The Emperor's Children
By Claire Messud
431 pp.
Knopf (2006)
"adequate preservation of personal myth"
The heart of The Emperor's Children is planted in the
respective aspirations of its younger generation of characters,
including Bootie, Danielle, Julius, Marina, and to an extent the
mercenary Ludovic Seeley. The novel is at its
best when it conveys the varying shades of anguish felt by these
characters, portraying with subtlety and complexity how they see each other and what they make of
each other’s vanities and self-illusions. The narrative places an especially fine focus on illustrating the unspoken criticism and enmity felt toward Marina, the character who is most lacking in self-awareness. Early on in the novel, a strong tension is established between Marina’s self-regard and the perspectives of her own best friends. Throughout the book, the tension is sustained
and elaborated upon. Though it becomes clear that Marina is unable to see through the aura of her own beauty and proximate esteem as Murray Thwaite's daughter to discern her own flaws, she is never written off as unredeemable. The book is a satisfying and nuanced exploration of how its characters who hail from different sections within the same social ecology grapple with their own standards for success and preoccupations over why and how to live.
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