It is the kind of novel one consumes in great, greedy gulps, pausing (grudgingly) only when absolutely necessary. "Evocative, poignant, and skillfully crafted, The Piano Teacher is more than an epic tale of war and a tangled, tortured love story. The New York Times Book Review, "Editor's Choice"
However and in addition to this, what I found especially interesting were the details of life on the island of Hong Kong before, during and after the war, a segment of history about which I knew very little, something that this novel has, to a certain extent, rectified."Riveting. Lee, by means of her skilled writing, transports the reader to Hong Kong of the 1940s and 1950s introducing a cast of characters who face many difficult challenges and choices, which by itself is very engaging. With such trying and overwhelmingly bleak conditions and with death constantly at hand, the true natures of the characters emerge. The forty-four month occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese was quite horrendous, and the reader is not spared the gory details.
Of course, once Hong Kong is conquered by the Imperial Japanese Army in December of 1941, romance of any sort takes on quite different trappings. All these went through her mind, but she didn’t say a word. “Why is anyone with anyone?”ĭesire, proximity, habit, chance. Of course, romance can manifest itself in many ways, and in demonstration of this point, take, for example, the following dialogue from the novel and between two lovers: It is within this setting that the story’s complex characters navigate romances, intrigues, and the general trials and tribulations of life. Lee effectively recreates pre- and post- WWII Hong Kong, a city teeming with drama of every sort and serving as a nexus between East and West. Set in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and alternating between the years 952, the reader is provided prose of the highest caliber with which Ms. In reducing history to mere facts and figures, much is lost, and the novel is capable of preventing such a reduction. Experiencing history through the narrative of fictional characters personalizes history and brings it to the level of the individual. While they all have their particular advantages and strengths, I find the written word most powerful, especially when put forth in the form of fiction. There are numerous means by which history can be recorded: oral history, paintings, poems, monuments, and, of course, the written word.
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