The Piano Teacher

I know we're not suppose to judge a book by its cover, but the cover on this one is so fine.  The cover of Janice Y. K. Lee's "Piano Teacher" captured my attention and curiosity.  It's rare that a cover has that pull on me.  This one has such an air of mystery.

The Piano Teacher's setting was my favorite aspect of this novel.  There are two intermingled stories in this book.  Both are set in Hong Kong.  One narrative begins in 1941, the other begins in 1952.  Some of the characters are in both stories.  In both, there are many English characters.

The earlier story is set around World War II.  This is the first book I've read about the conditions in Hong Kong during this time period.  It was very interesting, even if it was a fictional account.

The later narrative centers around newlywed Claire, a small-town, young English woman.  The book begins with her story as she is the book's namesake piano teacher.  There was much in these first few chapters that I found annoying - the arrogance of the English and their colonization of Hong Kong was hard to take.  No doubt, this was the whole point.  We're not meant to like these characters, at least not at first.  Though, not surprisingly, young Claire changes her perspective and values as the story progresses.

It took me a while to read this novel.  The story doesn't exactly drag, but it could have moved a bit faster.  Still, I think Lee shows great promise and I'll definitely read more of her work.