The Piano Teacher

Jan 07, 2009 Elaine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, january

Two days ago I thought my review of this book would be quite different than it is. Two days ago I was on page 113 of this book and I was getting frustrated with the vapid characters who were either spending all their time acting the part of the privileged upper class English ex-pats in Hong Kong or (in Claire's case) stealing trinkets. Even the war-time surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese seemed only a minor inconvenience to these people. However, a mere 13 pages later, the story rapidly grow...more

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Dec 05, 2008 Britney rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-december2008

I've found that it's easy to find World War II literature that focuses on the Holocaust or on the American experience. It's harder to find books that explore the non-Western experience. The Piano Teacher explores how lives in Hong Kong in the 1950s was affected by the Japanese invasion of the British colony during the war.

Ultimately, the 1940s parts were more compelling. I wanted to know more about the relationship between Will and Trudy, Will's experience in an internment camp with other Weste...more

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Feb 22, 2009 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, fiction, historical, asian

"the writing is beautiful, the research is superb, and the setting is fantastic". Two love stories 10 years apart. War changes everything and torments the survivors. She deftly describes Hong Kong weather (torrents of rain) the heat, the crowded market streets and the prison where the non-asian were imprisoned.

I listened to this and loved the narrator.

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Feb 22, 2009 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, world-war-2

Lee alternates between two different time periods to tell the story of betrayal in war time Hong Kong. (Does anyone just write a linear story any more? Seems like every book I pick up these days uses this kind of device).

I really enjoyed the 1940's story line of Will and Trudy during the war - An Englishman and a Eurasian woman who are in the thick of the pre-war social scene and how their lives change when the Japanese invade Hong Kong. Will is interned as a prisoner of war and Trudy decides t...more

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Oct 10, 2010 Adrienne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: oriental

October 10....I've had a chance to sleep on this even though I went to bed crying,woke in the night crying and have been weepy for most of the day when I think about this story. B/c it's had such a profound affect on me....like a Megan Hart it's staying and not going quietly...I've decided to give it 5 stars. I stopped giving stars, in the hopes that you guys would read the review and then decide if the book was one you'd like to read but I feel so strongly about this one.....My emotion at the m...more October 10....I've had a chance to sleep on this even though I went to bed crying,woke in the night crying and have been weepy for most of the day when I think about this story. B/c it's had such a profound affect on me....like a Megan Hart it's staying and not going quietly...I've decided to give it 5 stars. I stopped giving stars, in the hopes that you guys would read the review and then decide if the book was one you'd like to read but I feel so strongly about this one.....My emotion at the moment is one of despair there is one character in this book who is detestable, a vile charcater they are not a main player but when, at the end you find out what this person has done the full force of what this book is about comes home. There are many things I would like to talk about from the bigotry, the racism (especially that felt towards eurasain)and the attitude of the Britsh who lived not only in Honk Kong but in other colonys around the world at that time. I feel however that to discuss those at this time would spoil the book for others even I placed a spoiler tag. Save to say Trudy is the person who has stuck with me (I think she will for a long time to come) and even whilst I'm typing this I'm crying at the bloody injustice of everything!!!
I expect I will add more to this review as time goes on but for the moment I'm trying to pick up the pieces of my shattered soul. Dramatic I know but that's how it's got me. Silly stupid book LOL

October 9 Oh God I was going to reserve my review until I had time to reflect on what I've just read. I will say here that this is not a story for anyone who likes a HEA/HFN in their reading the ending does bring closure but I would also like to think that maybe just maybe Will and Claire story continues of screen so to speak. This is a sad story of what people will do to survive and the lies some will tell to secure their survival, and the consequences of those lies and the devistation to others that those lies have.
I think the author intended this to a sort of coming of age story of a young Englishwoman (Claire) in post war Hong Kong but my romantic heart has also read this: the tragic,tragic love story between Will and Trudy pre-war, and then the impossible love that Will and Claire share post-war. The two stories are linked by a separate tale of deception and collaberation. I can't speak highly enough of this story. I may add more to this review but at the moment I want to just let go of it quitely.(less)

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Jun 26, 2012 Sharmeela rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: umm how about a piano teacher...or Chinese people...prob not Japanese though

Recommended to Sharmeela by: me

This book was just okay. The plot had such potential, but Lee chose to squander it somewhat. I'll admit I enjoyed the past/present flow of the story, but the actual story was more boring than anything. I found myself waiting and waiting for Lee to get to the point, to no avail. I assumed (naively) that since I'm waiting and waiting for this giant secret to emerge, that it would have to be something worthwhile. But alas, I was wrong! It was the most obvious secret ever! I was thoroughly disappoin...more

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Mar 22, 2009 Dorothy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

rating:
bookshelves: read (edit)
status: Read in March, 2009, read count: 1
review: The cover of this book, The Piano Teacher, is its saving grace. It is a novel that attempts to provide some insights into conditions in Hong Kong prior to, during, and after World War II. It is a part of the world where the English, others, and the wealthy Chinese families form a tangled web of relationships.
On the one hand, we have Will Truesdale who finds himself strangely drawn to a Eurasian sprite of a girl,...more rating:
bookshelves: read (edit)
status: Read in March, 2009, read count: 1
review: The cover of this book, The Piano Teacher, is its saving grace. It is a novel that attempts to provide some insights into conditions in Hong Kong prior to, during, and after World War II. It is a part of the world where the English, others, and the wealthy Chinese families form a tangled web of relationships.
On the one hand, we have Will Truesdale who finds himself strangely drawn to a Eurasian sprite of a girl, Trudy Liang, who flaunts her body and her wealth around like snowflake...more The cover of this book, The Piano Teacher, is its saving grace. It is a novel that attempts to provide some insights into conditions in Hong Kong prior to, during, and after World War II. It is a part of the world where the English, others, and the wealthy Chinese families form a tangled web of relationships.
On the one hand, we have Will Truesdale who finds himself strangely drawn to a Eurasian sprite of a girl, Trudy Liang, who flaunts her body and her wealth around like snowflakes in a blizzard. Together they wend their way in and around the social scene in that halycon harbor.
Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, and the containment of civilians who are not Chinese causes a rift in the mentioned characters relationship. Trudy, who is part Chinese and part POrtugese, becomes a girl toy of Otsubo, a high ranking gendarme in the Japanese army while simultaneously maintaining a liaison with Will.
You guessed it! Trudy is a pawn in the hands of the Japanese who think that Will can lead them to the whereabouts of the valuable Crown Collection. In an effort to obtain the information, she is allowed to "entertain" Will during weekend passes from Stanley, the containment facility, while at the same time continue to "please" Otsubo.
Where does the piano teacher fit into all of this? She doesn't until ten years later. The war is over, Will has been released, and Hong Kong has been liberated.
Will is now working as a chaffeur for the Chen's, a wealthy Chinese family who coincidentally have a ten year old daughter named, Locket. As fate would have it Claire Pendleton, the wife of a Water Works inspector, becomes the child'd piano teacher. Will and Claire meet, have a steamy affair which draws the teacher into a mysterious network that binds those characters who have a knowledge of the Crown Collection's whereabouts and those who wish to find it.
My poor evaluation of the novel is based on what can be summed up as a tale about arrogant, rich people who spend their time, money, and influence on gossip, tea parties, betraying one another and, of course, sex.
Perhaps Y. K. Lee is right, This is what the world is really about. I just wish that she could have focused her work more on what was in the Crown Collection that made it so valuable and less on Will's dalliances with Claire and Trudy.

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Dec 13, 2008 Sam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sam by: early reviewer program

I received this book as part of an early reviewers program.

The Piano Teacher, strictly speaking, doesn't have a lot to do with piano teaching. In fact, Claire (the piano teacher) sometimes feels like she's only there to tell the story of Will and Trudy and to tie up the loose ends for the reader. Trudy and Will are lovers in Hong Kong prior, and during the occupation of the Japanese. Their story interweaves with that of Claire in 1950's Hong Kong, who meets the Chen family and becomes their pian...more

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Jan 05, 2010 Bookmarks Magazine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Most critics expressed surprise that a debut novel could be as compelling and self-assured as The Piano Teacher. Lee's flawed, colorful characters, although initially unlikeable, increasingly endear themselves to readers as the secrets of the past unfold, and her vivid descriptions of Hong Kong evoke the rich sights, sounds, and smells of that bygone, foreign world. Though the Washington Post complained that "the prose rarely sings," other reviewers praised its simplicity and grace. Critics note

...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Ruthie rated it 4 of 5 stars

As many readers have noted, this book starts out as a pleasant story, alternating between high society in 1940's Hong Kong, and 1950's Hong Kong. Not very interesting, but then everything changes as war starts in 1941, and when it has ended in the 50's. Lee's story puts us right in the action, you read about a very different wartime experience, and this is a tale that weaves and unwinds credibly!

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Nov 11, 2009 Charly rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People with short to-read lists

This is another one that I wouldn't put to the top of my to read list. It was a first effort I think by the author and I thought I would give it a chance. Set in Hong Kong it deals with pre-war to post_war relationships that were somewhat transparent to me. Nothing to write home about.

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Aug 06, 2011 Marc Maitland added it · review of another edition

Because of the mixed reviews, and this being the author’s first work, I really had no idea what to expect. Criticised by some and described as “this year’s ‘Atonement’” by others (in a presumably complimentary way), I was very pleased with both the plot and the very well-researched attention to detail. In my opinion, it is a far better read than Ian McEwan’s “Atonement”, which I read (and reviewed) a year ago.

I don’t even want to attempt to summarise the plotline, which basically jumps between...more Because of the mixed reviews, and this being the author’s first work, I really had no idea what to expect. Criticised by some and described as “this year’s ‘Atonement’” by others (in a presumably complimentary way), I was very pleased with both the plot and the very well-researched attention to detail. In my opinion, it is a far better read than Ian McEwan’s “Atonement”, which I read (and reviewed) a year ago.

I don’t even want to attempt to summarise the plotline, which basically jumps between the time of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941 and the time of the Coronation in 1953 and the same characters and what has changed in the intervening period, the eponymous Piano Teacher being someone who brings together the various earlier characters in a wholly innocent way, although as will be seen, she is far from a wholly innocent character herself. I just love the detailed description of colonial life, and it is paradoxically mainly written from the perspective of an outsider (as indeed the author herself is – Korean by birth, having been raised as a child in Hong Kong under British colonial rule, having them emigrated to the U.S.A. and then having returned after the hand-over to China after 1997) which is exactly what Trudy, one of the main characters (“heroine” would be a misnomer) is, of Chinese/Portuguese parentage, known as “Eurasian”.

At the end of the book, there is an interesting list of the research undertaken by the author before writing the book – a project which was 5 years in its fulmination. I don’t know if all authors undertake such diligent research but, for me, who really does appreciate accurate detail of novels set in a real time and real place, this was worth the effort, and much appreciated.

I can unreservedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in wartime, colonial history or even just the geographical descriptions of Hong Kong and life there in the 1940s and 1950s. For a Royalist like me, that the latter part of the book centred on the Coronation of Her Majesty The Queen and all the celebrations that took place in the furthest corners of the Empire, was the icing on top of the cake!

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Apr 02, 2009 Lori rated it 3 of 5 stars

Claire, the piano teacher of the title, is a bland, blonde, naive young British newlywed recently relocated to Hong Kong with her husband. She takes a position as a piano teacher for the young daughter of a wealthy Chinese family and she is introduced to the brittle, shallow, wealthy, prejudiced expatriate community in 1950's Hong Kong. Eventually she meets and begins an affair with Will Truesdale, a long-time British expatriate with a mysterious history.

Alternating chapters with Claire's story...more

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Mar 11, 2009 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't know much about Japan's invasion of Hong Kong during WWII, and this novel gave me some insight into the conquerer's horific treatment of the citizens of the losing nations there. That was interesting. Also compelling were the characters of Claire Pendleton, the English woman who arrives with her husband Martin in Hong Kong ten years after the Japanese invasion and becomes the piano teacher to Locket, the daughter of the wealthy Chen family, and she begins an illicit affair with Will; Wi...more

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Dec 15, 2008 Kaye rated it 5 of 5 stars

It is so hard to believe that this is a debut novel. I found it wonderfully written and I was drawn in immediately. The story starts out in 1952 as we are introduced to Claire Pendleton, recent arrival in Hong Kong with her much older husband, Martin. Claire has been hired by the socially prominent Chen family to teach Locket Chen the piano. When the Chen family invites Claire and her husband to a party, she meets Will Truesdale, the Chen chauffer. The Chen family and Will Truesdale figure promi...more It is so hard to believe that this is a debut novel. I found it wonderfully written and I was drawn in immediately. The story starts out in 1952 as we are introduced to Claire Pendleton, recent arrival in Hong Kong with her much older husband, Martin. Claire has been hired by the socially prominent Chen family to teach Locket Chen the piano. When the Chen family invites Claire and her husband to a party, she meets Will Truesdale, the Chen chauffer. The Chen family and Will Truesdale figure prominently in this novel from the beginning to the end.

The story then goes back and forth from 1941 to 1953 as the characters are introduced in preparation for possible invasion by the Japanese. With the use of flashback mode and differing points of view, we see the growth in the characters and how the war deeply affects them all. Will’s importance is slowly revealed when the reader is taken back to 1941 and the beginning of his passionate affair with Trudy Liang, a young, spoiled Eurasion. Trudy has numerous connections with the Hong Kong community and has a tremendous emotional impact on Will.

Written with exquisite detail as to location, the reader can immerse themselves into the environs of Hong Kong. It is easy to visualize the center with its European, classical style building and yet, not far away, the local market with its narrow alley ways and frenetic activity amid smoky stalls and clamorous noise. I felt like I was walking with Claire as she becomes familiar with her new home. With her seamless segueing between decades, the character development is tremendous. The characters are so well fleshed out as to emotion and vulnerability, the reader will feel as if they are truly alive. Their emotions and feelings just seem to leap off the page.

Lee unfolds each complex layer bit by bit without missing a beat. When the lives of all the characters come to a point of convergence, the past haunts the present in the many intertwined relationships. Alliances forged during the war will have long reaching consequences long after the war is over. People who had high positions now are brought to new lows, the war being the great equalizer. It all comes down to a matter of survival and the lengths people will go to cope with the horrors and atrocities of war.

There are so many elements in the telling of this story: romance, loyalty, betrayal, secrets, history along with social commentary. The peripheral characters are easily woven into the story with their own interesting sub plots. The surprising twists at the end only add to the enjoyment of this novel. The progression of the story is orderly with no superfluous details and with a wonderfully engrossing plot, this book is sure to be a success. I absolutely loved it. 5*****

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Oct 09, 2012 Betsy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical

I bought this on a whim at a used bookstore that was closing. (I passed the empty shop today. It leaves a hole in the neighborhood.) There's something about a used bookstore -- all those stacks of books, great classics snuggled up against quickly forgotten summer reads, the possibility of stumbling across a quirky, overlooked gem. The Piano Teacher falls into that last category. I picked it up because I liked the cover and the setting intrigued me. And I started reading it to fill a spare moment...more I bought this on a whim at a used bookstore that was closing. (I passed the empty shop today. It leaves a hole in the neighborhood.) There's something about a used bookstore -- all those stacks of books, great classics snuggled up against quickly forgotten summer reads, the possibility of stumbling across a quirky, overlooked gem. The Piano Teacher falls into that last category. I picked it up because I liked the cover and the setting intrigued me. And I started reading it to fill a spare moment with the idea that it'd be easy to put down. It wasn't.

The setting, the characters, the time period all pulled me in. Lee has a deft touch, dropping in moments of dry, ironic humor that she leaves to speak for themselves rather than anviling the reader with them. (I'm sure I missed some along the way as the plot slowly unraveled, making me gallop breathlessly through the pages eager to find out what happened next.) The very opening scene begins with the newly arrived English woman, Claire, stealing a little figurine from her Chinese employees, and ends with her remembering her mother's warning about the Chinese being "an unscrupulous, conniving people, who would surely take advantage of her innocence and goodwill." Claire doesn't link the action with the thought -- the reader is left to do so if they choose.

The rest of the novel keeps that same level of... I wouldn't say nonjudgmental tone, but there's a certain lack of moralizing that I appreciated. Characters make decisions that would be really easy to demonize but the story allows the reader to decide how they feel about those decisions. There was a character one of the point of view characters despised and yet I felt sympathy for him and I felt like I wasn't reading against the text in doing so. Which I appreciated. Especially as the book dealt with an extremely dangerous time-period where moral decisions could literally mean life and death (if not yours, then someone's).

And I have to say, I really liked the ending. This was a case where the epilogue enriched the story without feeling the need to tie up loose ends or explain it everything. Instead it shows that life flows on.(less)

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Sep 16, 2012 Mark Underwood rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is my review from Amazon Vine:

There is much to like in a book that appropriates a cinematic swath of the not-too-distant past and brings it into sharp focus. Why, then, does Janet Y. K. Lee's first novel The Piano Teacher (Viking, 2009) leave an unsettled and incomplete aftertaste?

Despite the author's seemingly glamorous recent background, she pulls no punches in delivering grim accounts of tortured lives lived beneath the conquering Japanese. These landmines of agony (based mostly upon his...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Dora Okeyo rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I started reading this book I couldn't help but hate how it was all about parties and people making comments about others and the wine-and how Will was in the wrong place.
But as I continued reading it I realized that there was more to Will and his love for Trudy and even though the war did tear them apart-just the fact that he relives every memory of Trudy through his affair with Claire- made me hate him. I felt like he was using Claire to revive his life with Trudy and to try and make amen...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Ozaru rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I spied this book at a book share event, my immediate thoughts were: the title reminds me of the films The Piano and The Pianist, which I enjoyed (the latter in particular); the cover compares it with Atonement, which was highly recommended and I've long meant to read; and it's about the Far East and WW2, both of which interest me.

Before I started reading it my daughter browsed the cover and said "I'm surprised you chose this, it seems like more of a women's book". She was obviously more pe...more When I spied this book at a book share event, my immediate thoughts were: the title reminds me of the films The Piano and The Pianist, which I enjoyed (the latter in particular); the cover compares it with Atonement, which was highly recommended and I've long meant to read; and it's about the Far East and WW2, both of which interest me.

Before I started reading it my daughter browsed the cover and said "I'm surprised you chose this, it seems like more of a women's book". She was obviously more perceptive than I was. Had I looked more closely, I would have seen that the comparison with Atonement came from Elle magazine. The (female) author was also an editor at Elle. Out of 13 recommendations inside, only 1 was evidently by a male reviewer, with others coming e.g. from magazines such as Vogue and Marie Claire. The interview with the author contains numerous references to 'details of dress', 'how people dressed', 'the outfits', 'what she would wear', and so on, and the book itself does focus on clothes - and the appearance of the 'fat'/'slim' female characters - to what felt to me like an excessive degree. Without wanting to subscribe to any exaggerated male/female stereotypes, I did sense that women might indeed enjoy the book more than I did.

The first 80-odd pages went slowly. There were many paragraphs where I felt "why did this just happen?" - and not in a good way, but rather due to non sequiturs or confusing changes in tone, exacerbated by the switching between 1941 and 1952. A lot of characters were being introduced and I struggled for a while to remember who they all were.

Then, however, some meatier chapters came, focusing on the earlier events, and the story became more interesting, as the characters too became more engaging. Most twists in the plot were quite obvious, due to the jumbled timelines as well as somewhat obvious hints in the prose, and the sub-plot about the 'Crown Collection' of valuable porcelain was never really developed into much. Nevertheless, the story was absorbing enough to want to finish the book in one sitting.

I came away with a slightly better understanding for what happened in Hong Kong during WW2 - albeit with some unease that the Japanese were predictably portrayed in a uniformly negative light, with just a handful of token comments about "a few nice ones". Overall, this is not a book I would feel inclined to read again, nor would a prequel/sequel/film be terribly alluring.(less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Andrea Mullarkey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio

I honestly didn’t mean to read two books about women during WWII back to back. I also didn’t mean to read two books read by Orlagh Cassidy back to back. A chapter or two in, when I realized that’s what had happened, I was worried the two books would be bound up in my mind forever. But having finished them both I can say there is no risk of that happening. True they have many similarities. But while The Postmistress is a thoroughly American book filled with optimism and drive The Piano Teacher is...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Disappointment. Although that's what this book sets out to portray, it accomplishes it in a different way that the author intended.
Set in the historically fascinating world of British Hong Kong in the 1940s and 50s, The Piano Teacher begins as a rather artsy novel that had a lot of potential. However, it fell flat about three or four chapters in, and the rest was dull and underachieving. Where Janice K. Lee has promise as a novelist, this book needed more personal editing and plot consolidation...more Disappointment. Although that's what this book sets out to portray, it accomplishes it in a different way that the author intended.
Set in the historically fascinating world of British Hong Kong in the 1940s and 50s, The Piano Teacher begins as a rather artsy novel that had a lot of potential. However, it fell flat about three or four chapters in, and the rest was dull and underachieving. Where Janice K. Lee has promise as a novelist, this book needed more personal editing and plot consolidation before she slapped a title and cover on it.
The novel opens on Claire Pendleton, an English lady living in Hong Kong with her somewhat platonic husband, Martin. She is employed as the eponymous piano teacher to a local family, the Chens. As the novel moves on, Claire's character is illustrated (a bit) as the girl interrupted, forced to marry someone she does not love for convenience. Her life changes when she encounters Will Truesdale, the Chen family's English driver who has a mysterious past and a strange, puzzling facade that fascinates Claire. Predictably, she is pulled into a very odd love affair, which can only end in disaster.
The parallel story of Hong Kong in the 1940s is told from Will's perspective as he remembers his relationship with the fantastic socialite Trudy Liang, a young Eurasian woman. These memories, interspersed with the story of Claire and Will, follows the tragedy of the city in the grip of the Japanese throughout World War II, the incarceration of all "enemy nationalities," and above all the dangerous facades of people. The end is confusing, though, which is upsetting for such a good idea.
Lee opens the book with the fiery passion of a novelist, creating her world and characters with clear pictures in mind. The exposition of the world of Hong Kong, amahs, and British debutantes is an intriguing one- an Oriental reproduction of the 19th century world that vanished in Europe. Claire begins as a terribly interesting character: soon after she begins teaching the daughter, she begins to steal things from Mrs. Chen, almost in a kleptomaniac way. The first part of the book is tense, waiting for Claire's thefts to be exposed, but from there it falls off into dull predictability.
Though all the characters have that subtle, human potential of being great literature, Lee falls into the trap of doing what is expected and cliche with them. The only one that delivers any sort of memorable plot point is Trudy Liang, whose end is annoyingly vague and psychologically complex. She is needy and independent all at once, leaving guilt and regret in the readers once she's gone.
Too bad she's stuck in a boring book. Will, her companion in the 1940s tale, is only interesting on the surface; once Lee begins trying to explore who he is, he becomes an annoyingly waffling person with only a dark and mysterious facade. Claire's puzzling at his vague statements and behavior makes her out to be rather unintelligent, because the things that he does are not as complicated as Lee makes them out to be.
I personally had no idea what to do with the character of Claire. It's almost as if she doesn't really have a place in the novel. It would almost have been better to eliminate the 1950s story entirely; by the end of the book, I didn't care about what happened to her at all, which seemed to be the goal of the epilogue. The story of Will and Trudy was far more interesting than Claire's moaning about Will's complex behavior and the thick social atmosphere in Hong Kong. (I nearly skimmed one of her chapters in order to get to the next 1940s bit.) If Lee had thought about the whole thing a little longer, The Piano Teacher might have come out as a much better novel with a more centered storyline.
One thing that redeems the novel a bit is the style. At first, it seems rather dull and ordinary, but as it progresses, more interesting structures come out. The thing that stood out most is the tenses of the telling: Claire's bits are told in past tense, but Will's are told in present tense, as if recalled in present tense in a memory. As we reach the end of the novel, Will's chapters are more confusing and scattered, as if repressed memories are coming out, which really lends to the effect.
It doesn't matter if there's nothing new under the sun- if you do an old idea well, then it's a joy to read. But The Piano Teacher plods out a tired story with underdeveloped editing and work, wasting its incredible potential on a very mediocre novel. It's not very long, 326 double-spaced, small pages, so it's a quick read if you have some time to kill. (less)

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Jul 07, 2012 Laura Thompson rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Piano Teacher is a great portrayal of the Second World War from a completely different perspective. I love books which are set in this time, but often find that stories of WW2 from the British perspective can be quite samey. Janice Y. K. Lee, however, creates a vivid picture of the effects that WW2 had on China. The novel is split into two worlds, lead by two women; Trudy - a socialite in 1940's China and Claire - an English rose who moved to Hong Kong with her new husband in 1950's. There i...more

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May 25, 2012 Denzil Pugh rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book is much like a song that, with a good hook and an interesting rhythm, starts to unravel in the end because the writer doesn't know how to finish it. The characters are very well drawn out, sympathetic and believable to a fault. The plot was folded over and over again, with turns and cliffhangers that were well thought out and satisfying. The ending, though, has the feel of the end of an old pair of jeans, unraveling and frayed.

I have been saying that it was a lot like Gone With the Win...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Melody rated it 4 of 5 stars

Every great city in China has a culture of its own. Different histories, different geographies, even different languages make these sub urban cultures quite distictive from each other. And of course there are writers who are known for these cities such as Lao She and Wang Shuo for Beijing, Qian Zhongshu for Shanghai. Reading The Piano Teacher reminded me of the greatest modern female writer Eileen Chang and her fictions and essaies about the the fall of Hong Kong in 1942. She is of course now kn...more Every great city in China has a culture of its own. Different histories, different geographies, even different languages make these sub urban cultures quite distictive from each other. And of course there are writers who are known for these cities such as Lao She and Wang Shuo for Beijing, Qian Zhongshu for Shanghai. Reading The Piano Teacher reminded me of the greatest modern female writer Eileen Chang and her fictions and essaies about the the fall of Hong Kong in 1942. She is of course now known for being the author of the Ang Lee's film "Lust and Caution". Eileen Chang is my absolute favourite and one of her best short fisction is "Love in a Falling City" depicting a love story during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (same period as in The Piano Teacher", according to Liu Zai Fang in "A History of Modern Chinese Fictions":

"Love in a Fallen City" tells us that, instead of making progress, the world is gradually entering a desolate wilderness. Human beings, who dominate the world, are selfish and their behavior is controlled by endless desires that corrupt human nature and cause the collapse of love. These desire will continue to exist until time has run its course and the world has come to its end. Only then can humankind rediscover love and revive the innocence in human nature. What "Love in a Fallen City" shows is precisely how war, which pushes the world to its end, salvages love."

Love did not save the protegonists of The Piano Teacher in the war. However, Will and Trudy will not realize what their love meant for them if it's not for the war. Janice K. Lee's writing is descritive and sensual, very similar to those of Eileen Chang as well. What is different and interesting is that this story was told from the perspective of a British woman and the more or less isolated british colonial society in Hong Kong. I am pleasantly surprised of the vivid depiction of the characters in this book. They feel quite real and comparable to Eileen Chang's characters (which were derived from her first person experience back then). Half way through the book, I had to dig out Chang's story and re-read it. Another aspect that dominated this book is the relationship between the Chinese and the British (or the "Eurasians"). How the world is different today and people more like each other sharing similar experiences now. I loved that the author captured the surreal feeling of living in a foreign country in the beginning. The possiblity that you can be someone else. However, we somehow ended up knowing more about ourselves, just as Eileen Chang concluded in her essay: the train of time is ever moving forward. When we look out the window, the only images we can catch are flashes of our own pale tired faces". (less)

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Feb 16, 2012 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club, british, asian, china, wwii, kindle, historical, women

The piano teacher of the title is Claire, a young Englishwoman in the 1950s who agrees to marry the older and boring Martin chiefly so she can get out of her family's house and go on an adventure to Hong Kong. She takes a job teaching piano lessons to the young daughter of a wealthy Chinese couple, the Chens. As Claire gets to know the Chens and their social circle, she meets a mysterious man called Will...

...and the novel cuts back and forth between the early 50s and the 40s before WWII reached...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Ms.pegasus rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone interested in fiction by new authors

Shelves: fiction, china

In an insignificant scene, a character complains about a newspaper ad: “Can't they be a bit more oblique?” The remark, seemingly casual, does express the author's aesthetic approach. Reading THE PIANO TEACHER is like looking through an intricate cut-work screen. Characters and events are interwoven with subtle connection. Paradoxically, the book really isn't about the English piano teacher Claire, newly arrived to Hong Kong with her husband in 1952. The story really begins 10 years earlier, on t...more In an insignificant scene, a character complains about a newspaper ad: “Can't they be a bit more oblique?” The remark, seemingly casual, does express the author's aesthetic approach. Reading THE PIANO TEACHER is like looking through an intricate cut-work screen. Characters and events are interwoven with subtle connection. Paradoxically, the book really isn't about the English piano teacher Claire, newly arrived to Hong Kong with her husband in 1952. The story really begins 10 years earlier, on the eve of World War II, seen primarily through the eyes of another English emigree named Will Truesdale. Race and social class are dominant elements of the narrative. A social system on the brink of extinction merges into the precarious danger of life in Japanese occupied Hong Kong. At first this feels like familiar territory, and little is revealed to make any of these characters particularly memorable. Gradually, however, the focus shifts. The most riveting character of the book, Trudy, is only seen at a distance. We watch her through Will's eyes. We observe her movements. We overhear her conversations. She is the link that connects all of these characters. But we never really inhabit her mind, and this is the ultimate attraction of the book. The characters fit together like pieces in a puzzle. We are introduced to them in 1952, we labor to connect them to their past selves. Their transformation over time mixes with the reader's reassessment of them with each new revelation.

The pace of the book is deceptively unhurried. Details unfold in weekly and monthly installments. The last quarter of the book marks a pronounced change. The questions in the reader's mind have accumulated, resulting in gradually increasing tension. The chronology also shifts. Previously the alternation between 1952 and 1942 ran forward in parallel narratives. Abruptly, the older narrative backtracks. The effect is astonishing.

I enjoyed this book and the questions it raised about choices and identity. My one quibble is that the reader frequently is “cued” to react by the characters, rather than being led to a natural response. The relationship between Will and Claire felt devised. We understand that Claire has undergone a transformation, but her voice still seems unchanged from the beginning of the book. The sense of becoming a new person is something we learn, but never really feel. (less)

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Sep 17, 2011 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Set in Hong Kong in the 1940s and '50s, the story centers around two main characters and how their lives intersect. It's about how our own personal history, as well as the historical events in which we live through, defines and shapes who we are and our relationships.

More specifically, it is a tale centered around Claire Pendleton, a newlywed recently transferred to Hong Kong, and the affair she begins with Will Truesdale. Both hired by the same family, they must keep their affair quiet, but sec...more Set in Hong Kong in the 1940s and '50s, the story centers around two main characters and how their lives intersect. It's about how our own personal history, as well as the historical events in which we live through, defines and shapes who we are and our relationships.

More specifically, it is a tale centered around Claire Pendleton, a newlywed recently transferred to Hong Kong, and the affair she begins with Will Truesdale. Both hired by the same family, they must keep their affair quiet, but secrets from Will's past keep surfacing. She begins to learn of the connection between Will and her employers, and of a mysterious woman in Will's past. WWII changed many lives, especially those in Hong Kong, but until she met Will, Claire never knew just how much had changed.

I had high hopes for this novel, but ultimately I was disappointed. Hong Kong seemed nothing more than a high-society luncheon for the rich and popular. The setting could just as easily have been London for the first part of the book. It wasn't until the war actually hit that it made sense why Lee set the novel in this town. Lee goes back and forth between the 1940s war-era and the 1950s post-war era. This was actually a great tool because I was able to learn more information about Will's past than had the novel simply been following Claire. That being said, Claire was a vapid character. She had no depth, and there seemed to be no real need of her character other than a machination to continue the real story - that of Will and Trudy, his lover during the war. The events post-war (which I won't go into so I don't spoil it) would have taken place whether or not Claire had been there. She wasn't the catalyst, and therefore I saw no real point to her character.

So, really, I half liked this book. I really liked Will's story and was interested in what happened to him and the other foreign-nationals during the war. But as for the 1950s part of the novel, I really didn't care until the end, and even then it was just so I could learn what really happened to Trudy. 3 out of 5 stars for a good concept and different look at WWII, but a boring and somewhat useless main character.(less)

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Aug 10, 2011 Lori Cox rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult

British Claire, newly married, arrives in Hong Kong in 1952. She teaches piano lessons to Melody and Victor Chen’s daughter. While there, she meets and embarks on an affair with the mysterious Will Truesdale. The book flashes back and forth between the 40’s during the Japanese occupation and the current 50’s, with the resulting fallout from those times. At the start of the war, Will was in love with a beautiful Eurasian named Trudy. The colonial expats are shown to be hypersensitive to class rol...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Gretchen rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an absorbing novel set in Hong Kong before, during, and after the occupation by the Japanese during World War II. The characterization is well developed, and it seems like a character–driven novel. But as you get into it, the plot – at first subtle – takes on import nearly as strong as the characters. Hong Kong, btw, is almost itself a character. It is a good read – you won't want to put it down. I only had two problems with it. First, it is not told in chronological order. It isn't real...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Diana M rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Piano Teacher held a lot of realistic and historical situations intertwined with two stories in different time periods. Reading the book I didn't want to put it down as I wanted to find out what happened in the end. When I finished it, I was still a bit confused of what happened and/or why. On one side, the way the author combined the two stories 10 years apart had allowed the tragic past be understood without any guilt or sadness and ability to let go much easier by the reader since the aut...more

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