The Piano Tuner Book

I was going through a box of books that a friend was giving away, and I came across this novel. I was attracted by the title, so I took it home to read.

The pros: There is a bit of history on the technical aspects of the development of piano-making that I found fascinating, and I enjoyed the details about the actual process of repairing and tuning a piano, though anyone not interested in pianos would probably skip that, much like I did most of the boring Burmese history. Also, there are some beautiful turns of phrase in this book, some really lyrical writing. I identified with the characters' love of music and its ability to send both performer and listener into another world.

The cons: Everything else. All that lyrical writing, those beautiful turns of phrase, rambled on in an irritating, self-indulgent fashion. I found myself scanning pages briefly, looking for the end of the digressions, pointless details, and endless descriptive phrases, so I could pick up on the plot again. Oh yes, there was a plot, though it was hard to find at times. It was occasionally interesting, and at one point it actually took an unexpected twist, but it ended with a thoroughly unsatisfactory whimper. After all that slogging through run-on sentences, lack of dialogue punctuation,and meaningless tangents, this is how I'm rewarded? No thank you.

I give it two stars because one doesn't do justice to the truly well-written parts of the book, and three might encourage someone else to read it, something my conscience will not allow. Unless that someone is really interested in 19th century Burma, the English military in far-flung outposts, or navel-gazing piano tuners.