- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Viking USA (Jan 13 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0670020486
- ISBN-13: 978-0670020485
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 16.1 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #235,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
'Former Elle editor Lee delivers a standout debut dealing with the rigours of love and survival during a time of war, and the consequences of choices made under duress!The rippling of past actions through to the present lends the narrative layers of intrigue and more than a few unexpected twists. Lee covers a little-known time in Chinese history without melodrama, and deconstructs without judgement the choices people make in order to live one more day under torturous circumstances' Publishers Weekly 'Rarely does one encounter a debut work as beguiling and assured as Janice Lee's The Piano Teacher. Rich with intrigue, romance, and betrayal, this wonderfully written, utterly captivating novel dazzles with its sharp-eyed renderings of beau monde Hong Kong as it is plunged into the crucible of war. With its fascinating interplay of East and West and wide cast of effervescent characters, especially the singularly haunting Trudy Liang, this is a truly transporting - and indeed irresistible - work of fiction.' Chang-Rae Lee, author of 'Aloft' 'One of the most insightful, elegant and atmospheric novels I've read in a long time. Janice Lee is nothing short of brilliant and her novel is impossible to put down.' Gary Shteyngart
Book Description
In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong
In 1942, Will Truesdale, an Englishman newly arrived in Hong Kong, falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their love affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. Will is sent to an internment camp, where he and other foreigners struggle daily for survival. Meanwhile, Trudy remains outside, forced to form dangerous alliances with the Japanese—in particular, the malevolent head of the gendarmerie, whose desperate attempts to locate a priceless collection of Chinese art lead to a chain of terrible betrayals.
Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as their daughter's piano teacher. A provincial English newlywed, Claire is seduced by the heady social life of the expatriate community. At one of its elegant cocktail parties, she meets Will, to whom she is instantly attracted—but as their affair intensifies, Claire discovers that Will's enigmatic persona hides a devastating past. As she begins to understand the true nature of the world she has entered, and long-buried secrets start to emerge, Claire learns that sometimes the price of survival is love.
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Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Meeting of East and West,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Piano Teacher (Hardcover)
This is Janice Lee's first novel and not a bad one at that. The story takes place beween 1940 and 1953 in the British colony of Hong Kong, and involves a wide cross-section of society: ex-pats, off-shore Asiatic-Europeans, Japanese military administrators and soldiers, and the local Chinese. Over these two decades of monumental change, the various members in this tightly-knit traditional society encounter personal and collective crises that challenges the very fabric of their existence. Loyalties shift, values change, decisions are made in haste, friendships made and broken under the most trying of circumsances and, in the end, nothing remains as it once was. The dark, nefarious secrets of a time when Hong Kong was under the cruelties of the Japanese occupation will come back to haunt those who want to pick up the good life where they left off as if nothing has happened. Those like Claire, a young educated English woman, and her rather insensitive husband, Martin, a petty government official, will step into the colony a decade later and get swallowed up in the web of intrigues left over from the unfinished business of the war. It seems that everyone in this story is carrying some emotional scars that have never healed completely even in times of peace. Even with the problem of following two complex parallel plots in this story, the reader should have no problem in seeing how they join together as the story progresses. These important linkages between the past and the future occur at critical moments when somebody like Will, a heroic character who is keenly aware of the treachery that took place between certain Chinese and Japanese interests during the war, speaks out. Claire, who has become his lover, faces the reality of being cast as a fallen woman who has broken the moral code of the colony by committing adultery. Her job as a music tutor for young Lockett, the alleged daughter of the wealthy Chen family, will take her inside a world rife with hostility, greed, and fear. When the dust eventually clears on this important sideshow, both she and the Chens are exposed as people prepared to exploit a situation for their own gain. There are many innocent beginnings in this novel that quickly devolve into something very disturbing and uncivil as Lee attempts to deconstruct all the inconsistencies of a pretentious, class-bound colonial society on the verge of a tectonic change. In the context of modern history, everyone of importance in this story has something to hide and somebody who wants to bring it to the light in the interests of personal gain or a sense of justice. Everyone has a cover for their dubious behavior but, by the end, all the covers will be blown off by the winds of change. A very fine effort for a first novel
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read,
By
This review is from: The Piano Teacher (Hardcover)
Fans of historical fiction will love this novel, set against the backdrop of Hong Kong during the Second World War. Romantic plot, class and racial explorations, as well as insights into the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Good insights into living in a foreign country.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific Service,
By
This review is from: The Piano Teacher (Hardcover)
Thanks for the great service. The book arrived in the condtion and time period as promised. I will use your service again.
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