The Piano teacher, by Janice Y.K.Lee

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Quite a different read- always had this book to be read sometime as I thought this could be a window to the exotic oriental, which I am enthused about at times. With that preset notion, I devoured this book, only to be disappointed initially. A truckload of modernity overwhelmed me – a tirade of party goer slang with zillion dazzling champagne flutes, toasts and dress flown in from Paris for occasions, bored me in continuing this book.

The moment changed when the Christmas came when Hong Kong was gripped by word war II and was down under the Japanese invasion. The effect of war, the quietening of senses and emotions as masses struggle and stagger under a foreign influence are drawn with impeccable beauty, without much trace of the goriness that makes us abstain from those war time novels. Tracing a tangent along the extremities, the author is able to trudge along beautifully with war in the backdrop and the way it slips into daily lives where some sprung up as opportunists to side the enemy for material benefits ending in burning bridges with friends and streams of tears.

The author alternates between pre and post war as she unravels the lives of Trudy, Claire and the man they are intimate with – Will. Spanning the breadth of this book, I was attached and fell apart at various sections and would not consider it as a great read, but not a bad one either…