Aquest lloc utilitza galetes per a oferir els nostres serveis, millorar el desenvolupament, per a anàlisis i (si no has iniciat la sessió) per a publicitat. Utilitzant LibraryThing acceptes que has llegit i entès els nostres Termes de servei i política de privacitat. L'ús que facis del lloc i dels seus serveis està subjecte a aquestes polítiques i termes.
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.".… (més)
This novel was based upon the life of a commoner who married the Crown Prince of Japan in 1959. It was a little slow to start but once I got into it I couldn't put this book down. It was a fascinating look into the life and rituals of Japan's Imperial family and how isolating and lonely it is. ( )
It was slow to start for sure. There were times when I wasn't sure I would like the book, but the story was so compelling-a peek into a hidden, dramatic, and stifled world. ( )
Perfectly ... inadequate. Interesting idea, but minimal follow-through. The author drops words like yakuza and pachinko as Japanese decorations in the text but fails to complete the picture. For example: someone must have thought it would be too difficult for an English reader to understand that Mr. and Mrs. aren't used in Japanese. So instead of Oshima-san or Watanabe-san, they are Mrs. Oshima, Mr. Watanabe. The over-simplification for a non-Japanese audience is insulting. This story is propped in front of a Japanese imperial backdrop, and nothing more. I found the end particularly unsatisfying and unrealistic. ( )
This was an interesting book about the life of a common girl after she maries the crown prince of Japan after WWII. I felt that the author only touched the surface of the characters and I never really got to know them the way I wanted to. The movement through time was not always smooth and I found myself going backwards to re-read the last page thinking I had missed something and finding nothing new. All in all, it was a good book, but probably not one that I will read again.
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. ( )
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.".
)
)
Google Books — S'està carregant…
(3.55)
1
(