While fairly well written and a fast read with a good arc, this story is fairly one note. Yes, we get it, the Imperial Palace is a gilded cage, and even if you're there out of love, it totally sucks, and did I mention the only purpose of a woman is to be quiet and deferential and produce male heirs? This meme got quite repetitive after a while. ( )

I was excited to read this book, as the premise was fascinating. However, I just didn't believe the voice of the story. Mr. Schwartz did not convince me that a woman was telling the story and that the woman was Japanese after WWII. It was a rather flat story. The only part that I liked was the last couple of chapters, where the main character actually showed some character. I know that the story is loosely based on fact of the current Japanese Emperor and Empress. It would have been nice to hear a little more about their personal relationship, but I don't think that Mr. Schwartz could have pulled that off, as the writing was FLAT. ( )

This is a story of a Japanese woman who marries the Crown Prince of Japan. She is not of noble blood, but rather a common woman and must struggle to learn the ways of the palace. It is a time of isolation and emotional hardship as she is separated from her family and left with a demanding and resentful Empress who sees and controls everything.

This book is written from the woman's point of view, almost reading like a journal. There is a lot of description of things done and seen, but not a great deal of dialogue. This might explain why I had a hard "getting into" the story in the beginning. But I found that the more I read, the more I wanted to continue and find out what happens. ( )

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. ( )

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!!! ( )

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Schwartz bases his finely wrought fourth novel on the life of Empress Michiko of Japan, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese imperial family. Haruko Tsuneyasu grows up in postwar rural Japan and studies at Sacred Heart University, where she excels—particularly and fatefully—at tennis, which provides her entrée to the crown prince, whom she handily beats in an exhibition match. After more meetings on and off the court, the prince asks Haruko to marry him. Persuaded by their mutual attraction and by assurances that the break with tradition will usher in a modern era, Haruko ultimately agrees, against her father's wishes, to become the first commoner turned royal. But, as her father had feared, her freedom and ambition suffer under the stifling rituals of court life. Eventually, Haruko succumbs to the inescapable judgment of the empress and her entourage, falling mute after the birth of her son, Yasuhito. Though the narrative loses some of its life after Haruko marries—perhaps mirroring Haruko's experience within the palace walls—urgency returns after Haruko chooses a wife for Yasuhito; the marriage tests Haruko's dedication to the crown. Schwartz (Reservation Road) pulls off a grand feat in giving readers a moving dramatization of a cloistered world. ( )

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 that of the Empress of Japan. We are witness to her most private and painful moments. After all she has experienced, some of Haruko's actions are questionable. Although an attempt at redemption is made towards the end of the novel, there can be none.

One cannot help but feel pity for these characters whose every action is choreographed. Is life as a royal worth the price of one's freedom?

This was an enjoyable book and I recommend to those interested in historical fiction or Japanese culture. ( )

Crisp language, but too devoid of emotion. The plot jumped too much and the pace varied too much as well. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

Will read to compare with The Empress, and books about Princess Diana

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! ( )

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. ( )

A well written story told from the viewpoint of Haruko, who marries the Japanese Crown Prince after WWII, suffers a breakdown, and eventually sees history repeating itself with her daughter-in-law. I was fascinated with the view into the workings of the royal family (particularly having lived only a few miles from the palace for a few years in the late 1990's). I was amazed at the ending, improbable as it might be. Great story. I wonder if it has been translated into Japanese... ( )

A blend of fact and fiction. Makes the British royal family seem like warm and fuzzy folk. ( )

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. ( )

1.5 out of 5: The Commoner tells the story of Haruku, the daughter of a Japanese business man who catches the eye of the Crown Prince of Japan. Basically, this is a Japanese Cinderella story with a more equivocal ending. Despite the timelessness of the story and the evocative setting of the Imperial Palace, The Commoner is unsuccessful on many levels. Schwartz’s attempt to do too much in too few pages is the most glaring problem. The narrative covers Haruku’s life before the Imperial Palace, the Crown Prince’s courtship, her integration into the Imperial Palace, the birth of the next generation, and the next generation’s repetition of Haruku’s choice to give up the life of a commoner for the life of a royal. Schwartz raises interesting themes and introduces some promising characters and relationships along the way, but he doesn’t have time to examine anything in depth. Superficiality of plot development and characterization is the unhappy result. Additionally, Schwartz’s prose is sometimes so ridiculous that I almost gave up reading at several points along the way. I cannot explain what I mean except with a few examples:
“The air-raid siren was so loud it obliterated the self; it sent us running from where we stood with such terror that our pasts were momentarily left behind.”
“A light but stirring breeze entered the house through the open windows and breathed innocent secrets onto the legs of every woman in the room.” (I promise I am not making these up.)
“The tremor had been in my imagination, that deep underground cavern where hope and feeling need not live in fear of each other.”
“[L]ife is not an echo, endlessly returning the past to us so that we might read and reread in its fading variations the meanings we cannot keep ourselves from wanting.” (Huh?)
These sentences do not make any more sense in context than they make in this review. If you enjoy well-crafted prose that actually means something, The Commoner is likely to annoy you.

This review also appears on my blog Literary License (short reviews, real opinions): litlicense.blogspot.com ( )

fascinating, quick read, moving ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

I was swept up by this story and could hardly put the book down. Highly recommend. ( )

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! ( )