I WILL AVOID SPOILERS! My review is less about plot than what happens to my head and my emotions when I read this book.Finished: Nope I was wrong about how it would end. My guesses were not exactly right and the difference was very important! The end has a surprising twist. As you know this book had wonderful writing. Good story and good ending. This book has just about everything a book can have, but not much humor. Somehow I didn't miss it, maybe b/c rather than being a grim tale,the book was simply terribly interesting. Through page 204 of 311 + very good author's note which I have already read! I swear I know how this book will end. I think I have it all figured out. I should warn that descriptions are very detailed. Maybe one likes this, maybe one doesn't. HOW the Erard piano works mechanically was a bit too confusing for me, but probably VERY interesting for someone who really knows about pianos. Anyone who loves the piano must love this book.... You know the first piano were square, and pianos developed from the harpsicord, at least Erard's version did. Then there is one scene that is fabulous about a hollow rock that rumbles/sings. Lots of info also about plant and alternative medicine treatments too.Through page 179: OK, here is a little complaint. The author is trying to get me scared with numerous forewatnings. I feel like I am being played with. Like there is a mystery, but nothing happens. Then it is going to pounce on me. Most people like this - I don't. I don't have to read a book for the mystery in the plot. The travelogue, the history - that is what I enjoy. Oh yes, the dialogue is superbe. The author's dialogues at different occasions care ompletely different from eachother - drunk soldiers having a ribald talk over beers, a fancy colonial luncheon in Mandalay where the talk is more British than the British, the eccentirc speeches of Dr. Carroll himself. These dialogues are each perfect and each unique. They should be different and they certainly are. How the author is able to do this is beyond me. Still, I am annoyed about the mystery ploy..... If you haven't notices, I am always spelling things incorrectly. I totally mix up English and French and Swedish. BTW English and French keyboards are different - that too explains crazy spellings. Sorry! I am too lazy to proofread. I just want to get my feelings out. Please be kind to me and ignore my misspellings and grammatical errors. I write reviews for enjoyment; I do it for me, b/c it helps me understnad my own views. I don't do it to write a correct essay for a school paper or for publication. I hope my views get other people thinking. I want to explain what the book is really about so others can accurately decide whether it is something they really want to read. There is so much to read that we cannot be wasting our time. And each of us like different types of literature.hrough page 89: I am reading this very slowly - it is chockfull of interesting info. Before Edgar Drake reaches Rangoon on the Irrawaddy Delta he has spent much time reading reports from the War Office and Anthony Carroll himself, the man in Burma who had requested/demanded the piano tuner. Carroll's documents are fascinating and perhaps explain the antipathy between the military personel and Carroll. Carroll is self-educated, a very cultured man who knows everything from the physical geography of Burna to its history, the language of all the different tribes, the detailed information of the land's plants and animals and much, much more. BUT WE LEARN NOTHING ABOUT THE PIANO RHAT HAS TO BE REPAIRED. This is very unsettling for us the readers and of course Edgar Drake too. So Edgar writes a letter to those employing him, informing then of the history of the piano beginning in the early 1700s and the history of Sebastien Erard who made the piano shipped to Burma. This is all verey, very fascinating. All of it. Little hints are dropped about what is going to happen to Edgar - but I will not tell you any of that! Remember no spoilers! Then Edgar gets to Rangoon and the story turns into a travelogue again. The people, the clothing, the city, all are described, the things he saw as the carriage rolled through Rangoon: "He blinked and the tea shop disappeared. replaced by a woman holding a plate of betel nuts and tiny leaves. She pressed close to the carriage and stared inside from beneath the shade of a wide straw hat. Like some of the vendors by the shore, her face was painted with white circles, moonlike against her dark skin.""Edgar turned to the soldier,'What is that on her face?''The paint?''Yes, I saw it on some of the women by the docks. But different patterns. Peculiar.....''They call it "thanaka". It is made from ground sandalwood. Almost all of the women wear it and many of the men. They cover the babies with it too.'......""The lane widened and the carriage picked up speed. Soon the images spun past the window too fast to be seen."Fascinating. There is so much to learn here. Did you know that the paiano was invented by a person called Cristofori. I didn't! All through the 1700s it underwent great modifications. What happened to musical instuments in France during the French Revolution also has a story all its own. I think soon something dramatic will occur to Edgar. My lips are zipped.Through page 77: The reader encounter storytales, a travelogue and now Burmese History is th theme. I find the quite detailed history of the Burmese-Anglo Wars from the 1820-1880s interesting, but it isn't always so easy to follow since the tribal names are so strange. They don't stick in my head. Some of the details I am sure to forget but hopefully the major events will fasten. Soon Edgar, the piano tuner, will arive in Mae Lwin, his destination, located on the eastern Shan States of British Burma near the Burmese border to Siam(Thailand). Actually the Shan people felt a cultural tie with the people of Siam more than the Burman people.Through page 59: I very much like the author's writing style. Writing style is more important to me than the plot! I am a member of the Historical Fictionistas Group. In this group under "blurbs" there is a thread for quotes from page 42 of the book you are reading. I think this thread gives you a chance to see some random text. The text must be from page 42, NOT the beginning of the book. What a good idea! Anyhow since I copied some text there, I will now copy it here too. Basically I am very lazy! :0) Here follows what I quoted in that thread. "They" in the quote refers to the peiano tuner, who will be leaving for Burma in a few days, and his wife, who is to remain in London."They walk home, now they speak of inconsequentials like how many pairs of stockings he has packed, how often he will write, gifts he should bring home, how not to become ill. The conversation rests uneasily; one doesn't expect goodbyes to be burdened by trivialities. This is not how it is in the books, he thinks, or in the theater; and he feels the need to speak of mission, of dity, of love. They reach home and close the door and he doesn't drop her hand. Where speach fails, touch compensates." I find this very, very real. THIS is exactly what happens when someone dear leaves. No words are adequate to express your feelings so one resorts to trivialities. Don't you think? The piano tuner then travels by boat and rail. You should experience how delightfully this is described - the fog in London, the color of the Mediterranean, the French views on Gerard! Fun stories are thrown in about the travelers on the boat. Here is a snippet of part of one such story:"For when I looked up, the boys were running down a broad slope, chasing the goats. Below them stretched one of the most stunning visions I had ever seen. Indeed, had I been struck with blindness, rather than deafness, I think I would have been content. For nothing, not even the pounding surf of Babelmandeb, could match the scene that stretched out before me, the slope descending, flattening into a flat desert plain that stretched into a horizon blurred with sandstorms. And out of the thick dust, whose silence belied the rage known to anyone who has ever been caught in the terror of one of the storms, marched legions of caravans, from every point of the compass, long dark trails of horses and camels, all emerging from the blur that swept across the valley, and all converging on a tent enpcampment that lay at the base of the hill." Wow, draw a picture of THAT in your head! Then paint in the colors....Before starting: Can music conquer nations more effectively than military operations? Of course not, but.....Kirkus says: "A wealth of information-musical, medical, historical, political-and numerous colorfully detailed vignettes of life in Burma's teeming cities and jungle villages." I guess I have to add this too my must shelf!
I must begin this review with a caveat: I cannot write about The Piano Tuner in an unbiased fashion, because I love it more than words can describe. I have read it at least 3 times, and each time I am completely drawn in to the world of Edgar Drake, and 19th century colonial Burma. If I were forced to choose a favorite book, this would be one of the contenders. No novel before or since has spoken to me quite as much as this one has.The Piano Tuner is the the story of Edgar Drake, a London piano tuner who specializes in Erard grand pianos. He knows and loves pianos as intimately as if they were alive. This unassuming, quiet, and unadventurous man receives a commission from the British government to travel to colonial Burma to tune an Erard piano located at the outpost of Mae Lwin - a strategically important fort run by Dr. Anthony Carroll. No one knows exactly why Carroll has a grand piano there, but the urgency with which he requests Edgar's services intrigues him, and he decides to leave his wife, and his quiet life behind to travel to Burma. This is only the beginning of the novel - the rest is about Edgar's travels, and his arrival at Mae Lwin - none of which I want to describe, as it is better read for one's self. Mason tells the story with language so beautiful and expressive that it engages each of the five senses. I saw, smelled, heard, felt, and tasted the sights and sounds of the jungle in such a way that I almost forgot I was experiencing it through the medium of a novel. I was engulfed and swept away into Edgar Drake's world. Edgar himself is as compelling as the scenery through which he travels. On the surface, he appears to be shy and reserved, but his thoughts reveal a deep curiosity about the people, cultures, and places he encounters, and a developing insight into human nature as experienced through various types of relationships: political, familial, romantic, and colonial. Although Edgar is a middle-aged man, The Piano Tuner is essentially a bildungsroman - Edgar learns more about who he is as he confronts fears and and desires that he never knew he had, and asks questions which he never before realized he wondered about.Throughout the The Piano Tuner, music remains the main vehicle through which Edgar's travels and his personal transformation is described. Edgar sees everything through his piano tuner's eyes, and this lends a sense of musicality to the novel which is both artistic and technical. He thinks of music as more than just beautiful sounds - he understands that mechanics lie at the root of every note a piano plays. This perspective on music demonstrates an understanding of both its mechanical precision and artistic beauty that turn out to be really one and the same. Mason's prose reflects this: it flows, but is never sloppy; the scenes he sets are imaginative but always realistic. Overall, The Piano Tuner speaks to me because it represents so many elements in terms of music - it is about discovery, adventure, love, compassion, politics, the natural world, and self-knowldege, all understood through the simple mechanics of a piano.
What do You think about The Piano Tuner (2003)?
The title and the cover of this book do not even begin to give the appropriate impression of this book. From those things alone, it seems like some typical, emotional-journey story that a bunch of teenage girls read during their development of self-awareness, but it turned out to be an action-packed, profound, and artistically written adventure story.I found the main character (the piano tuner) to be quite likeable, because he isn't a hero. He's a good person and talented in his profession, but he occasionally makes mistakes, thinks unwholesome thoughts, and has flaws. Best of all, there are moments where he's a complete ninny and moments where he makes a grand gesture of bravery only to pass out shortly afterwards. The character that could be considered the Real Hero in the story (rugged, genius scientist/soldier with a flair for the artistic) is perceived at times as being morally questionable or potentially dangerous.The writing style is brilliant, because it occasionally breaks minor narrative rules. Intimate conversations are occasionally written in one long stream (no paragraph breaks between speakers), and interruption is perfectly conveyed by leaving out punctuation and throwing in a capitalized word to start the new sentence. It's a great way to convey the natural give-and-take of conversation and show how topics flow together. When characters argue, they don't deliver perfect, well thought out sentences with flawless arguments, they spew gut reaction sentiments and sometimes useless statements. They talk like real people!The Piano Tuner is a true Book Lover's Book, because it has two different love stories that sweep you up whether you think they're appropriate or not, and it transports you to the world of late 1800s Burma with astonishingly powerful descriptions of the scenery and culture. The love story/exotic adventure pairing (which is what so many story characters seem to seek out in books!)is not something I come across often in modern literature, since American writers (or just adult fiction writers?) don't seem as fascinated with the world abroad as they used to be. This book reminded me that as well traveled as I am, there are still parts of the world that are so incomprehensibly different that they practically seem like a fairy tale!
—Morganie
- I think this book had a fascinating setting, in a place & time in history where British and Asian colonization was very interesting...- Mason has a pretty good writing style, but I found his characters wanting..- I found I did not get a good sense of who Edgar really was besides a quiet, shy piano tuner.Not the mention the "fabricated" or forced love story between the Burmese woman was lacking in true romance. Though I appreciated the subtle, romantic restraint in the writing, I didn't get a sense of WHY Edgar even liked her, besides the fact of the novelty of a Burmese woman vs, an English one and maybe because she also spoke English surprised him??- Dr. Carroll could've been an interesting character, but his true intentions reveal themselves too late (at the last 40 pages).- For the 1st 310 pages, all I kept thinking was, OK, what is this guy really doing here??? He's not just trying to be a nice doctor to make peace, and what is the function of this piano tuner???- I also did not like the beginning; I felt the set-up was contrived and too much "info-dumping" of historical facts, rather than just weaving it nicely into the story.
—AliceinWonderland
I'm not yet sure about how I felt about reading this book. At the beginning it was a hard work, maybe because of my stressful life, maybe because of some caracteristics of the book; I'll probably never know. In this Daniel Mason's book, we are presented to Edgar Drake, a piano tuner whose life was a captive of routine and a man who have never find something he never know he was looking for. The opportunity to learn about it comes with a strange request, he must travel to Asia to tune a piano.We are then awarded with magnificent scenarios of Burma of nineteenth century, with such a precise description that we can close our eyes and see ourselves sorrounded by that astonishing paradise. Besides the slow rhythm of the narrative, we can still be taken by some of Drake's adventure.More significant than the adveture, however, is the love story contained in this pages. Mason's description of Edgar's actions and reflections are so accurate that we feel like we listening to every thought in his mind, considering every possible action which can take place at that moment. Still, this work contains what I can only call one of the most beautiful love scenes I've ever read. It was a simple picture, yet enchanting, , composed by only a man, a woman and a piano - what other result could come from that?Four stars full of joy to this adventure through the mysteries of Burma and the inscrutability of love.
—Antonio Felippe
