John Burnham SchwartzRecensioni

Here's what I wrote in 2008 about this read: "Required some online reviews to recall, but . . . Tale of a hit-and-run that takes a man's son, and his search to find the killer. Suspenseful read."

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.

I've read Schwartz's earlier historical novel The Commoner and was eager to see what he would do with this one, based on the life of Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, who defected to the US in 1967. He gives us two narrators, Svetlana herself and Peter Horvath, a young lawyer sent by the CIA to escort her to freedom. Interestingly, Schwartz's own father was the real-life lawyer on whom the character is based, and he had access to letters and documents that help to flesh out the story. His father (and his character) maintained a lifelong relationship with Svetlana, despite her demanding and sometimes irrational behavior. In the novel, she reminisces about her father, whose behavior towards his children was domineering and cruel, and about the son and daughter she left behind in the USSR. She struggles through a series of relationships and marriages, including one to Frank Lloyd Wright's former son-in-law, a marriage that resulted in a lengthy tenancy at Taliesin West and her only American-born child. Svetlana comes across as both a lonely woman looking for a place to belong in her new country and a selfish, headstrong, domineering woman who can't seem to break from her privileged yet tyrannical past. In any case, hers is a sad but fascinating story. Peter Horvath is the perfect foil: patient, reasonable, yet not afraid to speak his mind.

The Red Daughter is well written and well researched, and it has made me want to learn more about Svetlana and the struggles she faced as the daughter of one of history's most brutal dictators.

The Red Daughter by John Burnham Schwartz is a recommended fictionalized historical account of the defection of Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Joseph Stalin.

In 1967 at the age of 41, Svetlana Alliluyeva defected and came to America, abandoning her children, 16 and 21, in Moscow. A lawyer, Peter Horvath, is recruited by the CIA to assist the State Department in smuggling her into the USA. Her instant notoriety gains her some fame, but she claims she wants to live a simple American life. After sending Svetlana numerous letters, the widow of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright finally persuades her to visit the cult-like community in Arizona at Taliesin West. She ends up quickly marrying again, has another child, and it ends badly. She increasingly turns to Peter for support.

The novel is a fictionalized account based on the files of the author’s father, Alan U. Schwartz, who was the lawyer who accompanied Svetlana Alliluyeva to the United States. Schwartz has used his father's notes and years of research to create this fictionalized story based on historical facts. What is clearly presented is that Svetlana was a tortured woman who, with her personal history, would have struggled with life to some extent no matter where she lived.

The technical quality writing is excellent. In the narrative, the course of Svetlana's life is based on known facts, but the emotions and feelings are all deductions. Fictional journal entries help develop her character while tell her past and present story. The novel is based on her life, but also has a huge heaping dose of added artistic license; so, the factual events of her life are captured, but the emotional turmoil is more of an extrapolation of what she might have been feeling or thinking. While reading the pacing and narrative felt uneven. Some parts of the novel soar and move quickly, others drag slowly along.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House Publishing Group.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/05/the-red-daughter.html

Svetlana Alliluyeva is the only daughter of the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin. Stalin was a brutal leader and millions of his own people died during his horrific reign. He was a cold, insensitive man. But he loved his little girl and called her “my little housekeeper”. Then Svetlana grew up and fell in love with a young man who her father didn’t like. He cruelly had the man arrested and deported to Siberia. Thus began the estrangement between Svetlana and her father.

In 1967, Svetlana decided to defect to the United States. She left behind her two children, I believe the daughter was 16 and the son was 22, if I remember correctly. The CIA sent a young lawyer, Peter Horvath, to smuggle her out of Russia. This was a huge and stressful decision on her part and led to much publicity here in the US and complete alienation by her children. All Svetlana wants is a peaceful American life away from her father’s evil name. She attempt to find that life in Princeton, NJ. When an invitation by the widow of architect Frank Lloyd Wright comes, she decides to see what Taliesin West is all about. She’s pulled into the cultist community there and exchanges one dictator in her life to another, the controlling Olgivana Lloyd Wright, who believes Svetlana has money that the community could use.

The book slightly covers Svetlana’s younger years but mostly concentrates on the time after her defection to America. Interestingly, the author’s father is the young lawyer who accompanied Svetlana to America. The author is given his father’s private papers to use so there are parts of actual letters in this book. However, the author departs from accurate history in several respects. I find it very odd that he chooses to invent a romantic interest between Svetlana and her lawyer, especially since that lawyer was Schwartz’s own father and the love triangle would have involved his mother. I can see that from a literary sense it was a good choice but I much prefer a historical novel more based on fact than fiction; otherwise, I would have given this sensitive novel 5 stars. It does seem that most of the book is factual, other than the change of some names and the switching of the sex of some children mentioned and of course the romantic relationship between Svetlana and Peter.

Svetlana’s life was certainly a tragic one and she’s a very sympathetic character. She struggles for so many years with her abandonment of her two oldest children. She’s a broken woman in many ways and my heart bled for her situation and her confusion. It’s a heart breaking, engrossing story and this author, being a very talented one, brings Svetlana back to life. I’ve always been very interested in the life of Frank Lloyd Wright and found that part of the book fascinating. Based on what I know of how Taliesin West was run after his death, I found all of that to be very believable. This historical novel has inspired me to read Svetlana’s own memoirs that have been published or possibly some biographies on her fascinating life.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

THE RED DAUGHTER, by John Burnham Schwartz, is a rich and layered reimagining of Svetlana Alliluyeva’s life as the only daughter of Joseph Stalin. Using multiple real sources as inspiration, Schwartz's book is a study of how familial legacy can affect one's life as an individual, a mother, and a spouse.
While telling the story of Svetlana Alliluyeva's life, Schwartz constantly reminds us that for Svetlana, someone is always watching her and Schwartz at times lulls the reader into forgetting it for a moment, only to jarringly have those piercing eyes of the world find their way back to Svetlana again and again. Schwartz's style also elicits sympathy at times for Svetlana, while at other moments she seems selfish and bullheaded. I'd like to think that reflected on who Svetlana was; someone who at times knows who she is and what she wants and at other times her emotions press her to make rash decisions regardless of who it affects. The point of view in the book shifts back and forth between Svetlana and the lawyer in the story,Peter Horvath, the lawyer that helped her escape from Russia. Schwartz uses the two point of views to help tell Svetlana's story, but also to add or subtract emotional resonance along the way.
It is sometimes hard as a reader to not have a conclusion or an ending to a story that feels complete. THE RED DAUGHTER felt incomplete to me, but after some contemplation, I was okay with that because it reflected Svetlana's life and her never feeling real contentment or resolution.
Thank you to Random House, John Burnham Schwartz, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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.

beautifully-written story about a couple who lose their son in a hit-and-run accident; the guilty driver has issues of his own (guilt, a dysfunctional relationship with his own son, divorced, alcoholism...) the two fathers meet and redemption is found.

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.

Again, I need to be able to add that half star; it wasn't perfection but oh so very close!

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.

Northwest Corner by John Burnham Schwartz continues the story from his novel Reservation Road. Dwight Arno is now fifty years old and out of prison. He is now living in California and is the manager of a sporting goods store. Dwight is surprised by an unexpected visitor, his estranged son, Sam. Sam has left college in Connecticut and is running from something he has done. Northwest Corner examines the lives of ordinary men and woman who are all damaged in some way and are all searching for meaning and redemption.

All the chapters are short and each one is from the point of view of a different character. Rest assured, though, that you do not need to have read Reservation Road in order to appreciate Northwest Corner. For those who have read Reservation Road, the characters include: Dwight, Sam, Ruth, Penny (Dwight's girlfriend), and Emma Learner.

Schwartz explores his damaged characters, their desires and fears, while slowly building an emotional tension that should resonate with most readers. The characters are all so very, very real - so true to life.The sheer raw emotion that leaps off the page is heart wrenching, yet does not feel manufactured. The characters feel like real people. You know these people. You feel their sadness and despair. You may have been through circumstances similar to these tortured souls. You will hope that they find redemption, that there is some resolution to their pain.

This is an incredible novel, exquisitely written. Schwartz is a gifted, poetic writer with a keen sharp insight into human character. There are observations throughout the novel that are brilliant gems of perfect cut and clarity. His descriptions transport you into the scene with the characters. While the plot itself is not full of action, the emotional landscape explored is packed full to overflowing.

Very Highly Recommended - one of the best; http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/

I don't know how this would be as a standalone novel, as I read Reservation Road just beforehand. In some ways, I liked this better; a little tighter focus on a few individuals. I am reminded of Anne Frank's father (Otto?) saying, "We never really know our children." We never really know our parents. We never really know one another. And yet...Kurt Vonnegut was fond of quoting his own son, Mark, saying (and this might be a paraphrase): "We're here to help one another through this, whatever it is."

The plotting became a little forced to me, but the passages describing how individuals deal with tragic loss and regret make up for it. Some beautiful pieces in a flawed novel. I'll looking forward to reading Northwest Corner (Schwartz's new novel that follows some of these characters).

I remember seeing a trailer for the movie version of Reservation Road at some point, deciding it looked sad but interesting, and throwing it on my Netflix queue (where it lingered for a long time because I was constantly pushing up more interesting-looking things). And then when I came across a cheap used copy of the book, I bought it and figured that I might as well read it, because the book is always better, right?

Well, after reading the book, the movie has come off my Netflix queue entirely. Because if the book is better, I can't take the movie. I knew it was going to be depressing going in based on what I knew about the plot: a young boy is killed in a hit-and-run car accident, and that accident has powerful reverberations on everyone involved. Obviously anything dealing with child death is going to be difficult material, but I used to read those Lurlene McDaniel books about teenagers with cancer on the regular, so surely I could handle it.

Turns out, not really. Not because it was too emotionally charged, but because it was boring and uncentered. The story is told in rotating chapters, varying perspective between Dwight (the driver that hits and kills ten year-old Josh), Ethan (Josh's father), and Grace (Josh's mother). The novel doesn't spend enough sustained time with any of the characters to really dig into them more than on a surface level: Dwight feels guilty, but not enough so to jeopardize his relationship with his own ten year-old son by turning himself in; Ethan feels impotent rage at his powerlessness in the situation, and Grace just withdraws from everything. I did find myself wondering why Grace was written in the third person while the men were written in the first person. Did Schwartz not feel comfortable writing first-person perspective for a woman? Is it supposed to be symbolic of her emotional deadening with grief, that she doesn't even have the willpower to view herself as the center of her own story anymore? I'm honestly not sure. None of the characters grows or changes, everyone just stays stuck in their patterns. Which is probably realistic, I can't even imagine what the process of mourning the loss of a child would be like and hope I never have to know. But it doesn't make for enjoyable or even very interesting reading.½

3.5***

Set in Japan, beginning shortly before World War II, this novel tells the story of Haruko, a young woman from a very good family. She is coming of age as Tokyo rebuilds after the war, and she gets a taste of the outside world when her best friend writes letters from America, where her father is a diplomat. She is lovely, educated and accomplished, and Haruko attracts the attention of several suitors. The summer after she completes her university studies, Haruko and her family take a summer house in a resort town, where she spends much time playing tennis at the club. It is during a doubles tournament that she meets the Crown Prince of Japan, when she and her partner are paired against the young heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne. This encounter will completely change her life.

If my synopsis makes this sound like a light romance, that is my failing. The dust jacket information tells the reader that Haruko will marry the prince, and fall subject to an ancient and intractable imperial household seemingly bent on destroying her. It is her struggle to maintain a certain independence and control over her life, and that of her child, that forms the true nucleus of the novel.

Schwartz gives us a rich background into the traditions and inner workings of the court. I was transported into this very different world. Right alongside Haruko, I experienced the luxury of this rare existence, and the restrictions imposed by the traditions, expectations and obligations of the position. I felt her frustration and grief as she lost the woman she had been (and might have become), and celebrated her small victories. I’m less satisfied with the way in which the novel ends. There is a several-decades long gap in the middle of the book, before Schwartz takes Haruko’s struggle into the next generation. How I wish he had stayed with Haruko and her life-long efforts to come to terms with the consequences of her marriage into the imperial family.

Readers should note that while Schwartz drew inspiration from the personal histories of certain members of the Japanese Imperial Family, the characters and incidents in this novel are a total fabrication. Although a Google search will point out certain similarities…

John Burnham Schwartz does make it clear that money and prestige do not a happy life make. And if we missed that truth with the first generation, it became abundantly clear in round two. I guess you just can’t go against tradition. But wait! By marrying commoners, the Crown Princes did go against tradition. So why did the rule breaking have to stop there? Haruko does show strength of character by being more supportive of her daughter-in-law than what she was shown by her own mother-in-law, but even that support was almost too late. Besides the despair and depression that engulfed both princesses, little other character development was evident. We don’t really know how or why both of them suppressed their true personalities or why their husbands allowed them to be so obviously miserable for so long before coming to their aid. The book is sadly lacking in many of the details of their lives, feelings, and thoughts, other than their deep sadness at the life they freely chose. Somehow, though an interesting tale, it missed the mark of being a really good book.

John Burnham Schwartz's NORTHWEST CORNER is simply one of the most moving, page-turning novels I have read in a long time. With his super short and precisely worded chapters, Mr. Schwartz's writing is evocative proof positive that less is indeed more. Here's an early sample that let me know I was going to love this book. Protagonist Dwight Arno, a divorced ex-con who has not seen his son in more than a decade, suddenly has him back in his life, and he doesn't know how to deal with it. Watching him sleep, he is suddenly afraid his son is dead -

"I'm halfway to the bed, stepping panicked over my set of dumbbells strewn across the rubber-matted floor, when I see his chest rise. I stop to watch him breathing in and out, until I'm sure."

A simple enough description of a father's sudden and unreasonable panic for the safety of his child, albeit a 22 year-old one. It made me remember when I was a new father and would often lean over my infant son's sleeping body, watching, listening to him breathe, sometimes touching him to be sure. Dwight Arno may have been an absent father, a distant father, but even then, after years apart from his son, he was still very much a father. Schwartz is a master of finding the right word, the perfect phrase. The kind of writing I found here, in NORTHWEST CORNER, is rare and precious. It packs a powerful emotional punch.

I know that this novel is a sequel to an earlier one, RESERVATION ROAD. I gotta read that book. In the meantime, I will press this one on anyone who appreciates fine writing. Very highly recommended.

About the first 40? pages (anything before the post-war era) were kind of extraneous storytelling. Even while reading, they just felt like placeholders, and like I was waiting for the book to really get going.

Once it got moving, though, it was an interesting and engaging story--part love story, and part tale of a woman's search for independence. 3.5 stars.

My blog post about this book is at this link .

I didn't love nor hate this book. It was a good book. As a member of my book club stated last night it is a good book just not memorable. I agree. I enjoyed reading the book but I was not so enthralled that I couldn't put it down.

This is a work of fiction loosely based on the Japanese Crown Prince after WW2. It was nice to learn about the lifestyle of the Crown Prince and how he falls in love with a Commoner. This story is told from the eyes of Haruko who is the Commoner that the Crown Prince falls in love with.

I found the tone at times very depressing. That is why it was easy for me to put the book down. I wasn't captured by the writing. Learning the differences in their lives as I read the book does make you think about how being of different backgrounds can put strain on a marriage and hopefully make you grow as a person.

Told in alternate chapters, all third person, except for Dwight Arno. Schwartz uses not only alternate points of view but also goes back in forth in time from 1975, when the hit and run accident which unites all characters, occurred and the present. The parallel between the present and the past is an accident in which Dwight's estranged son Sam is involved. I found this technique to be far more effective in generating tension in pacing and empathy with the characters than a straight ahead narrative. I live in the Northwest corner so that aspect was particularly intriguing for me. This novel combines drama, well drawn characters using minimal description and good, simple writing.

Beautifully written novel that follows the heartbreaks of a Japanese commoner who marries the Crown Prince. Stark view of the role of royalty. This one would make a perfect reading group choice.