MADreads

Uncommon woman, uncommon world

May 12th, 2008 Katie H.

I can’t exactly say why I chose to pick up John Burnham Schwartz’s newest novel The Commoner, but I have a feeling it was on account of the hardcover’s arresting cover image.  A shallow way to chose books, I will admit, but in this case, it worked brilliantly.  The chilly image of a kimono clad woman, frozen in mid-span of an ornamental bridge perfectly captures Schwartz’s quiet tale of one woman’s struggle between her own hopes and the life that she has chosen.

The commoner is Haruko, a young woman raised in a wealthy household during and after World War II.  After her cheeky independence catches the eye of the Crown Prince, Haruko emerges as the ideal candidate to become Crown Princess–and pull the centuries-old Chrysanthemum Throne into the modern era.  But once inside the palace grounds, Haruko is isolated, bullied and worn down by the Imperial Court, entrenched in its own suffocating traditions.  Somehow, she endures.  But years later, Empress Haruko faces the task of convincing a brilliant young diplomat to marry her son, the Crown Prince, and join her at a court whose only regard for a woman comes from her ability to produce a male heir.

In the quiet, cloistered world that Haruko chooses, even world shaking events like the Tokyo bombings register like distant tremors in a well-insulated world.  Yet the portrait of Haruko is created so delicately that when the inevitable happens it really is shattering.  Schwartz’s depiction of the Imperial Court is so absorbing that if the ending is a little improbable, it’s a slight quibble for an otherwise beautifully written book.  And one that doesn’t look too bad, either.

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction