The Piano Teacher: A Novel
by Janice Y. K. Lee
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Book Reviews of The Piano Teacher: A Novel
Book Review: Haunting Look at the Chinese Occupation....
Summary: 3 Stars
The Piano Teacher with its startling cover, comparison to Ondaatje and caption that "Sometimes the End of a Love Affair is really just the beginning" gives the impression of an exotic, perhaps tortured love story set in the orient, with colour and lovemaking and regret and loss.
It brought to mind the Painted Veil ( that gorgeously-spun book by W. Somerset Maugham) on first contact.
Reading it, however, left me with quite a different impression.
This is not a mysterious beach read. This is not the enigmatic Memoirs of A Geisha: what with its romanticized world of the mystic orient and its slowly unfurling love-story.
Instead, it is a troubled, troubled story about lust, greed, power and corruption: set against the canvas of Japanese occupied Hong Kong in the early 1940s.
Flipping to and fro from 1950s Hong Kong and the viewpoint of the English Piano Teacher Claire to the wartime experiences of her love, Will Truesdale: a Britishmen helplessly in love with a Eurasian goddess, the socialite Trudy Liaing.
Will and Trudy's wartime experience vibrates well into the next decade and, readers surmise, into generations thereafter.
This is a wonderfully written book with sparse, taught prose and a real "feel" for the time and place. Lee has done her research and her words just breathe the essence and place she is writing about.
A sometimes-problematic approach, Lee's descent into war-time Hong Kong and back to the early 1950s runs very smoothly.
A mystery involving the famed and fictional "Crown Collection" ( an abundance of wealth the Japanese long to capture from British occupants) is the centre of many different, tragic lives.
The story's thesis is not so much about love experienced and lost rather the lengths people will go to sustain propensity, status and wealth. Lee's descriptions of the foreign English internment camps erected by the Japanese invaders were harrowing and sad. Indeed, I knew very little about this slice of the war before reading about it in the book.
The main problem ( and its hard to say problem because this may well be Lee's intention ) is how unlikeable all of the characters are. I had trouble identifying with the exotic and sexualized Trudy, the proud and stiflingly honourable Will, and especially the social-climbing Claire: who pilfers trinkets and scarves from her employers when she arrives to teach daily piano lessons.
Perhaps I had trouble identifying with the characters because I refused to see what drastic measures and actions the took in relation to myself. It is hard to imagine how one would act and what lengths they would go to in order to survive during a war-occupied regime. Lee's character often cross the line between mere survival and survival-with-something-to-gain and it was this dark and deeply upsetting perimeter that mostly affected me.
There is a wealth of discussion strewn through the book and it will make a fabulous book club pick for any group! The edition I have comes complete with a book club guide but anyone reading the book will find points popping up straight of the page.
Readers of Wayson Choy, Lisa See and Ondaantje will not be disappointed!
Book Review: This enigmatic debut novel will gently WOW the reader
Summary: 5 Stars
Claire was uncertain what she would do with her life and even marrying Martin had been somewhat of a lark. It was 1952 and as a British subject, she never thought she would end up in Hong Kong. Martin was working for the government and his job wasn't much of a concern to her. What did concern Caire was what she would be doing in Hong Kong. Not long after she arrived Claire let it be known that she was available to teach piano.
The ten-year-old daughter of Melody and Victor Chen was a student of Claure's. Melody Chen was a taitais, but her cousin by marriage, Trudy, had her beat. Society was everything. Trudy Liang was an exotic oriental goddess, half Chinese, half Portuguese, a mixture that somehow drew people to her, but repulsed them at the same time. The Chinese didn't like mixed breeds, but they tolerated her. Their cousin Domme was even more British than the British and somehow he fit into this unusual Hong Kong society where "everyone has to be friends or it gets very unpleasant." Even a "rude English matron" like Edwina Storch had her place in the mix.
War quickly arrived on the scene and the foreigners were separated, the British becoming the most detested. "Rations" were soon translated to mean 500 calories a day. "Camp Stanley" quickly became a place where the high mucky Hong Kong players had to grovel and "become survivors or not." The Japanese atrocities had begun. They got what they wanted quickly and cruelly. Someone held the secret of the Crown Collection, but who? Otsubo soon had his flunkies to grovel at his beck and call. The horror began to whirl around them, Claire wasn't the only one who refused to notice things. Eyes were turned toward personal survival. Hong Kong would come back to its former glory, but who would come back with it?
This history of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong tucked inside these pages is stunning. Lee captures the flavored essence of Hong Kong perfectly. It is not the buildings, nor things like scenery because we only read little things like "the peak" or talk of the rains and how the city remained dirty in spite of any watery deluge. What she does capture is the true nature of the human spirit during war and its lasting aftermath and effect on those who weren't there or even in existence. I might warn the reader that if you are expecting a heated romance to show up within the first hundred pages, you'll be sorely disappointed. This is a book that speaks to the hearts and minds of people and is what I call a "thinker." After I closed the last page of the book and thought about it for a while, I was totally captivated by what was unsaid, but so obvious in Janice Y. K. Lee's brilliant debut novel. I have been to Hong Kong and the caricatures of the people in the book are still there. They are everywhere.
Quill says: This enigmatic debut novel will gently WOW the reader!
Book Review: Quick, Interesting Read
Summary: 3 Stars
3.75 Stars (Rounded up to 4).
Set in Hong Kong and spanning a decade, several characters are introduced with the title's character - the piano teacher - linking all these characters. In 1953 Claire Pendleton, a recently married young Brit, moves to her husband Martin's place of work, Hong Kong.
To young Claire, Hong Kong provides the kind of life she had always heard of, and although she seems prejudiced at first, she takes to life in this new bustling city. After she settles down, she finds a job as a piano teacher to Locket, the daughter of the well to do family, the Chens, in Hong Kong.
At a party, Claire meets Will Truesdale. Will works as a driver for the Chens and it is apparent that he is interested in Claire. Claire and everyone else finds it very surprising that a Brit would work as a chauffeur in Hong Kong, and although various people have suggested explanations, no one knows what the real reason behind his taking this job is.
The book goes back and forth between present Hong Kong (1952/1953) and pre war Hong Kong (1940s). The narration is smooth and through the pre war perspective, we meet young Will when he first came to Hong Kong and Trudy, a Eurasian who fell in love with Will and vice versa.
Pre and post war Honk Kong are presented in the book from Chinese and British perspectives. Colonial presence is addressed lightly, as well as how both sides (the colonized and colonizers) view each other. Decisions during crises and the aftermath of these decisions are probably the main themes of the book. I greatly enjoyed reading The Piano Teacher, although a lot of reviews I had read (not on shelfari) didn't speak in the book's favor. Sometimes that's a good thing, because you don't go into a book with high expectations. I would recommend this to anyone interested in books with a historical fiction spin, a dash of romance and a bit of mystery.
*Spoiler*
Although I didn't like the quick ending, I thought it was promising for the couple (or ex couple) that it ended with Claire still in Hong Kong. I can't see her going back to England after changing so much. I would have liked to see Will let go of those memories, a bit, but I don't think that's ever going to happen. A part of me wants it to happen, though.
Book Review: The Piano Teacher Is An Almost Perfect Etude
Summary: 5 Stars
If you enjoy melancholic and richly atmospheric books, you are bound to enjoy `The Piano Teacher.' This is a heart-piercing adagio of a debut.
The reader is introduced to a diverse group of characters. All of them are searching for either something or in need of forgetting something. `The Piano Teacher' takes place in Hong Kong and travels pre-World War II, as well as post-WWII. One smells the aromas/odors of the streets, likewise some of the people, tastes the tea, feels the humidity, and hears the rain. One may also experience life in the refugee camps run by the Japanese.
There are all aspects of humanity in `The Piano Teacher.' Claire is in search of something new, deeper and meaningful in life. Trudy, oh Trudy simply steals the heart as does Will. Both of these characters have been deeply hurt by different circumstances in their lives. There is the Family Chen, and quite an interesting family this is. Others have societal aspirations.
I was particularly interested in learning more about Chinese culture, as well as how war impacts on humanity. This is a study of humanity - how our morals are either steadfast regardless of a situation or how we may bend with the winds of time.
Some readers may consider this a love story, but `The Piano Teacher' truly is much more than this. It is a genuine character study in a different country both during and after WWII. It is a character study of what individuals may do to define themselves. The point that really was breathtakingly real to me was that it appeared that these characters did not seem to feel much sympathy for themselves - no broad self-pity here. It is about life during a specific time in history. It is about the lives of these characters. This portrayal of life, in and of itself, is a remarkable achievement on this author's most auspicious debut.
There is much nuance and poise in the writing - it is bound to ensnare you for a good few days and transport you to Hong Kong. Enjoy the trip - you will not soon forget this book. I found parts of this book to be totally enrapturing.
Book Review: "Love is like playing the piano. First...play by the rules...then...by the heart." Unknown source
Summary: 3 Stars
The story begins in 1952. Claire Pendleton is newly married. She arrives in Hong Kong with her husband, Martin. Claire admits that she doesn't love her husband but got married to get away from home and away from her complaining mother.
Bored and in need of additional income, Claire gets a job teaching piano to the daughter of the wealthy Victor and Melody Chen. After one lesson, a trinket from the Chens falls into Claire's purse. When it's not noticed, she begins a period of petty thievery which ultimately results in the Chens firing their servant for the thefts.
The story flashes back to 1941, the period before the war and centers on Trudy Liang, a Eurasian, and Will Truesdale, an Englishman new to Hong Kong. They begin an affair and Will moves through Hong Kong society as the war approaches.
Back in 1952, Claire meets Will and they begin seeing more of each other, eventually starting an affair. At the time, Claire was age twenty-eight and Will was age forty-three.
One day, Claire and her husband are at the beach. Claire is wearing a scarf that she stole from the Chens. Unexpectidly, they run into the Chens. Melody tells her that she has a scarf just like the one Claire is wearing. Claire wonders if Melody figured out that she stole it.
Events move slowly. The Japanese take over Hong Kong and people do what they must to survive. Some people even do things that they must hide when the war finally ends.
Calire and Will continue their affair and then she learns something about his actions in the war. She must decide how this revelation will change their relationship.
The author is asking how much will love forgive.
The story was an interesting look back at the two moments in history but the characters were unappealing. Nevertheless, the author is a talented writer and the novel was a nice diversion.