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Loading... The Piano Tuner: A Novel (2002)by Daniel Mason
A weird cross between Heart of Darkness and a PG Tips advert from the 80s. (  )1   rrmmff2000 | Apr 21, 2013 |  Beautiful, dreamy writing. (  ) JG_IntrovertedReader | Apr 3, 2013 | "What a distant memory, he thought, and he wondered where it came from, and what it meant that now was the moment of its remembering." (p. 284) Understated writing, beautiful and vivid descriptions, an authentic main character: in The Piano Tuner, Daniel Mason takes us along with Edgar Drake from Victorian London to a British outpost deep in the Burmese jungle. Certain paragraphs throughout the book have a dream-like quality, and certain elements of plot left me yearning for more, though I could infer. Sad, lovely, otherworldly. ( ) JennyArch | Apr 3, 2013 | Tale of piano tuner called to Burma in 1886: mysterious, magical, mesmerising. (  ) DramMan | Mar 30, 2013 | "Edgar Drake, Piano Tuner, Erards-a-Speciality, put the letter down on his desk. An 1840 grand is beautiful, he thought, and he folded the letter gently and slid it into his coat pocket. And Burma is far." This bizarre but well-dreamt tale of a timid piano tuner who is summoned into the service of His Majesty in order to travel to Burma and tune a piano for an enigmatic and eccentric British officer in the Shan States of Burma carries the reader from 19th century London (remarkably changed and yet the same as today), through the Red Sea, past India and into Burma. Once there, he is captivated by the fragile peace, the Doctor's true motives, and the beautiful woman who travels at his side... For the first 250 pages, this was an excellent novel. Mason sets up the trip well - the disorganised piano tuner, his patient wife a little nervous about his departure, the odd visits to the War Office - and then the epic journey on sea and land, punctuated by letters from the Doctor whose piano he will tune. Drake is an odd, timid character, who slowly flowers under the hot Burmese sun. The mix of Carroll, Khin Myo and Drake makes for 100 pages of clever and sensitive dialogue once Drake reaches Mae Lwin. The adventures of getting the piano away on a raft and the various sojourns into the nearby wilderness are funny and richly descriptive respectively. The end of the book put me right off it - much like The Great Gatsby, the ending felt rushed and tacked on a bit disjointedly. Not dissimilar to Dances with Wolves, once the conversion has happened, the attempts to go back go badly. In addition, we are treated to long passages explaining the historical context, the necessity of which I'm not disputing, but they were fairly dry. Maybe best to stay away from this one unless you're a big fan of the period? If you've read this and disagree with my half-and-half verdict, I'd be very interested to hear it. (  ) readingwithtea | Feb 23, 2013 | no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0330492691, Paperback)On a misty London afternoon in 1886, piano tuner Edgar Drake receives a strange request from the War Office: he must leave his wife, and his quiet life in London, to travel to the jungles of Burma to tune a rare Erhard grand piano. The piano belongs to Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll, an enigmatic British officer, whose success at making peace in the war-torn Shan States is legendary, but whose unorthodox methods have begun to attract suspicion. So begins the journey of the soft-spoken Edgar across Europe, the Red Sea, India, Burma, and at last into the remote highlands of the Shan States. En route he is entranced by the Doctor's letters and by the shifting cast of tale-spinners, soldiers and thieves who cross his path. As his captivation grows, however, so do his questions: about the Doctor's true motives, about an enchanting and elusive woman who travels with him into the jungle, about why he came. And, ultimately, whether he will ever be able to return home unchanged to the woman who awaits him there ...Sensuous and lyrical, rich with passion and adventure, "The Piano Tuner" is an unforgettable and haunting novel.(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:49:57 -0500) "In October 1886, Edgar Drake receives a strange request from the British War Office: he must leave his wife and his quiet life in London to travel to the jungles of Burma, where a rare Erard grand piano is in need of repair. The piano belongs to an army surgeon-major whose unorthodox peacemaking methods - poetry, medicine, and now music - have brought a tentative quiet to the southern Shan States but have elicited questions from his superiors." "On his journey through Europe, the Red Sea, India, and into Burma, Edgar meets soldiers, mystics, bandits, and talespinners, as well as an enchanting woman as elusive as the surgeon-major. And at the doctor's fort on a remote Burmese river, Edgar encounters a world more mysterious and dangerous than he ever could have imagined."--BOOK JACKET.… (more) |
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