A Korean-American graduate of Harvard College now living in Hong Kong with her husband and four children, Janice Y. K. Lee’s debut novel The Piano Teacher (HarperCollins, 2009) is a touching and thoughtful look at the way emotional and physical trials can shape character.
The Piano Teacher
Claire Pendleton arrives in Hong Kong in 1952. Naive and unsophisticated, she is newly married and has travelled from England with her husband after he is transferred to the Hong Kong Department of Water Services.
Bored and isolated, Claire takes a position as a piano teacher to Locket Chen, a young Chinese girl from a wealthy Hong Kong family. Through her involvement with the Chens, she meets Will Truesdale, a chauffeur and Englishman. Although Will seems to barely tolerate Claire, a chance meeting in the city leads to the beginning of an affair.
As the story progresses, Will’s own personal history unfolds for the reader and the cause of his sometimes taciturn and disconnected behaviour becomes clear. The story builds to a climax when Will and Claire’s affair is revealed at a party at the Chens, which Claire’s husband Martin is also attending.
The Personal Cost of War
While the action of the novel is introduced by Claire, she shares the narrative with Will Truesdale and the story alternates between Claire’s experiences in 1952 and Will’s in the years after his arrival in Hong Kong in 1941.
While the novel begins and ends with Claire’s perspective, it is Will Truesdale’s experiences that most impact and enthral the reader. Will’s involvement with Trudy Liang, a socialite heiress, begins not long after his arrival and continues until they are separated during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong after the invasion of 25th December 1941.
Will’s relationship with Trudy is very complex — a complicated mixture of cultural differences and conflicting expectations. Trudy’s character is both vulnerable and confident, and her inability to accept the depravations of war lead her into a lifestyle that ultimately causes her death. Imprisoned in a POW camp, Will is unable to do anything about Trudy’s downward spiral and fails to ever resolve his guilt at what he perceives to be his desertion of her in her time of need.
British Society in Hong Kong
While focused on individuals, The Piano Teacher is a study of the clash of cultures between the elite English businessmen and their socialite wives, local businessmen and everyday Chinese.
Claire is unconsciously culturally insensitive in many of her assumptions, although she gradually matures and becomes more self-aware. Through his involvement with Trudy, Will is offered insight into both sides of Hong Kong society and offers a far more balanced view. Trudy’s mixed heritage, with a Portuguese mother and Chinese father, reveals further racial issues as she finds she is not entirely accepted by either the English or Chinese elite.
An Interesting and Well Developed Story
The connecting thread throughout the story is Will Truesdale. While he is undeniably damaged by his experiences during the war and his lingering guilt, he is nevertheless a man of high ideals and strong character and is quite likeable. The unconventional ending fits perfectly with the flow of the novel and is entirely believable given Will’s complex and traumatic history and the evidence of Claire’s increasing maturity.
The Piano Teacher is an ideal book selection for a book club or reading group and includes a small selection of study questions. A very enjoyable and easy read, it also has many deeper themes that could be explored with group discussions. Detailed descriptions of Hong Kong society are an added point of interest.
Filled with detailed and engaging characters and historical events, The Piano Teacher holds the readers attention from the first page to the last.
The Piano Teacher (ISBN: 978-0-00-728638-6, 341 pages)
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