The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y K Lee

May 12, 2009 by
Filed under: book review, Fiction, International bestseller, Janice Lee, recommendation 

The Piano Teacher tells a complicated, convoluted story of adaptation, love, betrayal and responses to changing circumstances. The story is set in war-torn Hong Kong,The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y.K. Lee partly during World War II itself, partly during the aftermath of the war.

A focal point in the novel is Will Truesdale, an Englishman who arrived in Hong Kong in 1942. In most ways he is an ordinary, self doubting man. However, having arrived, he more or less immediately falls headlong into a passionate relationship with the extremely attractive, intriguing and beautiful Eurasian socialite Trudy Liang.

As the war in Asia spreads, Hong Kong too is captured. Will, being English, is forced into an internment camp. Trudy, on the other hand, is Eurasian and is able to remain outside. And while they struggle to retain their affair even after they have been separated, it soon becomes apparent that their opportunities and outlooks develop in quite different directions.

Will tries his best to contribute to the collective of the prison camp, and is increasingly shaped by the events, obligations and bonds there. Trudy, on the other hand, seeks to preserve her high society lifestyle, and involves herself with the Japanese. She soon gets involved in affairs far beyond her control. Her desperate attempts to locate a priceless collection of Chinese art on behalf of her Japanese lover leads to a chain of terrible betrayals, involving several pillars of society.

Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as their daughter’s piano teacher. She meets Will, is attracted to him, and becomes his mistress. Again, a love affair of Will’s takes on an importance much larger than the affair itself. And as Claire begins to understand the intricacies and multiple conflicts of the world she has entered, long-buried secrets are brought to the fore. And now Claire’s whole life changes as a consequences of the revelations that are unleashed.

Janice Y. K. Lee’s first novel, The Piano Teacher, is beautiful and written in a spare and understated form, where only the tips of huge icebergs of events are visible up to the very end. None of her characters are particularly endearing, but they are complex, interesting, often disagreeable, and very authentic. The whole book is full of intrigue. And even though the novel raises many more questions than it answers, the answers that are provided are very satisfactory. I strongly recommend it!

Praise:

“Evocative, poignant and skillfully crafted, The Piano Teacher is more than an epic tale of war and a tangled, tortured love story. It is the kind of novel one consumes in great, greedy gulps, pausing (grudgingly) only when absolutely necessary.” — Chicago Tribune

Links to The Piano Teacher at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon Canada

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