the commoner

[glezer55]

Hi all,
I have finish reading "The Commoner" by John Burnham Schwartz. This
book was very easy to read and I found it fascinating. Based on the
true story of the Empress of Japan, it tells in a fictional style, the
life of the Empress. I don't know too much about the Japanese
imperial family and this book gave some insight into that institution.
Its strong compliance with tradition, its minimalist approach to
action and the strong expectation of the empress to be a creator of a
male heir. In contrast to this was her family life as a young girl
where there is a close relationship between daughter and her parents.
The other interesting part is how the war affected her. Something that
is not written about is the terrible fire bombing of Japanese cities.
She went from one world to another where there is very little
connection between the two.
The other interesting contrasts in the story and also based on true
events is the marriage of the empress daughter to a commoner and
having to give up her title and move away from the palace. It would
have been good if the author explored her life a bit more to see how
she coped with life without the support of her family and the imperial
court.
The last contrast is between the Empress and the new crown princess. I
think this is where the author fails. He bases most of the story on
real facts except when it comes to the new crown princess and decides
to make her story fictional. Why he does this I have no idea
considering that the true story of her is far interesting.
I enjoyed reading this book Thanks cat for choosing this book.