The Piano Teacher: A Novel
by Janice Y. K. Lee
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Book Reviews of The Piano Teacher: A Novel
Book Review: disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
I had great hopes for this book as a friend said it was the best book she ever read. Well if that's the case, then she needs to read more. This book really lacks in character development, plot and dialog. Also, the basic premise of the book i.e. Will's betrayal of Trudy, I just didn't get, since to me, it looked to be the other way around. Also, Will is repeatedly called a coward for trying to do the right thing while others, collaborating with the Japs, are viewed as brave pragmatists.
The love interest between Will and Claire is colorless and frankly not believable.
Not a bad book, but certainly not a great one either.
Book Review: Just so...so
Summary: 3 Stars
I'd been wanting to read The Piano Teacher for some time and when I finally sat down to read it, I found myself wondering why all the buzz about this book. When I read a wonderful book, I finish with a longing to know more about these people -- to become part of their lives. With this book, I familiarized myself with aspects of history for which I had limited knowledge but I never felt a strong connection to any of the characters. In addition, I wonder why Janice Lee titled her book The Piano Teacher since Claire was sort of there but not necessary to the telling of the Will/Trudy story.Book Review: I was expecting more...
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to agree with reviewers here who say they were underwhelmed by this book. I wasn't very impressed by it either. Although the history is interesting, the characters are fairly boring people and I didn't feel anything for them in spite of all the terrible things they went through in the war. The back-and-forth-in-time thing was sometimes irritating; I'm not fond of that device in novels. I was hoping for more depth in both the story and the characters, and I was glad to finish the book since I didn't like it that much. I don't know if I would read other books by this author.Book Review: A Snooze Fest
Summary: 2 Stars
I had to agree with many of the negative reviews on this book. The beginning ogf the novel was the strongest part because it demonstrated some character development, introducing Claire. The setting and historical data was somewhat interesting, especially the insight in to the Japanese mentality as the conqueror in WW11 Hong Kong. But the flat, truly unlikeable characters almost put me to sleep. I skimmed through the last 100 pages because this was a Book Club selection. Don't waste your time, it's too precious and there are many better reads out there.Book Review: Piano teacher
Summary: 3 Stars
This book was hard to get into at first. It was pretty slow paced at parts. It was hard to keep track of who was who in the beginning of the book, because all the main characters were kind of thrown at you at once.
That being said...about a third of the way through the book, I couldn't put it down! The story was intriguing, and I loved the constant "wonder" of how the story of Claire and Trudy would intertwine at the end. There was a couple of shocker moments too! All in all, it was a decent read. Not an AMAZING book, but a great one.