false 2364971 7 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 non-aristocratic woman to enter the longest-running, almost hermetically sealed, and mysterious 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 her is her ability to produce an heir. After finally giving birth to a son, Haruko suffers a nervous breakdown and loses her voice. However, determined not to be crushed by the imperial bureaucrats, she 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 in the voice of Haruko, meticulously researched and superbly imagined, <i>The Commoner</i> is the mesmerizing, moving, and surprising story of a brutally rarified 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. With the unerring skill of a master storyteller, John Burnham Schwartz has written his finest novel yet. 2616804 2007 The Commoner: A Novel total:892|5:105|4:330|3:337|2:103|1:17| 892 3079 1462 297 3 4 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 15:45:11 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 18 16:42:43 -0800 2008
1) i shouldn't have to wait 150 pages to finally care about a book. the book hardly held my attention while haruko was still a commoner. i did feel life from her friend miko and miko's brother kenji, but their presence was too limited to make it plausible that haruk...more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 01 05:57:49 -0800 2008 Sat Oct 03 12:31:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Apr 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 03 11:36:15 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 22 08:11:25 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri Jan 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 11 13:58:32 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 02 15:56:34 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 16:45:35 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 04 04:16:16 -0800 2008
The bare bones of the story will strike those who live in Japan as familiar - the cro...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 12 21:26:50 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 21:28:33 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Feb 20 10:56:09 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 11:02:37 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Sep 19 20:54:20 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 20:55:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false true Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 09:55:27 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 11:15:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 06 08:01:09 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 08:08:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 06:20:51 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 06:33:48 -0700 2009 The Commoner was a pleasant surprise. Not the return to geisha-land that I'd envisioned when my book club selected it, this story about young Haruto, the first non-arisocratic woman to marry into the sealed Japanese monarchy when she weds the Crown Prince, has layers of story to savor. Haruto's kin...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:55:23 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:55:23 -0800 2009 John Burnham Schwartz bases his fourth novel on the Empress Michiko and Crown Princess Masako of Japan. Though Japanese imperial life remains shrouded in mystery, Schwartz teases out the details through extensive research. Much to the astonishment and pleasure of the critics, he gives Haruko an auth...

more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 02 12:09:59 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 12:27:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 12:03:31 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 18:14:35 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 17:11:59 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 17:13:26 -0700 2009 The Commoner is a beautifully written and well researched novel. Mr. Schwartz has given us a glimpse into the world of the Japanese royal family. He has chosen a woman, Haruko, as his narrator and does a remarkable job depicting her thoughts and feelings as she transitions from life as a commoner to...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 18:06:33 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 17:56:49 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 09:15:34 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 12:53:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 16:29:04 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 16:38:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 10 14:43:04 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 14:45:27 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 17:31:49 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 17:35:50 -0700 2009 more...]]>