that authors should be allowed to use whatever voice they feel best articulates their point, in point of fact, no man can ever claim that his female character has a truly authentic interior voice. Sorry folks, but IMHO that is the way it is. Until society reforms itself to the point where men & women undergo identical socialization, meet identical expectations of behavior and achievement, and therefore have identical interior monologues, that is also the way it will stay. That is why I gave it 3 stars-that & the fact that I couldn't figure out how to rate it at only 2.5!