Book Review - The Piano Teacher: A Novel by Janice Y. K. Lee

Title: The Piano Teacher: A Novel
Author: Janice Y. K. Lee
Year: 2009
Page: 328
Genre: Fiction - Historical

New to me author? Yes
Read this author again? No
Tearjerker? No
Where did it take place? Hong Kong
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from goodreads.com):
In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong. 

First Sentence:
It started as an accident.

  
Why did I pick this book?
It was part of book club read. Actually I suggested it as a pick, after reading numerous good reviews on different blogs. I was really interested in in as I lived in Hong Kong for 13 years, and played the piano, so I felt like I could relate to the book. This book eventually was voted to be part of this month's book club choice.


My thoughts:

• Meh. Why did I waste my time? I was so looking forward to it as I wanted to read another good historical fiction ("The Help" was a great read, and I usually don't like historical fiction). I thought the combination of a story setting in Hong Kong and something about the piano would make me like it a little bit at least!

• Seriously, after I read it, I thought, what was the point of the story? What was the author trying to say? And I couldn't think of a good reason... to me, the author wanted to pack too much into a book, and because of that, everything was just left hanging and not gone into depth enough - it had a somewhat love triangle (I won't even call it a romance), a mystery of the Crown Collection, expats / high society living in Hong Kong, before / after the WWII, a twist about the identity of one of the minor characters, etc etc etc...
  
• I don't even know why the title was chosen as that wasn't even a big part of the story
  
• Some of the actions by the characters made you go huh? What did that add to the story (for those who had read it - it's about Claire and what happened in the first chapter - wasn't really explained)

• The characters weren't likable either. 

• Some chapters were quite choppy, and the writing style wasn't consistent throughout the book. I caught myself re-reading the lines several times to see if I really read what I thought I read. It was almost like the author wanted to reveal something big, but it ended up being pretentious and confusing. (I should've noted the page numbers, but forgot)

• The love triangle wasn't that great - they happened too easily and I don't see how they could be so memorable

• The mystery/twist also wasn't that shocking

• I was hoping to read more about how WWII and its brutality. It touched on it a bit but not a whole lot.

• I just felt like I wasted my time reading this - it has potential but everything was just left hanging instead. In fact, it probably would have been a better story if it was just about Trudy and Will, and leave the part about Claire. But then, since Claire was the piano teacher, the title would have to be changed! Not that it is a good title for the current story... 

 
Rating: 1 Star

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading