The Emperor's Children
by Claire Messud
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Book Summary Information
Author: Claire MessudEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2006-08-29
ISBN: 0307264190
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of The Emperor's Children
Book Review: "It seems as though entitlement, that mysterious gift, explains everything everyone does these days."
Summary: 5 Stars
Murray Thwaite, a child of the sixties, has become, by 2001, a respected social critic and sought-after social commentator and writer. With a broad vision of how the world can be improved, he has achieved success, apparently without losing his idealism. The younger generation of thirty-somethings with whom his daughter Marina associates, however, have had no rallying point, like the Vietnam War, to help them develop real commitments. Out of college for ten years, they are rootless, floating through life, expecting success but not hungry enough to work toward larger goals.
Marina Thwaite has moved back with her parents, where she avoids finishing a book for which she has already received a substantial advance. Her best friend from college, Danielle Minsky, is a researcher for television, interested in "revolution" and the role of the satirical press in shaping opinion. Julius Clarke, the third friend, once wrote "devastating but elegant book reviews," but he is now unemployed and working as a temp while living with his gay lover.
When Ludovic Seeley, a handsome Aussie, arrives in New York to start a "revolutionary" new magazine, the comfortable worlds of all the characters change. Seeley, who identifies with Napoleon, has big goals--one of which is bringing down "the emperor," Murray Thwaite. Soon Marina Thwaite is working for him, doubting her father's honesty, and falling in love. At the same time, Marina's twenty-three-year-old cousin Bootie Tubb runs away from Watertown, New York, and begins working as Murray's "amanuensis." Bootie, however, also intends to write an article for Ludovic Seeley, revealing in public the most private of Murray's thoughts.
In the style of a playwright, Messud sets scenes with exacting detail, using the specifics of furnishings and the descriptions of people's living spaces to provide insights into their characters and daily lives. Similar attention is given to the small moments in their lives, their interactions and conversations, and their interdependence on each other. As the action moves from March, 2001, to November 2001, we come to see the profound differences between the generations, the prolonged adolescence of the thirty-ish characters, and their need for role models.
Their self-centered, hedonistic lives change profoundly with 9/11, and as Messud continues her narrative of these characters through November, 2001, she shows which characters will make it in the world as it has become. Some have unexpected emotional resources and values which enable them to continue, effectively, while others are so deeply affected that they may have to reinvent themselves to survive. Messud captures that transition between the "old world," pre 9/11, and the "new world" in which we now live, offering a closeup view of the "emperor," "his children," their values, and their worlds, before and after. n Mary Whipple
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